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Deadly militiamen: The untold story
DAILY NATION
Story by LUCAS BARASA and PETER KIMANI
Publication Date: 4/9/2007
The armed militia that is behind the unending terror in Mt Elgon district is well-organised and always ready to kill and maim.
The Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) has at least 40 cells of about 100 people and operate in the Mt Elgon forest, according to Mr Job Bwonya, the executive director of the Western Kenya Human Rights Watch.
Some of the suspected militiamen speak to journalists in a past interview. The leader of the Sabaot Land Defence Force had threatened to spread the violence to neighbouring districts. |
Most of them are manned by retired security officers, foreign mercenaries and child soldiers, he adds.
He said that about 650 children from Chebwek, Chepkube, Chepsiro, Chemuses, Kipsis, Kaptoboi and Kamarang areas, had been drafted to join the militia.
Porous border
“They have chosen Mt Elgon forest because it has a porous border that makes it a safe exit to neighbouring Uganda where their kinsmen live. Some foreigners who were brought into the country in 1993 have been promised land in both Mt Elgon and Trans Nzoia districts for their role in the current fight,” he said. |
“The militiamen comprise groups from Mt Elgon, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru and West Pokot districts and foreigners from a neighbouring country with orders to cause instability and mayhem and depopulate certain areas before this year’s polls are held”.
But the director of police operations, Mr David Kimaiyo, yesterday denied the existence of the militia saying the fighting in Mt Elgon was sparked by land disputes between two clans.
The militia has been launching period attacks from their hideouts in Mt Elgon forest. During raids, they loot and shoot civilians in the clashes-torn region, witnesses and human rights organisations say.
By last week, the attackers had killed 144 people and wounded 115, according to the Red Cross Society of Kenya.
Most of the deaths have been blamed on the SLDF. Investigations by the Nation indicated that the militia exists and its emergence is seen by some as linked to an attempt to displace voters from cosmopolitan areas ahead of the General Election.
Cause instability
“Some powerful politicians from the Rift Valley and Mt Elgon have mooted a strategy to cause instability through violence and alter the political demography of multi-ethnic districts ahead of the General Election as happened ahead of the 1992 and 1997 polls,” said Mr Bwonya.
The organisation carried out a three-month study, which established that the police lacked the capacity to deal with the militiamen. It asked the Government to deploy military officers to crack down on the group.
About 1,000 security officers have been sent to the district to keep law and order but killings have gone on unchecked. The most recent attack was carried out a week ago, when the militiamen surrounded the Kapsokwony police station and the district officer’s residence, before flushing out six people from their rented houses and shooting them dead, only 600 metres from the police station.
The militia went public in February when its self-declared commander, Wycliffe Matakwei Kirui Komon, spoke to journalists on the edge of Mt Elgon forest near Huruma market in Kopsiro division.
Dressed in combat gear, Mr Komon was accompanied by the group’s alleged spiritual leader, Mr Fred Kiptum, and a local politician, Mr John Kanai.
He demanded immediate settlement of squatters and threatened to unleash violence in neighbouring districts “that have full Cabinet ministers to draw their attention so that the wishes of our people are met”.
Disputed figure
According to Mr Komon, the group had thousands of fighters deep in the forest supporting their cause. But acting district commissioner Julius Otieno disputed the figure, saying the group had “three or four people”. He described the group as clandestine and amorphous.
According to Mr Bwonya, allegations of dissatisfaction with the land allocation in phase three of the Chebyuk settlement scheme is merely intended to portray the fighters as honest arbiters, yet they are part of the problem.
The latest flare up is a replay of the 1992 violence. At the time, a group was brought in from Uganda to displace those perceived to be Opposition supporters. Local politicians were blamed for igniting the violence but none was prosecuted.
A man who was a hired killer in 1992 says an AK-47 rifle used to cost between Sh20,000 and Sh35,000 while bullets cost between Sh30 and Sh50 each. The guns and ammunition were bought in Uganda and West Pokot.
This year, demand for the weapons has gone up, as has the price. One can negotiate the price of a gun, but at Sh100, the bullet is non-negotiable. Locals interviewed said a gun is now worth one cow.
The emergence of the militia is rooted in a dispute over a recent initiative to settle 7,500 families, the last of the 1971 group that had been living on government trust land in the region.
Vetting was done to authenticate claimants, a process that church and local leaders claim was flawed.
Some families were uprooted from farms where they had made a home since 1971 to pave way for new beneficiaries. It was then that the militia began collecting a Sh1,000 levy from every adult.
“When we harvested maize last seasons, they collected a bag of maize for every acre harvested. Then they seized mobile telephone sets from those they perceived as enemies,” one of the group’s victims said.
This was the money used to finance the militia that was capitalising on grievances that had developed over 36 years.
By last week, 61,000 people from 10,292 families had been displaced from their land where many had made a home for 36 years, triggering one of the worst humanitarian crises in Kenya in over a decade.
Area residents said the militia was also being supported by former military officers from the Sabaot and Sebei communities and other rebel groups from neighbouring countries.
“They have uniforms and very sophisticated weapons. They are supported by influential personalities from within and outside the country,” a villager, Mr Eric Chemosin, said.
Dreaded Mungiki
And just like the dreaded Mungiki sect, Mt Elgon residents fear talking about the militia in public, saying some of those who had done so had been targeted for elimination.
But speaking to the Nation on phone, Mr Kimaiyo said he was not aware of any organised military. The police boss also said that the fights were reducing as elders from both communities and the government were holding talks on how to restore peace.
“Soon the fighting will end,” he said. The clashes were previously concentrated in Tuikut and Kopsiro but have recently spread to Kapsokwony and Kitalale in neighbouring Trans Nzoia.
The skirmishes have interfered with farming activities in Mt Elgon causing fears of a food shortage. There are also fears of outbreaks of waterborne diseases due to increased usage of untreated water. According to the Red Cross, 43 people had died due to communicable diseases since the violence began.
“Due to growing need and continuous displacement, the Kenya Red Cross Society has issued a national appeal to request Kenyans to donate generously to the affected people,” the organisation said in a
statement.
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