Remembering Wagalla: state violence in northern Kenya, 1962–1991

Abstract

In February 1984, soldiers of the Kenya Army mounted a security operation around Wajir in Kenya's North Eastern Province. Having rounded-up all Somali men of the Degodia clan, as many as 5000 were taken to the Wagalla airstrip for interrogation. This was part of the policy of ‘collective punishment’ – a conscious act of state violence against its own citizens. After four days of interrogations at Wagalla, several hundred Degodia lay dead: whether 500 died, or 1000, or more is unknown, but the incident stands as the worst atrocity in Kenya's modern history. This article recounts what is known about the massacre from witness and survivor testimony, putting this together with documentary evidence recently revealed through the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) and setting the analysis in the wider context of Kenya's treatment of the peoples of its ‘forgotten north’. The conclusion summarises the findings of Kenya's TJRC on Wagalla, and comments on the recent construction of a monument to commemorate the massacre, opened at Wajir on 14 February 2014.

Keywords:

• Kenya
• Somali people
• Degodia
• Ajuran
• Moi regime
• security

Acknowledgement

Financial support received from The Research Council of Norway, under the project 214349/F10, ‘The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence,’ administered by the Peace Research Institute Oslo.

Notes

1. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 45–52.

2. Whittaker, “Pursuing Pastoralists”; Whittaker, “Forced Villagisation,” 343–64; Whittaker, “Socioeconomic Dynamics,” 391–408; Mburu, Bandits, 131–73; Khalif and Oba, “Gaafa dhaabaa.”

3. Anderson, Histories of the Hanged; Bennett, Fighting Mau Mau; Branch, Defeating Mau Mau; Elkins, Britain's Gulag.

4. See the second government statement on Wagalla, issued by Minister of State in the Office of the President, Justus Ole Tipis: “Tipis gives report on Wajir,” Daily Nation, 13 April 1984. For the first statement, see: “57 killed by troops in Wajir – Tipis,” and “MP tables list of massacre victims,” both Daily Nation, 28 March 1984.

5. Comitato Per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo, Annalena, 6.

6. For example, Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 150–7.

7. Kinyanjui, “Remembering Wagalla massacre.”

8. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 89–99.

9. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 5–6. The Truth Be Told Network was founded by four students, all children of Wagalla victims.

10. Gitobu Imanyara, personal communication, 31 March 2014.

11. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway.

12. http://www.knchr.org/, last visited 28 March 2014.

13. Bosire and Lynch, “Kenya's Search.” The TJRC has been mired in political intrigue and controversy, but this should not be allowed to detract from the value of the witness testimony offered by Kenya citizens.

14. For Wagalla evidence and findings, see TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 221–367; TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 18–21. For the mandate establishing the TJRC, see Republic of Kenya, Report of the Task Force.

15. Bosire and Lynch, “Kenya's Search.”

16. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Parts 1–4.

17. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Parts 1–5.

18. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan.

19. The colonial NFD comprised Mandera, Marsabit, Moyale, Garissa, Wajir and Isiolo. In 1963, the population numbered less than 250,000, the majority being ethnic Somali.

20. Anderson, “Exit from Empire,” forthcoming.

21. Government of the United Kingdom, Kenya: Report of the Northern Frontier District Commission; Kyle, Politics of Independence, 156–8, 170–1, 183–4. See Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 620–1, for a summary, and also Mohamed, “Wagalla massacre,” 15–7.

22. Whittaker, “Socioeconomic Dynamics,” 391–408; Mburu, Bandits, 131–72.

23. Turton, “Somali Resistance,” 119–43; Oba, Nomads in the Shadows, 2–9.

24. I borrow the term from Tobias Hagmann, who has used it to describe the remarkably similar policies of the Ethiopian Government in its Ogaden region: Hagmann, “The Return of Garrison Government”. See also Markakis, “Radical Military Regimes,” 36, for reference to “garrison socialism” in Ethiopia.

25. Two legal orders were issued to impose the Emergency: The Preservation of Public Security Act, Public Security (North Eastern Region) Regulations, 1963, 27 December 1963; and The Preservation of Public Security Act, The Public Security (North Eastern Region and Contiguous Districts) Regulations, 1964, 1 September 1964. Copies of both can be found in United Kingdom National Archives (UKNA) DO 213/32.

26. Whittaker, “Forced Villagisation,” 346–62; Khalif and Oba, “Gaafa dhaabaa”; TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 101–46.

27. Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 621.

28. Adar, Kenyan Foreign Policy; Mburu, Bandits, 193–230; Whittaker, “Socioeconomic Dynamics,” 391–408.

29. Whittaker, “Forced Villagisation,” 346–62; Khalif and Oba, “Gaafa dhaabaa.”

30. For the case papers, see UKNA FCO 141/5930 to FCO 141/6019, and FCO 141/6026 to FCO 141/6123.

31. Whittaker, “Socioeconomic Dynamics.”

32. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 17–26 for a summary.

33. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 12.

34. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 12.

35. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 113–30.

36. Whittaker, “Socioeconomic Dynamics,” 408; Whittaker, “Forced Villagisation,” 359; Khalif and Oba, “Gaafa dhaabaa.”

37. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 13. On the Indemnity Act, see Mohamed, “Wagalla massacre,” 19–20.

38. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 211–2.

39. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 199–200.

40. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 17–8.

41. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 17.

42. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 18. Benson Kaaria (NEP Commissioner) and G.G. Kariuki (Minister for Internal Security), appeared to deny any deaths had occurred. Kariuki described the Bulla Karatasi operation as a “routine” action. For an independent account of Bulla Karatasi, see UKNA FCO 31/2864 “Political relations between Somalia and Kenya,” 1980.

43. Branch, Kenya, 161–82, on the Moi regime in the 1980s.

44. Throup and Hornsby, Multi-Party Politics, 31–40.

45. Branch, Kenya, 169; Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 622; Perouse de Montclos, “Elections among the Kenyan Somali,” 300.

46. Little, “Conflictive Trade,” 47.

47. Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 624.

48. Morton, Moi, 188–92, for Moi's reaction to the 1982 coup.

49. I borrow the phrase from Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 616–7. On clan politics, see Khalif, “Between the Margins,” 33–7, 43–4.

50. Branch, Kenya, 169.

51. On Ajuran, Degodia and their Boran neighbours, see Schlee, “Brothers of the Boran,” 417–35; and Arero, “Coming to Kenya,” 292–304.

52. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 227–33.

53. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 234–6. This is mentioned in Branch, Kenya, 170, citing press reports on the official government statement on Wagalla: BBC Monitoring, Summary of World Broadcasts, ‘Kenyan ministers statement on Wajir clashes,’ 12 April 1984.

54. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 237.

55. KTN, “DC on Wagalla massacre,” evidence to TJRC of Manasseh Tiema, 16 May 2011; TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 237–8, 255–9.

56. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 257–8.

57. Bjørndal, Wagalla Massakren.

58. Comitato Per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo, Annalena; Tonelli, Lettere; TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 335–6, 356–8, and the testimony of Elmi, 244–50.

59. The copious evidence on Wagalla is covered in TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 221–336.

60. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 1, recorded interview, anonymous woman.

61. Citzen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interviews with a former Kenya Army Officer, and with Mohamed Elmi.

62. Citzen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, Bishar Abdi Goosow.

63. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 262.

64. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, Abdi Bishar Ismail.

65. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Yusuf Ibrahim.

66. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, Garad Sanay Osman.

67. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Yusuf Ibrahim.

68. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Mohamed Goosar.

69. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 257.

70. KTN, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, former Kenya Army officer.

71. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 265–7.

72. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Yusuf Ibrahim.

73. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 267–8.

74. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Mohamed Goosar.

75. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Parts 2 & 4, recorded interviews, Abdi Bishar Ismail, Nuur Osman and anonymous survivor.

76. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, former Kenya army officer.

77. KTN, “DC on Wagalla massacre,” evidence to TJRC of Manasseh Tiema, 16 May 2011. Tiema's evidence is inconsistent: TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 269–70.

78. KTN, “TJRC Hearings,” evidence to TJRC of Alexander Njue, 8 June 2011. Njue was ‘disgusted’ by the operation.

79. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 274.

80. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 274–5.

81. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 275–6.

82. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 272–3, 277.

83. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, former Kenya Army officer.

84. Al Jazeera, Not Yet Kenyan, recorded interview, Mohamed Goosar.

85. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 2, recorded interview, Abdi Abdijillow.

86. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 1, recorded interview, two anonymous women. For further testimony from women victims, see TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 285–6.

87. Citizen TV, “Minister weeps at TJRC,” evidence to TJRC of Mohamed Elmi, 18 May 2011; TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 244–50, for a full transcript of Elmi's evidence.

88. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, Nuur Osman.

89. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, Aden Jela.

90. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, Bashow Mohamed.

91. Various publications celebrate Tonelli's piety and missionary labours: D'Attilia and Zanini. “Io sono nessuno”; Moltisanti, Annalena Tonelli; Teresio,“Volevo alto seguire Gesu Cristo”; Zanini and D'Attilia. Annalena Tonelli.

92. Tonelli, Lettere.

93. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 277.

94. Testimony of Annalena Tonelli, at the Vatican, 1 December 2001, http://www.centroannalenatonelli.it/pdf/tonelli.pdf, translated by Anna Bruzzone.

95. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 337.

96. Comitato Per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo, Annalena, 6, note 5.

97. Adow, “Survivors and eyewitnesses,” 2.

98. Comitato Per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo, Annalena, 12. This is confirmed in Elmi's testimony to the TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 244–50.

99. Comitato Per la Lotta contro la Fame nel Mondo, Annalena, 6, note 5.

100. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 66–79, gives an account of Tonelli's role.

101. Bjørndal, Wagalla Massakren.

102. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 291.

103. Citizen TV, Death in the Desert, Part 4, recorded interview, Mohamed Elmi.

104. Bjørndal, Wagalla massakren, 54.

105. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, anonymous Wagalla survivor.

106. KTN, Jicho Pevu: Fashiti ya Wagalla, Part 4, recorded interview, Abdi Bishar Ismail.

107. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 292–3, 335–6.

108. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 294–300. For the press coverage of the second statement to parliament, which carried a full transcript, see “Tipis gives report on Wajir”, Daily Nation, 13 April 1984.

109. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 309–11.

110. KTN, “TJRC Hearings on Wagalla,” evidence to TJRC of Joseph Kibwana, 3 June 2011.

111. This was implied by many witnesses, especially Joshua Matui: “In all sincerity, I think something went wrong during the operation.” KTN, “TJRC Hearings, DC Evidence,” evidence to TJRC of Joshua Matui, 2 June 2011. Matui was on leave over the week of the massacre, but returned to deal with the aftermath.

112. Efforts of the TJRC to get military comment on Wagalla came to nothing. Retired Brigadier Philip Chebet (7th Battalion Kenya Rifles) could not recall the operation, although men of his command were present at Wagalla throughout: KTN, “TRJC Hearings”, evidence to TJRC of Ret. Brigadier Philip Chebet, 7 June 2011.

113. TJRC, Final Report vol 2A, 354–6.

114. Sheikh, Blood on the Runway, 90–2.

115. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 18.

116. All quotes, TJRC, Final Report, vol 4, 18–9.

117. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 19.

118. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 19.

119. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 20.

120. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 20.

121. KTN, “TRJC Hearings,” evidence to TJRC of Bethuel Kiplagat, and commentary.

122. TJRC, Final Report vol 4, 20.

123. Kinyanjui, “Remembering Wagalla massacre.”

124. Government of Kenya, Kenya Gazette Supplement No.7.