Locals flee as soldiers are deployed in El Wak
Published on 19/11/2008
By David Ochami and Cyrus Ombati
Hundreds of residents of El Wak and Mandera towns are fleeing in fear of clashes between Kenya’s armed forces and Islamist militiamen.
The militiamen, who captured neighbouring town of Bulla Xawa in Somalia, took control of the town on Tuesday night, as authorities in Kenya imposed a dawn to dusk curfew.
At the same time, officials denied reports that the army entered Hadija Aminow town in Gedo region in pursuit of militiamen holding two kidnapped Italian nuns and a driver.
Kenya has accused radical Al Shabab militia of kidnapping the nuns but its spokesman Mukhtar Ali Robow denied the claim.
North Eastern PC Josephat Maingi said many people were fleeing to Wajir.
“We are encouraging people to return to their homes. They have been moving away fearing an operation by security forces,” he said.
A local resident said some residents of Mandera town fled towards Malka Suftu, the hinterland and into Ethiopia.
Maingi said the local population was fleeing because of rumours they would be brutalised by police and soldiers.
“In view of the security situation, we imposed a 6pm to 6am curfew in El Wak and Mandera,” said Maingi, who also disclosed that overnight clashes raged in Somalia’s Gedo region on the border with Kenya.
Maingi said there was heavy fighting between militia groups in Bula Xawa [in Gedo] on Tuesday night.
According to independent accounts from security sources and residents of El Wak and Mandera, remnants of the defunct Al Ittihad Al Islam now allied with Al Shabab; ousted militiamen allied to Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government TFG and seized a huge arms depot from them on Tuesday.
Fresh intelligence
The sources also said close to 3,000 police and army forces, including support brigades with light and heavy weapons, had been deployed around El Wak since the weekend.
They include military forces from the Engineering and Paratrooper Battalions from Isiolo as well as the special Administration Police detachment called the Rapid Deployment Unit from Nairobi.
Reports show the Kenyan forces are acting on fresh intelligence that Al Shabab is moving forces towards Gedo on from Somalia’s Kismayu and Baidoa towns following new arms supplies and growing resent over Kenya’s secret involvement in Somalia.
Maingi said the Italian nuns and driver are still alive somewhere near Mogadishu.
He said negotiations between Kenyan and Somalia elders for their release were continuing on Wednesday.
Militiamen captured the victims last week. Internal Security Minister George Saitoti has given them an ultimatum to return the victims or face military action.
Meanwhile Al Shabab is said to be moving towards El Wak and Mandera to defend their country after being accused of the kidnapping.
Foreign militias and chiefs held in Mandera over inter-clan chaos
Published on 11/11/2008
By Martin Mutua and Patrick Wachira
Police have arrested 165 foreign militias and six local chiefs believed to have played a role in the inter-clan skirmishes in Mandera.
21 people, including three security officers, have been killed in the violence since July. Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojodeh said the militias have been jailed for six months for aiding the two clans to fight each other over control of a borehole.
Control
But Ojodeh responded: “The Government is in control, had we not moved swiftly, we would have had more casualties.”
Nominated MPs Millie Odhiambo, Mohamed Affey and Amina Abdalla alleged that the Government took long to contain the situation.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has compiled a report implicating the military in rape and torture of residents.
But Ojodeh, said those are allegations and that his ministry had formed a committee to investigate such claims.
Mr Fred Kapondi (Mt Elgon, ODM) and Mr Abdi Nassir (Bura) asked why it had taken the Government long to act and what role intelligence officers played. Ojodeh said surveyors had been sent to the district to determine the boundaries of Mandera Central and Mandera East.
Peace efforts
“Senior Government officers are engaged in peace efforts,” Ojodeh added. But he was categorical that the security operation would not be withdrawn until tension eased.
Investigate Mandera abuse claims
Published on 02/11/2008
As with Mt Elgon district earlier this year, a military operation to quell clan fighting in Mandera has quickly sparked claims of human rights abuses and brutality.
Also, as with Mt Elgon, there is evidence of the use of unnecessary force against people believed to have information about illegal weapons or criminals being sought by the authorities.
At least 200 civilians — including women and elderly men who are clearly non-combatants — have been admitted to the Elwak, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa hospitals in the last few days. Most are being treated for fractures and soft-tissue injuries they claim were inflicted on them by security forces involved in a joint police and army operation that started last Sunday.
There have also been unsubstantiated claims of rape.
Police say only seven people have lodged complaints of assault with them in Elwak and Mandera. But with many of those attacked still hospitalised and understandably sceptical of seeing any justice, most of the cases are likely to go unreported.
We are concerned at the way in which this operation, intended to quell weeks of fighting that have claimed about two dozen lives, is being conducted.
With the condemnation of the media, human rights campaigners and others over their handling of Sabaot militia suspects and their relatives still ringing in their ears, it is surprising the military and police would embark on a similar operation without safeguards to prevent abuses.
UNWARRANTED
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) corroborates the reports of unwarranted assaults. So do Red Cross officials who have objected to “harassment” of staff deployed in the area to help with relief efforts for people rendered destitute by flash flooding.
“Security forces have tortured and beaten civilians,” a KNCHR officer told journalists last week. “Innocent women and old men have not been spared.” Mr Hassan Omar Hassan, KNCHR’s Vice Chair, says the operation has sparked a crisis, preventing the assistance of over 115,000 people depending on relief aid. A dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by local administrators is hampering relief activity, even as it prevents escalation of the conflict.
Denials of excesses during security operations are hard to believe given the State’s past record in this area. Security forces have long been accused of grave atrocities, for example in Malkanali in 1978 and in Garissa in 1980.
For years, the official story about a botched security operation in Wajir was that 57 men were killed on February 10, 1984, by officers involved in a disarmament campaign. It wasn’t until 2000, however, that the Government made a public acknowledgement of wrongdoing at the Wagalla airstrip and revised the death toll to 381 people.
There have, mercifully, been no mass killings in Mandera. But the conduct of the 600 officers deployed in the area clearly goes beyond what might be seen as an acceptable use of compelling force. Broken bones on elderly men are a clear sign of the use of more force than is necessary.
While the police and army say their training, discipline and procedures make for a professional approach to such operations, the overwhelming chorus of protests that greets them at every turn suggests their behaviour in practice is questionable.
INVESTIGATE
We join KNCHR in calling on the Government to investigate the allegations of torture and human rights violations and take appropriate action. The claims of rape being made by various people also require investigation after corroboration by doctors.
Finally, greater transparency could help prevent such operations from degenerating into assaults on the populace. It would also confirm security forces have nothing to hide.
By blocking access by the media or relief groups to operation zones as they have done before, the police and army create conditions under which individuals or groups of officers can act with impunity up-country, secure in the knowledge they will get boilerplate defences from Nairobi
Whose island is this?
Published on 15/11/2008
By Nick Oluoch and Harold Ayodo
From a distance, Migingo Island looks like a tiny dot on the vast waters of Lake Victoria. The many mabati shacks on it shores and boats moored at the beach make it a bustling market.
But as one moves closer, the real Migingo comes into place — a Ugandan flag flapping in the afternoon wind, a platoon of armed Ugandan policemen and revenue officials –all on the look out for foreigners.
Kenyan fishermen dread the island. They discuss it in low tones, having suffered the wrath of Ugandan soldiers.
Last month, more than 300 Kenyan fishermen were ejected from the island. Sixteen were arrested and their fishing gear confiscated for alleged trespass.
They were released after Minister for Fisheries, Dr Paul Otuoma intervened.
The island’s location is the subject of a raging dispute between Kenya and Uganda. Last week, a Kenyan delegation from Migori District visited the island, amid tight security, to meet their Ugandan counterparts.
After the meeting, it was resolved Kenya also hoists her flag and deploys security officers alongside those from Uganda before the ownership issue is resolved.
The two sides also resolved to invite international surveyors to determine the boundary.
Tension was high but the Kenyan delegation averted a near confrontation between Kenyan fishermen and Ugandan police officers. Ugandan policemen drew their guns after the fishermen tried to lower their flag.
The Kenyan delegation, led by Migori DC Julius Mutula and the OCPD Eric Mugambio, had ordered a Kenyan flag be hoisted alongside that of Uganda as a solution is sought.
On arrival at the beach, the delegation was quickly ushered into a room by armed Ugandan security, all of whom were armed with AK47 and kept vigil outside to stop anyone from entering the room.
Journalists’ movements were also monitored as the negotiation went on.
Visitor’s book
Mwanamuiza Chikomeko, a DC, and the district police commander headed the Ugandan team, which rejected claims the island is in Kenya.
Signs the tussle over the island is a diplomatic time bomb showed after the Kenyan delegation refused to sign Uganda’s visitors’ book.
“Signing the book will give an impression that the Island belonged to Ugandans,” said the DC.
Early this year, Nyanza PC, Paul Olando, also said he had refused to sign the visitors’ book when he visited the island. Uganda insists the island, with a population of about 3,000 people, is hers.
The few Kenyan who have braved the harsh environment to live on the island are taxed heavily.
“We pay a yearly tax of Sh60, 000. We also give policemen and revenue officers 4kg of fish everyday and an additional Sh10 for every kilogramme of fish sold,” said, Tom Oula.
Mr Jack Juma says besides the official taxes, Ugandan authorities illegally collect Sh200,000 from the Kenyan fishermen every day.
“They are taxing us yet the island belongs to us. It’s very sad indeed,” said another fisherman, Martin Okwengu. Bitter at the treatment, Kenyan traders on the island have refused to sell food to Ugandans, a move said to be causing problems.
Fishermen say the Ugandan forces have also claimed three other Islands in Lake Victoria. Remba, Ringiti islands and parts of Muhuru Bay are also disputed. Here, fishermen have been arrested for allegedly fishing in foreign territory.
Bandits have capitalised on the presence of the military to harass fishermen by either assaulting them or confiscating their catches.
Otuoma says the fresh boundary conflicts are more about the scramble for the Nile perch delicacy, which has a high economic export value.
“It should be understood that the conflict is not only about the boundaries but largely over livelihood,” Otuoma says.
Kenyan fishermen suffer as island saga rages
Published on 04/11/2008
By Harold Ayodo
Ugandan authorities requested Nyanza PC Paul Olando to sign a visitors’ book when he visited Migingo Island on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria.
Olando told Fisheries Minister Paul Otuoma during a courtesy call in his office that he declined to sign the document because he was not a guest.
“The map of the region shows that Migingo Island is deep into our (Kenya) side of the lake,” says Olando.
The PC says a Ugandan flag is hoisted at the island that is under the guard of officers armed to the teeth.
“I have toured the troubled island on several occasions and the Ugandan flag flies at full mast,” he said.
Olando says the Ugandan forces have also claimed three other Kenyan islands on Lake Victoria.
Areas of dispute
Fishermen on the shared waters of the lake.
[PHOTOS: Jacob otieno/STANDARD]
Remba, Ringiti islands and parts of Muhuru Bay are other areas of dispute where Kenyan fishermen have recently been arrested for allegedly fishing in foreign waters.
Bandits have capitalised on the presence of the military to harass fishermen by either assaulting them or confiscating their catches.
Otuoma says the fresh boundary conflicts are more about the scramble for the Nile Perch delicacy, which has a high economic export value in international markets.
“It should be understood that the conflict is not only about the boundaries across the lake, but largely economics of livelihood,” Otuoma says.
More than 35 million riparian communities from the region depend on the lake directly for their source of livelihood.
Olando says the Ugandan forces collect taxes from hundreds of fishermen for allegedly fishing on their waters.
The PC, who toured Migingo Island this year, says he informed Internal Security Minister George Saitoti over the occupation by the Ugandans.
“This issue (boundary conflict) should be addressed urgently before fishermen from neighbouring countries turn against each other,” Olando says.
Marine researchers say studies show that fish breed on the Kenyan side of the lake and swim to Uganda and Tanzanian waters after hatching.
Protect fishermen
Osienala (Friends of the Lake Victoria) Executive Director Obiero Ong’ang’a says the Government has abdicated its role to protect its fisher folk.
Osienala is an NGO that came out strongly on several occasions against banditry in the lake five years ago.
Ong’anga says banditry in the lake and especially in beaches of Suba, Bondo and Migori was propelled by laxity of patrols on the resource.
Intensified banditry and harassment forced the Government to allocate three speedboats to enhance patrol and surveillance, which critics say was a drop in the ocean.
Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Assistant Director Richard Abila says banditry increased in early 2000 with the influx of Somali fishermen.
Turning point
“There were many fishermen from Somali, some of who had arms and introduced a fishing method called ‘Tembea’, which caught all fish regardless of size,” says Dr Abila.
The turning point was in mid 2003 when 87 Kenyan fishermen were arrested on May 2 at Sumba and Siro Islands by Ugandan authorities attached to the Revenue Preventive Unit.
The fishermen arrested were released on President Yoweri Museveni’s amnesty following President Kibaki’s intervention.
The arrest came after Tanzanian authorities arrested and released 87 fishermen on the same claims each on a Sh10,000 bond.
Abila says boundary conflicts and island occupants make it difficult to ascertain nationalities of suspects who harass fishermen.
“Ways Island falls on Kenyan territory, but sits at the border with Uganda. The Ugandans are the main occupants and control most fish trade,” he says.
Conflict resolution
Otuoma says the conflict would be handled amicably with the Foreign Affairs and Land Ministries from both countries.
However, there’s hope after East African Fisheries ministers met and agreed on modalities of demarcating the boundaries of the lake’s shared waters.
The three leaders also agreed on a joint fishing policy that would prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unregulated and unprotected fishing habits in the lake
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Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:38:26 -0800 [11/22/2008 07:38:26 PM CST]
forwarded by: otieno sungu
Subject: Is the army protecting us the right way-if at all?
