Presentation at Institute of Security Studies (ISS), Nairobi

ISS and HSF Seminar, Nairobi

Event Date: Thursday 31st July 2014.

Upsurge in Violence in Kenya: Nature, Dynamics and Options for Resolution

By Salah Abdi Sheikh

Introduction

In 2009, I wrote an e-book, “Out of Control: How Kenya is sliding into Civil War”. The central
thesis of this book is that this country has lost many opportunities to avoid the fate that befell
many African Countries. There was a lost opportunity at independence to change the components
of the future Kenya State. Kenyatta lost the opportunity to undertake programmes that would
deepen literacy and promote nationhood. Moi lost the opportunity to radically rethink the State in
the light of the fires that were burning around him; it is during the era of Moi that many African
countries fought destructive civil wars. However the spectacular failure to reform falls on the lap
of Kibaki who on coming to power with a reform agenda, adopted incrementalist ideas that did
not reform the civil service, the security systems and failed to decisively deal with corruption. In
2009, the information I had to work with was adequate for me to come to the conclusion that
Kenya is at the brink of disaster. I still hold that view, only that the urgency of it has changed.

Northern Kenya: A violent history

Kenya gained independence in 1963. The formation of the Kenya state was contentious. A half
the landmass of the country did not want to be part of the Kenya commonwealth. That half was
dominated by pastoralists while the other was predominantly farmers. The pastoralists were
predominantly Muslim while the rest were predominantly Christian. Generally, in Africa,
Muslims live in the North while Christians live in the South. Also Muslims also live in the Coast
while Christians live inland. Again broadly nomads are Muslims and Farmers are Christians.
Many historians may contest these observations but it applies. This state of affairs also applies to
Kenya. The Northern Frontier Districts (NFD) rejected to be part of Kenya. Their aspirations
were mixed, majority of Somali speakers wanted to join Somalia while non-Somalis wanted to
form their own state. It is believed that a rudimentary plebiscite conducted in the lasted days of
the British rule resulted in 88% rejecting to join Kenya.

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Why did the North refuse to join Kenya? Three things were at stake, fear of domination by
farmers, fear of conversion to another religion and fear of landlessness. Obviously their fears not
expressed so articulately. Immediately after independence, the NFD began to stone the new flag
and irredentism and secession war began. The war lasted for almost five years. In that period the
Kenya Government spared no effort in killing and plundering the North. In this period almost all
the nomads left the country with their animals to Somalia and Ethiopia. In1967/68, there was a
cessation of hostilities declared through the effort of President Kenneth Kaunda who held
mediation talks with Mohamed Egaal, former PM of Somalia and former President of
Somaliland and former President of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta. Certain agreements were reached but
the contents of the document that was signed remains shrouded in mystery. The violence of what
is now called the Shifta War did not diminish with the end of the war itself. The methodology
developed by the security forces to fight the war was adopted to control the population of the
North in peacetime but became the national security policy for the whole of Kenya in later years.

To deal with the population of the North who were reluctant to be loyal citizens, certain actions
were taken by the Kenya Government; militarization, security operations, denial of identity,
denial of infrastructure and excision of land. Even after the cessation of hostilities, Jomo
Kenyatta refused to lift the State of Emergency that was imposed at the start of the war. The
emergency laws applied up to 1992 when they were repealed. Emergency law allowed for the
Minister in-charge of security to make laws for the closed districts. The Provincial
Commissioners became the de-facto state Presidents with unregulated executive powers.
Emergency law allowed for complete militarization of the North.

In the NFD, law and order was kept in a rather bizarre way. Communities were confined to the
clan borders. Collective responsibility for individual crimes was part of the policing strategy.
Entire communities were punished for crimes like robbery conducted by known individuals. And
this continued throughout the Kenyatta era, Moi era and even Kibaki era. Abdication of
individual responsibility for crimes created a situation where communities in the North do not
use the established justice system for handling criminal and civil matter. Particularly in the
Somali and Borana regions, parallel justice system usurps the judiciary, the prosecutorial service
and the Police in keeping the piece. In fact for purpose of law and order, the Kenya State is
regarded as colonial setup that subjugates the population. There is no trust that the system will
work in any kind of crime from murder to simple case of stealing chicken. All these issues are
handled through clan court system, which is based on the premise that there is no crime without
restitution. Security operations in the North meant abuse of the population and at times large-
scale slaughter. Three important incidents come to mind; the Malkamari Massacre in 1978, the
Garissa Massacare 1980 and Wagalla Massacre 1985. Each of these cases involved a military
operation that ended up killing the people it was supposed to protect. The excuse for these
military operations was at first shifta activities, then poaching and then clan fighting.

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Denial of identity was achieved through a policy that registered clans as tribes such that in 1999
Census, the population of Somalis was 24,232 while Ogaden, a clan of Somali was 71,797. This
an interesting observation since it cut across the entire previous census except 2009 when the
Somali population suddenly jumped 2.3 Million. It took a court order for the government to
accept this rather odd looking figure. The Kenya Government Policy on the North amounted to
denial of existence. This was coupled with denial of citizenship. In his Law School dissertation,
Judge Mohamed Warsame handled the issue of citizenship very well. The idea of citizenship
issues specifically for Somalis did not begin with the influx of refugees from Somalia. In fact,
there were police swoops against illegal aliens of Somali origin every year since 1963.
Sometimes the swoop was spectacular like in 1989 when the government finally carried out an
order given by President Moi in 1978, 10 years late. The exercise which was dubbed “Kenya-
Somali Registration and Verification” involved issuing apartheid type special pink cards to
members of the Somali community. More than 25% of the population was deported to countries
all over East Africa. In 1978, there was a swoop in Eastleigh netting 75 aliens, some were
deported and some were released after paying the facilitation fees.

The area known as Northern Kenya is considered no man’s land. A book by that title by George
Monbiot, the Guardian Columnist, actually exists. It refers the land occupied by the nomads in
Kenya and Tanzania. NFD was divided into what was named North Eastern Province and some
parts annexed to the Coast and others to Eastern province. Probably this was to make the region
unviable as a future state. The excision of land included parts of the Lamu County in which
today’s violence is concentrated. The discovery of oil and gas in the former NFD will lead to
further loss of land for the pastoralists.

The last of the actions the Kenya Government took that had an impact on today’s reality is the
denial of infrastructure. The whole of the former North Eastern Province has seven Kilometres of
tarmacked road. That means, of the distance from Garissa to Mandera, a distance of almost 800
Kilometres, only seven is actually tarmacked. Hospitals, schools and other facilities are either
non-existent or not functional. The County Governments are trying to bring a semblance of
development in essential services but the kind of politics that is at play these days will certainly
reduce their impact.

Unlike the NFD, the Coast did not object to joining Kenya. The Kenya Coast was actually
entrusted to Kenya by the Sultan of Zanzibar on the condition that the religious persuasion of the
residents would be respected. The trouble with Coast began in the 1990s. In 1997, tribal violence
killed 65 people including 13 Police Officers and displaced over 10,000 people. It also affected
the tourism business which almost ground to a halt. In this case, Digo tribesmen waged war on
people from mainland communities in a similar way as Mpeketoni attacks. The emergence of
MRC and their secessionist rhetoric is not also necessarily knew, the same rhetoric was used in
1997.

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The Violence in Kenya Today

Kenya is as violent as it has always been but the difference is the violence is widespread.
Traditionally violence was concentrated in the North but today, the Coast is as violent. There is
traditional violence in the North, Garreh-Degodia clan war has claimed over 100 lives in the last
two years. Before that Garreh-Murulleh clan wars claimed around 79 lives in a two year low
intensity conflict. Nothing really new there, clans have been slaughtering each other since the
beginning of time. There is violence related to the war on terror that is new and menacing. We
cannot elaborate on the issue of global war on terror in this presentation but it has spilt to East
Africa in full throttle and it is claiming lives. Then there is violence resulting from grievances
against the State especially concentrated around the Coast. All these violence has cross-
pollinated to create an explosive situation. Adding political instability, ICC and politics and this
country is tottering on the brink of disaster.

The emergence of crimes related to terrorism in Kenya is not a recent phenomenon. Remember
the British considered freedom movements as terrorists. MauMau was listed as a terrorist
organization until recently. Kenya government considered the secessionist movements as
terrorists too. In fact Moi regarded the political opposition as terrorists. Actions that can be
considered terror also occurred in Kenya in the 1960s, when there were explosions, in a bus
travelling to Mombasa and also at the train station. What is new is the form of terrorism that is
related to global insurgent movements with roots in the Middle East. In other words, the new
terrorism is the one perpetrated by Muslim faithful. This began with the American Embassy
bombing of 1998. The violence stemming from terrorism can be broadly divided into three
groups; terrorism by Al-Shabaab and related groups which are probably like that of Westgate
attacks, terrorism that looks copy cat but targeting poorer and less conspicuous places which is
unexplainable like the one that targeted small restaurants and places frequented by the less
endowed urban dwellers and terrorism violence that stems from local grievances meeting the
mobilizing ability of international insurgent groups, now that is happening in Mpeketoni.

Responses to Terrorism and Violence

Kenya’s Invasion of Somalia

Kenya’s foray into Somalia was one strategic mistake that forced the Somali conflict to spillover
to Kenya. The official position is that invading Somalia was a reaction to the kidnapping of aid
workers and tourists. But that is probably for public consumption. The invasion would have
happened anyway regardless of the kidnapping. There was logistical preparation for a while,
there was political state-building in the Jubaland region and Nairobi coffee houses were abuzz
with expectation of a possible military invasion that would create a buffer zone controlled by a
friendly Somali Clan.

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The invasion was preceded by the training of hundreds of Somali youths, mainly Kenyan
citizens, to fight alongside a friendly Somali militia and topple Al-Shabaab from Jubaland
region. This plan failed because the battle hardened rebels did not budge at all. This mercenary
army dispersed with their guns and now forms the bulwark of clan militia causing mayhem in
Northern Kenya. The war in Mandera triangle is partly because of the arms and men that ended
up in the hands of the clans in the region.

When Kenya invaded Somalia, the violence overflowed into Kenya. Kenya itself became an
active target of Al-Shabaab. Previously, the country was suffering incidences of terrorism as part
of collateral damage while the insurgents targeted US interests in the country. Many analysts
warned about the likely tragic consequences of the expedition to Somalia. Now those
consequences have come to pass. The worst part of it is that Kenya is now an active operation
area for Al-Shabaab. Some unintended consequences have occurred; Kenya is now accused of
funding the insurgent group through the charcoal trade. That is expected; nothing out of the
ordinary there, a Kenyan is likely to take an opportunity where he finds it.

The Shoot-to-kill order and Assassinations

Kenyans are amazed at how cheap human life is in this country. Yesterday in Mombasa armed
thugs about to rob a petrol station were cornered by the Police. They arrested the thugs, secured
their guns, and then shot them in the head in full view of the public. The shoot to kill order was
perfected and applied in Northern Kenya during the emergency laws. It was also applied against
poachers. It was used against petty thieves in the 1990s. It was used against Mungiki and other
outlawed groups. Now the Police are trying to implement shoot-to-kill order against terror
suspects.

Assassinations are also a common technique used by the state. So many high profile murders
remain unsolved. In the current times fiery Muslim clerics have fallen by an assassin’s bullets.
The case of Aboud Rogo, Ibrahim Rogo and Khamis Makaburi come to mind. These murders
were never resolved although fingers were pointed towards government involvement. The
government has adopted the Obama doctrine of “targeted assassinations” and it is having a
devastating. While Obama’s targets were mainly foreign suspects or Americans in foreign lands,
Kenya’s targets are citizens suspected to be colluding with outlawed groups.

Operation Usalama Watch and other security crackdowns

Operation Usalama Watch was conducted against Somalis in Kenya with the aim of flushing out
urban refugees from Somalia. The operation was typical in every sense. It was hyped and it was
being carried out in the glare of the social media where everything was being documented. It was
complete with a concentration camp and it targeted a community that has suffered such
operations before. Over 10,000 soldiers were deployed in a small densely populated market,
Eastleigh. As expected the operation completely missed its initial objectives and became a witch
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hunt against a community. For all the efforts made, the numbers were miniscule. An important
myth was busted, that Kenya’s urban areas are awash with Somali refugees. The UN and Kenya
Government numbers turned out to be inaccurate. The total number of refugees netted was less a
thousand. Many of the people arrested had to be released. They were Kenyans without Identity
Cards. Operation Usalama destroyed the business hub of the Somali Community in Kenya.
Somali businessmen have now relocated their businesses to Dubai, Kigali, Kampala and
Mogadishu. Remittances from the Diaspora Somalis have dried up and there is zero confidence
in the government among Somalis today.

The Kenya apparatus is designed use “Crackdowns” and “swoops” as the typical approach to
enforcing law and order. These are military style invasion of a locality, arresting everyone in
sight, enforcing curfews, putting roadblocks, shooting in the air and generally creating mayhem
as a show of governmental authority. That almost never deters criminals and crime has been
skyrocketing leading to extremely high level of violence in this country. This militarization of
law enforcement is ineffective and even dangerous. The citizens today are more scared of the
police than the criminals.

Options and Alternatives to addressing violence

If the government approach to law and order was working, the level of violence would have been
at a more normal rate. The current level of violence is exacerbated by the wrong techniques of
dealing with it. Crackdowns, shoot to kill, assassinations and invasion of foreign lands have not
worked. Obviously corruption has completely floored all governmental activities in Kenya. No
government action is free from the tentacles of corruption. Recruitment of Police is the latest
scandal where the process was an utter disaster. This complicates the fight against crime.

There are several effective responses that come to mind in dealing with the rising crime in this
country. Some are long-term and others are short-term

Change of Police Training Methods

If the product is not being accepted by the customers, the producers should change it to suit it to
needs to consumer. The Police don’t seem to have a clue in investigations, evidence collections,
dealing with the public, constitutional rights and citizens’ responsibilities. In fact the Police don’t
seem to know what their mandate is, where is begins and where it ends. Simply, an overhaul of
the training methods would modernize their skills and bring them up to speed with the new
constitution.

Change the Policing Methods; techniques and deployment

There is no coherent policing system in this country. In a country with such level of violence,
Police Presence seems to be dispersed. So the beat system of policing could be used to prevent

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petty crimes. By the way, crimes like robbery with violence are so high in some places that
residents are leaving in droves.

Effective Investigations, evidence collections, prosecutions and correctional systems

These are essential to any law enforcement and justice system. Shooting suspects dead is not part
of law enforcement. Enforcing roadblocks, curfews and midnight operations in the homes of
target ethnic communities is not part of law enforcement. Shoddy Investigations have led to
inadequate collection of evidence which eventually leads to acquittal of suspects who otherwise
are guilty. The police have made the excuse of carrying out public executions of suspects under
arrest because the courts will acquit such criminals. There is also need to have strong prosecution
services which is central to any civilized justice system. The current happenings in law
enforcement amounts to vigilantism and mob justice. An example is the violence in Mandera and
Wajir Districts. Over 100 people have died in the last two years. No investigations have been
carried out to apprehend any criminal so far.

Social and Economic Justice

One way to quell the insurgency in the Coast is to promote social justice. Land is the issue at
stake and unless that matter is handled, those with grievances will still feel the need to agitate,
sometimes violently, for their rights.

Historical injustices in the North are central to the sense of alienation that breeds support for
groups with ulterior motives. Lack of infrastructure creates competition among ethnic
communities which breed violence.

Conclusion

The violence in Kenya has been increasing for decades, in fact from independence. The level of
violence today is such that the country looks like a pre-war African state. The state of affairs
today looks like a race to the bottom and this is costing the country politically, economically and
socially. It is important that everyone steps back from what has not worked in the past and adopt
a different approach. The government must now discard the colonial systems of controlling the
population to modern methods of dealing with crime in consultation with the citizenry.

The central idea is that the Police and law enforcement must respect the law themselves. The
new constitution in Kenya gives certain rights to the citizens and residents of Kenya. Those
rights should be respected regardless of the magnitude of crimes being committed.

Presenters Bio:
Salah Abdi Sheikh is the author of "Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of
1984". He has interest in the recent History of Somalis in Kenya, an area he is oft
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quoted. He is a commentator on social issues specializing on the Horn of
Africa. Currently Salah is the Acting Dean of School of Business and Technology at
Umma University.