WardheerNews Editorial
Ever since the Kenya government sent its forces into southern Somalia to tackle the militant Jihadist group Al-Shabab that has been wrecking havoc in its territory leading to the death of foreigners and Kenya nationals alike, the Kenyan police and other security agencies have been committing unprecedented crimes and human rights violations against Kenya-Somalis and refugees from Somalia in the name of the War on Terror. Kenya’s latest massive security operation has been condemned in the strongest terms by a section of Kenya-Somali politicians, religious leaders, and human rights groups and The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who claimed to have been denied access to Somali refugees and other asylum seekers.
In a recent massive security swoop carried out by the Kenya security forces, an estimated 4,000 Kenyan-Somalis and Somali refugees were forcefully and against their wishes and in violation of their inalienable rights encamped at the most famous playground known as SAFARICOM Kasarani Stadium serving as a psychological torture base as well as a makeshift concentration camp. Such inhumane behaviors contravene the Conventions relating to the Status of Refugees (CRSR).
Surprisingly, even the honorable former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, termed the security operation that exclusively targeted Somalis as mirroring the Wagalla Massacre of 1984 in which thousands of innocent Kenyan-Somalis were held in a concentration camp outside Wajir town in the infamous Wagalla airstrip that continues to haunt many innocent civilians whose relatives were killed, tortured and raped by the security forces remorselessly for days. One cannot help but ask is history repeating itself. Targeting a select ethnic group such as Somalis whenever there is a security problem in the country is tantamount to hypocrisy and a sign of weakness on the part of the Kenya government.
The crackdown on Somalis has not spared other ethnic groups that have suffered as a result of a mistaken identity as Somalis, mostly Ethiopians and Eritreans. The significance of the security operation is one lacking strategic intelligence thus making it shrouded in mystery and more terrorizing than the terrorists that struck Kenya many times. The manner the sweeping, dehumanizing operation was conducted contravenes national and international laws.
Eastleigh, a major suburb of Nairobi and a strategic business hub, which is estimated to bring about 25% of council taxes and estimated revenues of 1.5 billion a year ( Wikipedia) and populated by Somalis, was the most affected. It is here where Somalis encountered collective punishment at the hands of the undisciplined, dreaded Kenyan police. Usually, as has been a common practice for the Kenya police, the indiscriminate killing and arbitrary arrest of Somalis has its roots in the Jomo Kenyatta and Arap Moi eras. Since the Kenya Police Force of those days was poorly paid, the Jomo and Moi administrations allowed the police to get their wages from targeted communities such as Somalis through corruption and bribery. The trend continues to this day and that it’s the reason Kenyan police refer to Somalis as ATM cash machine (Automated Teller Machines.)
The recent sweeping measures did not even spare Somali political figures and other top officials of the nation. On Monday, the senator for Tana River, Ali Abdi Bulle was caught up in a police swoop along Juja Road in Nairobi. In the dragnet that targeted everyone with ‘warya’ features, Senator Ali was held for 30 minutes. He was finally released after police verified his documents.
Borrowing a leaf from the phrase “mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka” which translates to “the young of an adult serpent is always a serpent” and coined by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta during his fight against the Shifta insurgency of the 60s and 70s, the Kenyan police has been using that phrase to terrorize Somalis since Kenya’s attainment of independence from Britain on December 12, 1963 when the Kenya flag replaced the Union Jack.
Kenyatta believed that since the Shifta insurgency was instigated by Somalia and that those waging war against him were Somalis, making no distinction between Somalis wherever they may be from made no sense to him. During the Kenyatta era, the catchphrase or motto that was used as a rallying cry was ‘Harambee’ which implied collective effort or reaping together, while for Moi it was ‘Nyayo’. Nyayo in Kiswahili means footsteps. Thus, Moi followed Kenyatta in action and deed. Moi became an absolute dictator for the 24 years he was in power and his treatment of the Somalis in his era followed the footsteps of his predecessor.
Furthermore, under former President Moi, life was not manna for Kenya-Somalis and Somalis of Somalia in any way. During Moi’s tenure of office, atrocities, massacres, and human rights violations were wrought on the Somali civilian populations of Eastern and North Eastern Provinces respectively. Despite the Wagalla Massacre being the most documented, other massacres of equal proportion happened during Moi’s tenure. Because of the pain and suffering inflicted on the poor masses by Moi’s regime, many would like to see him indicted in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Looking at how the current administration of Uhuru Kenyatta is behaving towards Somalis, one is made to believe that, as president, Uhuru is following the footsteps of his father. His targeting of the Somali population in Kenya regardless of where they come from is akin to the philosophical thought of his father who saw Somali as “mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka”. In a nutshell, according to Jomo Kenyatta’s psyche; all Somalis were “nyoka” an out right criminals who had to be dealt with severely.
President Uhuru’s deputy is none other than William Samoei Ruto, a man who is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC for the 2007-8 killing of 1,300 innocent Kenyans. Like Moi, Vice President Ruto is a Kalenjin. The former Organizing Secretary of Youth for KANU (YK92)-a lobby group that fought hard to keep Moi in power during the 1992 presidential election-Ruto politically abandoned Moi when Mwai Kibaki was declared victorious. Besides the 2007-8 indictment, VP Ruto has been incriminated in the 2009 Kenya Maize Scandal and the Kenya Pipeline Company Ngong Forest Land Scandal.
Having written much about the Kenya government’s discriminatory practices against Somalis, allow us to turn our focus on to the futile Somali government in Mogadishu headed by President Hassan Mohamoud.
The silence of the omnipresent president of Somalia Mr. Hassan Sheikh and his lieutenant Abdiwali on these atrocities of the Somalis in Kenya doesn’t only show their indifference but their lack of understanding of their responsibilities as the head of the Somali state.
It was not long ago when the new Foreign Minister of Somalia, Mr. Beyle, was calling Mr. Putin of Russia as an aggressor, claiming the feeble Somali government that can’t even protect its presidential Palace would stand united with the rest of nations calling Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, Where is Mr. Beyle now who cared so much about Ukrainians when his own constituents are giving birth on the dirty floors of a detention center, where is the president and his men when little kids are hit with the barrel of gun that is meant to seal their worldly departure. This deafening silence of the current Somali government of Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and his administration is bewildering to say the least.
WardheerNews calls for:
– The Somali government should condemn and demand from the Kenyan government to cease the inhumane treatment, torture and arrest of the Somalis.
– Kenya government should immediately end the indiscriminate arrest of Somalis in Kenya and safeguard the Genève convention Treaty of Refugees humane treatments.
– To form a committee consisting of Easleigh business owners, elders, police, politicians and community leaders to address security issues.
– To immediately dismantle the inhumane imprisonment of Somalis in the detention center akin to concentration camps of yesteryears in the same week that the majority of concerned world citizens are peeking back into the horrific genocide of Rwanda.
– Bring to justice Kenyan police who are using unmitigated force to terrorize the Somali community in Kenya.
WardheerNews
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