Continuous massacres in NEP


by Mohamed kutuby

Email: kutuby45@hotmail.com

It was in 1981 when this continuous massacres started in Garissa it was after the then D.O for Dadab Mr. Jhonson Welimo was killed by Abdi mathowe with four other civil servants while on their way to Garissa from Dadab this left hundreds of the town’s residents (mainly of men) dead and thousands homeless as the security personnel embarked on indiscriminate killing of innocent wanainchi and torching of their houses.
The following morning Mr. GG Kariuki the then security minister of who visited Garissa has this to say:-
“Although some houses were burnt down last night some people and property destroyed our police men must be commended for their restraint and the way they conducted themselves at a time they were hunting for the armed bandits who killed the civil servants. As I was in the plane, I saw many houses were burnt down , but that was because our security men were chasing people armed with sophisticated weapons. On an occasion like that a gun does not choose a target.”
Definitely by the end of his five hour tour of the area, Mr. Kariuki did leave the Garissa people bitter than he met them no due to the lose of their love ones and properties but to dashing of all their hopes of having the killer soldiers punished by the Government GG Kariuki represented.
Incidents of police brutality of such nature against residence of the entire north eastern province is not a new a strange occurrence.
A Garissa massacre as it was christened is among many of grisly massacres instigated against innocent civilians in northeastern province by the very people who the constitution says should protect their lives and properties.
The preparation of this dastardly and pusillanimous act started earlier on in the day and was personally overseen by the then NEP PC Benson karia .All Somalis force members
were quickly asked to convince and were immediately transported out of the town, confides a then, members of the force from 7.00 pm that night gun shots could be heard from everywhere in the town and a huge flames leap in the air as the security forces embarked on torching houses houses and shooting anyone who came their way .this has started from the centre of the town as if the man killed the civil servants live at the centre of town. And with in short period of time military officers were every corner of the town.
The officers also used to bayonets to rip open the bellies of their victims of the Garissa massacre while shooting any one who tried to escape from the harassment.
It was a scene of horror and pandemonium as everyone tried to get himself and family members to safety some managed, but alas! Others ran into the danger they were fleeing and were shot down. The bad memories are still full in our brains and are fresh as if it was yesterday.
The military Lorries were filled to the brim with bodies and thrown into the river {Tana} to be fed on by the hungry crocodiles. Others were taken to areas around modicar area 15km from the town where their bodies were burnt.
The following morning was the worst when curfew was announced and the most of the town’s residents were assembled at the Garissa primary school playground, sitting in the scorching sun for nearly two days without water and food this forced some people to take their urine in order to survive.
The harassed people were later released after the Somali strongman Siyad bare threatened to attack Kenya even though others were still in the custody for excuses that they belong to the abdi mathowe company.
The history of the brutality meted out on the residents of NEP can be traced back to the time of Kenya’s independence. Around the time of independence in 1963 a secessionist movement that had the interest of making the northern part a country of its own but this led not only a bloody war but also to hostility by the immediate post independence Kenya government. It further complicated and polarized the relationship between the northern frontier districts [N.F.D] the central authorities in Nairobi. Thus 70yrs of hostile colonial neglect was being further exacerbated by a bloody secessionist war.
Even when what they called the shifta war came to an end, the situation and living conditions of the people did not change till now. The fact is that the hostile attitude could not be a conductive environment for any kind of progress may be the reason why parts of northern Kenya are among the least developed in the country.
The wagala massacre in 1984 was another shocking security disaster where more than 3000 men were butchered in cold blood by the security forces.
This is how the residents of this part of Kenya are treated, and always the reason remains “banditry” which always make the government to react with brutal and thoughtless force that usually brings more damage than the banditry itself. And the officers are known of attacking the opposite area [instead of attacking where the bandits are] harassing the innocent resident who are not aware of where the bandits are!
Its also a known fact that the most notorious and ruthless of all NEP bandits were themselves victims of police brutality. Abdi madowe was earlier castrated by police when they arrested him with elephant tusks and he has killed the four civil servants after he was released to make him forget what he thought the government had done to him
NEP is still under curfew and the resident cannot move at night without the Id card and if seen with out it by the police, it’s a sure torture and immediate arrest. Despite of the democracy and the freedom of movement Kenya claims to have reached NEP resident have no right to move to the nearest province without that card, even though they have it, the police have thousands of cases to delay their vehicles, Garissa and Nairobi is just four hour drive but take six hours due to the out numbered police check points yet the area is not a boarder point! The most wonder full thing is that, districts in the country enjoy all sort of freedom NEP residents are lucking and that is why the residents are running from their own home land and invest in other districts. But this sounds the same again talk of Eastleigh in Nairobi and Bondeni in Mombassa where Somalis live mostly have the same problem. Though they have migrated due to insecurity caused by the security men they are still under pressure from continuous “leta kitambulisho” meaning where is you ID card? Yet the Kenyan government is not showing any sign to reverse the situation.