Wagalla Massacre 1984

[ABSAME']

How Kenyan government massacred Somalis in Wajir. Over 4000 Somalis were killed in five days by Kenyan authorities.


A sombre mood engulfed wajir town local resident commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Wagalla massacre. During the Wagalla massacre, government security forces are said to have killed 3,000 people. Under the scorching sun and soaring temperatures, the residents marked the occasion with a peaceful demonstration to Wagalla airstrip, where men from the Degodia clan were executed after being lured by security men before they were executed. The Kenya human rights commission chairman Maina Kiai attended the occasion and urged the ministry of education to include the wagalla massacre in school syllabus.


http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=20290



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Human rights violators must pay for crime
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Kenyans should take past human rights violators to the International Criminal Court.

This is because it is impossible to prosecute them locally.

State security agents who carried out the Wagalla massacre in 1980s where hundreds of Kenyan Somalis were killed at Wajir airstrip on suspicion that they were shiftas should head the list of those to be prosecuted.

Those behind the infamous Nyayo House torture chambers where government critics were tortured, killed and maimed must answer for their actions.

As the curtains falls on three former dictators and notorious human rights violators — Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Ethiopian Prime Minister Mengistu Haile Mariam and Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet — Kenyans and Africans should take the cue of the rest of the world to ensure such people do not get away with the crime. Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic died on March 11 after suffering a heart attack in his jail cell.

His death brought to an end his trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In November Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He was accused of engineering the slaughter of many Kurds during his iron fist reign in Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died this December aged 91. He ordered the military to kill more than 3, 000 of his alleged opponents and tortured about 28,000 people were tortured, including current Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Recently, an Ethiopian court found exiled former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam guilty of genocide in absentia.


http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news_ ... 1143962610

[ABSAME']

THE WAGALLA MASSACRE
ASSEMBLY OF EVIDENCE
Categories of evidence
Oral evidence
There is an enormous mount of evidence to be collected in order to build a case against the perpetrators. Wagalla massacre left too many victims on its way. There are those who saw what happened as bystanders because they come from communities other than the target community. They are victims because of the trauma left by what they saw during and after the massacre. There are survivors of the massacre who escaped with their life, those who were released from the Wagalla airstrip because they were civil servants or school children. The rescue teams organized by various groups who helped collect bodies and bury them in mass graves have important perspective in their statements. The families of the victims who died in the massacre are also important both as witnesses.
1. Statements by survivors
Affidavits by survivors will shade light on exactly what happened in the Wagalla airstrip. There are thousands of survivors who were able in one way or another able to escape the carnage that occurred at Wagalla.
Firsthand information that explains the event can only be given the people who were inside the whole event. While collaborative evidence can be collected from the rest of the oral evidence categories, the most important and most admissible evidence will be a consistent description from the survivors of the massacre. Their submissions will form the basis on which the whole case will stand. The rest of the evidence will be of a collaborative nature.
The Wagalla massacre is a 21-year-old affair, so many detail have been lost due to the trauma and the ensuing neglect. Some people may have blocked the whole issue out of their mind. Others refuse to discuss and usually see it as too important to warrant discussion and wonder why people will want to trivialize such and issue by bringing it to public scrutiny.
When Willy Legg, a doctor, J. J. Moyo, a social worker and Dina Kituyi, a psychologist visited some survivors of the massacres they were overwhelmed by the extent which people have endured the pain and how raw emotions still came to the fore every time the issue was discussed.
Comparing the accounts of different survivors and putting it in the perspective of the whole issue can only bring out the real truth. The extent of brutality can also be gauged from what the survivors experienced and what they suffered. Some survivors still recall the faces of their tormentors and that is a way of building a case against the perpetrators. The testimonies of survivors is readily available and can be collected very easily if and when required except where survivors have succumbed to old age or the injuries that they suffered at the hands of their tormentors.
The potential for coming to terms with the state of affairs as it occurred and moving on is also enhanced if testimonies from this group is collected without adversarial cross examination initially.

2. Statements by families of victims
Fatuma is a survivor of the 1984 massacre where over 4,000 civilians were murdered, two of whom were her brothers. She states that’ until the state tells her who was responsible, she feels disgraced to be a Kenyan citizen.
“To date I cannot comprehend. The person with whom my siblings and I were dependent upon for my education and liveli hood had been killed. All members of the family stopped attending school. The married one had 4 children and his wife
was expectant. I now provide for the lastborn’s education who is now in form three.”
She concluded by adding that the media did not cover the state managed killings and consequently very few Kenya’s know of it. She sought to understand why so many people were killed and their families left in impoverished. She would like to seek justice by bringing those responsible to book. Fatuma wanted a Commission that would address justice concerns and she stated quite clearly that she was not ready fro reconciliation until justice had been obtained by her and her family. Thereafter she may be able to reconcile not just with the security forces that she holds responsible for her suffering but also other Kenyans who she feels were part of the conspiracy of silence that engulfed the issue for the last twenty-one years.
The above testimony is that of a family member of victims who saw what happened to her brothers and whose pain is personal and real. Such statements are available as evidence and are admissible in court if the person saw his relative being taken away by the Soldiers.
A selected section of family members of victims could be interviewed initially as sample and later as part of the wider research project. The interviews will be recorded on tape both audio and video. This is necessitated by the fact that most of mothers and fathers who lost their sons and daughters are too old and may not survive any longer. At the moment, the following survivors and victims have been identified: -
An old woman who lost two of her sons and who has lived through the loss.
She hopes that one day some form of justice can be reached and some form of consolation can be given to her through reparations to the family. She hopes that at least she will be alive to see someone take responsibility for what happened. Although just hypothetical at this juncture, there are thousands of these kinds of people all over the place.
A mother who lost her husband and brought up her kids under hardship.
These are the kind of family members who have passed through the worst forms of hardships in the last twenty years. Wagalla massacre left over three thousand widows and especially the areas occupied by the Degodia clan in Wajir town there was social change because of the fact that many families were headed by women. The suffering of women was phenomenal and unparalleled in every way. Collecting testimonies from this group can bring this suffering and will also act as collaborative evidence in cases where the existence of the victim is contestable because no record of him exists.
3. Several women who went insane because of losing their husbands.
Mohamed Elmi was walking in Wajir Town few days after Wagalla massacre and suddenly a women who was going on her way ahead of him burst out, jumping up and down and tearing her clothes into pieces. She practically shattered into pieces right in front of him, went completely crazy and lost all sanity. She probably is still crazy because none of those who became mad at the time actually regained their sanity. Cases of madness because of trauma were so many and especially markedly higher among young mothers. For those who lost it, their children had to be brought up by relatives and as they retreated into their own “safe” world, they had to completely neglect their primary responsibility to their children.
This group is not competent to give any form of evidence because of their state of mind; they are not of sound mind and the law treats them like children, but they are a form of evidence in themselves. The fact that they exist means that something must have happened to them that altered their state of mind and led to their madness. It is a pointer to the extent, which the society has suffered and can be used in gauging the level of reparations that can be termed as adequate.
4. Two boys who lost their father in the massacre and who have so far completed college.
Today something has changed. The orphans whose fathers were killed at Wagalla have matured and despite the harsh terrains of life they had to endure some have made it while others are holding on. This group of family members endured the hardships that resulted from the single parent families or orphan conditions. Some were able to access education and have done well for themselves while others lost everything and are now still reeling from poverty and indignity. The members of this group are not important as evidence of the massacre itself but the effects of the massacre on the past, present and future of the society. Their submissions could also be used in determining the level of loss suffered by families.
These cases were selected because of their gravity and it is possible to collect over one thousand names of survivors and their families. The interviews will be recorded and documented as evidence to be presented to court or an international tribunal.
3. Statements by eyewitnesses: local eyewitnesses
There were very many witnesses to Wagalla massacre. Many of the people who saw what happened and who were not particularly targeted are ready to testify and say the real truth of what they saw. After the initial jubilation occasioned by clan animosity, the people found out that their neighbours and friends have perished and in fact there was no one to either compete with or to spur with. All that remained were women and children and the survivors who were too scared to be interested in the competitive clan politics among Somali clans.
The eyewitnesses from other Somali clans other than the targeted clan, including civil servants and former military officers are willing to provide oral evidence. This evidence is important for confirmation and corroboration.

4. Statements by independent eyewitnesses
Independent eyewitnesses at the time are mainly Europeans who were working for various charitable institutions. Some of them participated in the rescue mission that helped many of the survivors and collected the bodies of the dead for burial. These include two teachers who were attached to Sabunley Secondary School, several who were working with NGOs and those who got reports from the field and who were attached to diplomatic missions.

Written evidence
1. Government reports
There is no movement of government resources without records. Troop deployment at the time must have been recorded somewhere and the other resources must have been accounted for. The government has already accepted that there was a security operation and the operation was grossly abused. The new government agrees that Wagalla massacre was in fact genocide.
There are records available of the various meetings that took place before the massacre. There was a meeting at national level attended by members of the National Security Committee in Nairobi where the idea of punishing and killing the people of Wajir was extensively discussed.
Another important meeting took place at the Provincial Headquarters of North Eastern Province and this meeting brought together members of the Provincial Security Committee. Yet another meeting was held at Wajir Town and was attended by all Members of District Security Committee except the Members of Parliament from the targeted community who were barred from attending.
Government records are also show the fact that over 52 civil servants actually deserted their job on a single day on February 1984; there was no reason for these men to leave their job unless they all died. These fifty-two men are the number of civil servants who perished in Wagalla.
An investigation was carried out by a police investigator, Stephen Amaratia and recorded all that happened at Wagalla. Although such investigations are likely to be doctored, they are useful in establishing the pattern of events at the time. The policeman who carried out the investigation has insinuated that his report was accurate at the time of filling and correctly showed the events as were recalled by witnesses.
Government reports also show that Anna Lina Tonneli was deported from Kenya in the days following the massacre.
Government reports also include the Hansard, which records parliamentary proceedings. The reaction of parliamentarians when the late Ahmed Khalif brought to their attention the gross inhuman actions of the Kenya Armed Forces was that on nonchalance and indifferent indignation. In his ubiquity and genteel brutishness, Mwai Kibaki, the then vice-president of Kenya, demanded that Khalif be given chance to substantiate his allegations. The evidence the late Khalif presented to parliament, which included photographs of dead people, is still recorded in the parliamentary record.
The statement by Ole Tipis, which explained away the actual actions of the Security Forces, is also part of the evidence that can be used to collaborate the gravity of the matter and it’s effect on the local population. This statement does not specifically deny that there was an operation but gives figures of people killed which was stated at the time as fifty-seven. Fifty-two of this figure were only civil servants, another four hundred men were identified as dead, there are thousands unaccounted for to-date. The fact that Tipis does not deny the operation itself makes his statement an important piece of evidence.
The government information office has recorded the matter in detail and photographs and other essential records are available.
2. Amnesty report of 1984
The annual report of Amnesty International detailed the Wagalla massacre and took issue with the government for gross violations of human rights. The weight of this report is not necessarily it’s factual accuracy but the acknowledgement that serious human rights violations warranting condemnation from international organizations had occurred. The real facts of the matter can be distilled from the various bits and pieces of evidence that exist independently.
The authors of the Amnesty report can appear as witnesses and explain the basis on which the report was filed. They can also shed light on the reaction of Kenya on the whole issue.
3. UN report by Amos Wako
Amos Wako, the current Attorney General of Kenya, was a Special Rapportour to the UN Secretary General and was concerned with issues of reporting arbitrary and summary executions. Mr. Wako wrote a report about Wagalla massacre for the UN and admits that his report was extensive and critical of the Kenya government.
As evidence this report is important so long as Wako is the AG in Kenya and he will be the one to provide defense to the government in a court of law. This report is available in the UN Library.
4. Condemnations of the massacre by International Community
Immediately after Wagalla massacre occurred many in the international community were outraged. They condemned what they saw as blatant disregard for human life. Over 19 countries were united in their disgust with what they termed as genocide. The most vocal in this action were the Scandinavian countries specifically Norway. The U.K and Canada accorded refugee status to those fleeing Kenya for fear of further repression.
There are records of these condemnations and the basis on which they were drawn up. This
5. Lists of the dead
The names of those who died in the massacre and who could immediately be identified were collected and preserved. Currently there are over four hundred names who are known but the least has been increasing as more people come forward with new names as the available names are circulated.
The identity of the victims can be verified by crosschecking them against the records of the Registrar of Persons or through the sworn affidavits of those who knew them.
Initially the names were collected through the elders of particular families and later published in the media. For instance there was a list published in the press in the early nineties and a list has also appeared on the Kenya Somali Community in North America website. An appendix of these names appears at the end of this book.
6. Media reports
The Kenyan media was hostile to issues concerning the Northern Frontier Districts until the emergence of multi-party democracy in 1992. The story about Wagalla was given a complete black out by the Kenyan press at the time of the incident but various other media outlets adequately covered the story.
“It is significant to note that at this juncture, the local press gave the genocide no prominence. In fact only one of the local dailies carried a very brief news story over the massacre. In general, the Kenya press behaved as if nothing had happened, and if it were not for the International press, the world would not have known what happened at Wagalla. I wish to give my salutations to BBC Radio, Duetchewelle of Germany, Radio South Africa, Voice of America, and the American press in general, Radio Tehran etc for the wonderful coverage of our press conference. The African press generally was not helpful. Even Radio Mogadishu of the Somali Democratic Republic, which would have given the matter great attention in normal circumstances because of the ethnic dimension of the massacre, did not do so, probably because the ailing regime of that time in Somalia was trying to mend fences with Kenyan authorities as a matter of survival. I also wish to pay my tribute to the United Nations for remembering the victims of he massacre in one of their sessions.” The late Ahmed Khalif Mohamed, Former Minister for Labour.
7. Books, at least one book.
Wagalla massacre did not attract many Kenyan writers or researchers. As expected the issue just gathered dust without interest from Kenyan researchers but there was interest from the international community. A former NGO staff member and one of the rescuers at the time of Wagalla committed his experiences to paper in a little book titled “Wagalla Massakren”. The book is Norweigian language and is banned in Kenya even after the Moi regime was defeated at the polls.
George Monbiot, the Guardian Columnist also wrote about Wagalla massacre in his book “No Man’s Land” on in formation supplied by Mohamed Elmi of Oxfam and others. The book although no so accurate factually is part of the evidence that can be used to corroborate the other stories from other sources.
The play “In the eyes of the Miaow” by Abjad Xudayi is a recreation of the events following Wagalla from perspectives of those who were left behind; the women and children. This play can be used to gauge the magnitude of the massacre and it’s effects on the vulnerable members of the society. Termed as “a play whose main characters are dead” by Professor Kivutha Kibwana, the play shows the helplessness of the situation from the viewpoint of uninterested but involved pet.
8. A letter of admission from former minister to a former MP
The best kind of evidence is one in which a person incriminates himself. The is evidence whereby a former powerful minister in charge of security portfolio wrote to a colleague of his, a former MP admitting to the fact he ordered the operation but did not anticipate that a massacre will be the end result. He regrets what happened and
According to a popular and highly respected source the same minister admitted to this state of affairs in front of a reconciliation committee of elders in 1993. No formal record of this is available but witnesses can attest to the accuracy of this admission.
The late Ahmed Khalif was particularly concerned that the importance of this evidence may not be explored. He also wanted the concerned minister to clear his name.
9. The appointment letters to the trust fund proposed by president Moi in 1992
Before the elections of 1992, the then president Daniel Arap Moi called the Degodia elders and apologized to them. He also asked the District Commissioner of Wajir to set up a board for a trust fund for the families of the victims of Wagalla massacre.
The trust fund was never to be, but the letters were issued to several elders and professionals. This letters act as a piece of evidence pointing to the fact the even the president admits to having committed this crime of genocide.
10. Letters by the Local Government Union asking for help from the head office.
Of all the departments affected by the Wagalla massacre, the Wajir County Council was the worst. They lost seven of their workers and twenty-two houses belonging to their staff members were burnt. In an effort to assist the families of the victims, A. A. Samatar, the Branch Secretary of Kenya Local Government Workers Union, wrote two letters to the head office of the Union asking for contributions. He did not mention the fact the members died in Wagalla but he unsuccessfully sought assistance for their families.
These letters establish the facts about the sudden disappearance of more than fifty-two civil servants from their stations between within four days in February 1984. The letters are reproduced in full at the end of this book.

Pictorial evidence

Hundreds of black and white pictures can be collected from various sources.
1. Photographs of the incident by government agents
Photographic evidence of the event is available from the government information office. The photographs have been confirmed to be still safe and available as evidence. The photos show various scenarios from the security forces arresting people to dead bodies. These pictures are a source of confirmatory information on the recollection of survivors and witnesses. They also form an objective and identifiable action that cannot easily be refuted in a court of law.
2. Photographs by the rescue team led by Anna lina Tonneli
There were photographs mainly of dead bodies and mass graves taken by a team led by the late Anna Lina Tonneli. These photos can be traced to various individuals who have been keeping for safety. These photos will also be used to paint the real picture from the perspective of independent observers and by linking them with the photos from the government information office validate the claims of witnesses.

Forensic evidence
Mass graves are already known to exist in several places at Wajir town and around Wagalla airstrip. Mass graves will be identified and marked, photographed and filmed so that their existence is undisputable. Digging up of mass graves will be the job of the specialized forensic experts needed to establish them as evidence.
1. Exhumation of bodies and examination by specialists
The Argentinean Forensic Anthropology Team led by Dr. Luis Fondebrider have shown interest in carrying out exhumations of the bodies in the mass graves to try and determine the cause of death. This will help establish the supporting evidence needed to show the gravity of the situation and also act as original evidence relating directly to the victims.
The Independent Medio-Lego Unit is ready to provide technical and financial support to the team of experts.
2. Examination of chemical contents of soils where bodies were burnt or dissolved by chemicalsThere are places where the bodies of the victims actually disappeared into the sand because the military had poured some chemical onto the bodies in order to hide the evidence. Examination of the soil content of the area will reveal the type of chemicals and the difference in the soil chemical content unless such chemicals were biodegradable

posted by xudayi at 5:30 AM

[AbdiWahab252]

Allahu Naxaristo !

[DawladSade]

the only good degoodiye is a dead one ilaahay hau naxariisto laakiin

[AbdiWahab252]

DawladSade

Why are u hating on maskiinta ?

[DawladSade]

[quote="AbdiWahab252"]DawladSade

Why are u hating on maskiinta ?[/quote]


Because they are your reer abti.

[AbdiWahab252]

Dowlo:

Thats focked up.

These were innocents killed by Baboons.

I never laugh at the massacre of innocents esp by shisheye

[DawladSade]

[quote="AbdiWahab252"]Dowlo:

Thats focked up.

These were innocents killed by Baboons.

I never laugh at the massacre of innocents esp by shisheye[/quote]


Dude how do you think it is when the sankadhuudhe give the Garre and Degoodiye weapons to kill Mareexaan and the retards do it???

We Mareexaans always say the good NFDian is the Muriile. All the others can perish..

Garre tried to massacre the Muriile and that's how Cali-Dheere had to teach them a lesson a year ago, cuz the Muriile and Cali-Dhere are like Bush and Blair, makala haraan.