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Careful how you pacify Mt Elgon
The Nation
Publication Date: 11/27/2007
Deadly violence in the Mt Elgon region has by now become old hat,
and very few people besides the perpetrators and the victims, seem
to pay much attention to it any more.
Unfortunately, this attitude of resigned neglect could turn out to
be very costly in an area which a militia seems to have hived off
the rest of the country.
This will never do. And it appears our security machinery has come
to the same conclusion and decided that only a strong-arm tactics
will bring about the desired result – peace in the region where,
according to some accounts, at least 300 people have already been
killed and 65,000 displaced.
When such a level of violence occurs, development suffers.
Children do not go to school, land is not tilled, trade comes to a
standstill, and human rights are routinely violated.
The violence in Mt Elgon is about a land settlement scheme in
which one community felt shortchanged, hence the rise of the
Sabaot People’s Land Defence Force (SLDF), a murderous outfit that
has been giving the authorities a nagging headache.
Violence breeds retaliation, and the security machinery has, at
long last, been unleashed to try and contain this chaos. However,
there is danger that the so-called rapid deployment unit may
resort to using indiscriminate force, making the situation worse.
Already, the result has been cataclysmic, with at least 3,000
people said to have fled the region to neighbouring districts. Why
would the Sabaot stay put despite the malevolent presence of the
militia and take off in their thousands as soon as the rightful
law enforcers rush to their help?
It would be tragic if the Mt Elgon people feared their own
Government’s security personnel more than the marauding bandits.
Already, there are reports about the security squad burning houses.
Very soon, we may hear of other ‘‘security’’ measures like
collective punishment.
In closed societies, ‘‘scorched earth’’ methods of containment are
the norm; in a democracy like Kenya’s, other methods like dialogue
and concessions must be explored first. Let there be no
accusations that the cure proved to be a lot worse than the
disease. The people of Mt Elgon deserve to live in peace like the
rest of Kenyans.
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