How guns, hate and politics fuel conflict in northern Kenya

For days, we travelled into the heartland of cattle rustlers, where men have fought each other for generations using rudimentary weapons. But now they have guns. Plenty of them. This land is chaotic and fractured, and the gun-control regime is alien.

Here, politics, clandestine interests, livestock business, both legal and illegal, and a mixture of traditional feuds run concurrently, triggering a deadly mix of violence in a land where the gun is the arbiter.

We found that cattle rustlers, who run the multimillion-shilling cattle theft empire, are buying bullets for Russian-made AK-47 guns and the German Heckler & Koch G3s for as little as Sh100 each. Guns are also being traded for as much as Sh80,000 or exchanged for two to five cows, sometimes in the full glare of police. Outnumbered by armed civilians, police here opt to look the other way.

A Nation investigation found the bullets and guns being sold in open market centres and manyattas, with the traders unperturbed about security agencies. The trade is so common that in one of the centres known as Kokuro, we were offered bullets just a few steps from a police station.

In Kokuro, a small centre characterised by dozens of manyattas, almost every young man carries a gun, just like a traditional totem. Locals told us the government has ignored them. Here, bullets are sold together with groceries in shops and no one seems bothered about this criminal activity.

“The only option is to arm ourselves from the enemy,” Willy Lokamar, a heavily built moran whom we found armed with six AK-47 bullet magazines, told us.

WARRING COMMUNITIES

Mr Lokamar used the word "enemy" to refer to the Didinga, Toposa, Inyangatom and Dassanech communities from neighbouring South Sudan and Ethiopia, with whom they are always at war.

Whereas in the past few months the government launched disarmament exercises across the cattle rustling-prone areas, our investigations in nine counties in the north rift established otherwise.

Last weekend, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i yet again issued another warning for the umpteenth time when he warned those fanning violence in Marsabit to surrender their guns in 24 hours. “They killed our officers and we cannot allow this to continue,” Dr Matiang’i said.

But the threats issued in Nairobi, hundreds of kilometres from this theatre of rustlers, hardly deter these communities from continuing with a tradition that has left thousands dead and livestock worth billions of shillings stolen. The most prevalent guns in the hands of civilians in the north are the AK-47, the G3 and the Australian Steyr rifle.

The Steyr rifle, which remains the basic arm for the Australian Army, was introduced among the Turkana by Italian troops in the 1930s during the occupation of Ethiopia by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The G3s and AK-47s found their way to the region during the cold war and have refused to go away, as they are the choice weapons for rebels and the military.

The Nation established that most of these weapons are sold by gunrunners from across the border, who prefer to sell their guns to the Turkana in Kenya because they command a much higher price. In Narus, a settlement village on the Uganda-South Sudan border, an AK-47 acquired from rebels is sold by the Nyangatom to Karamajong traders for USh107,000 (KSh3,000).

The guns are then smuggled into Kenya through Nakadok and sold for as much as Sh80,000 or five cows. But prices fluctuate depending on demand, supply and the type of weapon on sale. The Heckler & Koch G3 riffle, famously known as the G3 rifle, a German-manufactured gun preferred by the Kenya Defence Forces due to its remarkable firing range, is more expensive and can command prices as high as Sh150,000.

“The G3 bullets are easier to find,” Lokamar tells us.

In addition to gunrunners, some politicians from Baringo, West Pokot, Turkana, Samburu, Marsabit, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Isiolo and Laikipia have been secretly arming their people in the guise of offering them security and protection from other tribes in case they are attacked.

This cycle of violence, suspicion and mistrust of neighbours is the hallmark of Kenya’s arid north, a frontier that looks like a forgotten country. In most of these counties, the most persuasive political campaign promise was to help residents secure gorogoro, a 2kg tin filled with bullets.

A former MP in Baringo for a long time used his position on an influential committee in Parliament to ask for guns and ammunition for Kenya Police Reservists (KPR) in his constituency. The Nation has established that a good chunk of those guns went to civilians and are currently a major cause of insecurity in Kerio Valley.

POLICE INVOLVEMENT

The demand for weapons has also sucked in top police bosses and pitted them against each other, forcing them at times to look the other way as their communities continue to militarise.

This year, 350 guns mysteriously disappeared from a police warehouse in Nairobi, only to be intercepted in Nakuru while on their way to Elgeyo-Marakwet and Turkana ostensibly to arm the KPR. The National Police Service at that time denied that anything of that sort happened.

“Let it be known that the NPS does not, and is not engaged in any secret arming of reservists as borne by our records as well the fact as those recruited are known to the residents where they serve,” said Police Spokesman Charles Owino at that time.

We have, however, been reliably informed that it is Deputy Inspector-General Edward Mbugua who gave the order for the weapons to be intercepted and brought back to Nairobi.

Most of the chiefs who are supposed to help the government in identifying armed people have decided to stand by their communities rather than push for the government agenda.

The lack of cooperation from chiefs is the same reason stolen cows are mostly never found, leaving the government frustrated. “Chiefs should know everything happening around them and pass this information to officers, but they are not loyal to their employer,” says Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya.

Apparently, police bosses who were at that time worried about increasing cases of banditry in the Kerio Valley had not agreed on whether to increase the number of guns in the hands of KPR or not. Without an agreement, some of the police bosses secretly decided to release some of the arms. But even as the police denied this embarrassing incident, it is said that President Kenyatta was so furious when he got wind of it that he ordered the Interior ministry to give him a register of all the firearms with the KPR. When it emerged that there was no registry, the President demanded that all KPRs be disarmed.

While thousands of guns issued by the KPR were returned, those owned by families still dot the region. While it is not entirely clear why politicians are arming their communities, the source of the problem runs back to the 1970s and 1980s when President Daniel Moi’s administration decided to arm the Turkana. Sudan’s Islamic revolution, which led to the fall of Gaafar Numeiry, led to an arms mobilisation by the Karamajong of Uganda.

Mr Moi’s administration argued at that time that the arming of the Turkana was also meant to deal with Uganda’s Karimojong, who carted away arms and ammunition from the fallen Moroto barracks after the fall of Idi Amin in Uganda. Consequently, the Pokot, who neighbour the Turkana and the Karamajong, felt naked with bows and arrows. They too started to buy guns from Somali cattle traders.

The Pokot bought more guns from fleeing Ugandan soldiers after the ouster of Idi Amin in 1979, which resulted in the fall of the Moroto barracks, where about 15,000 guns and two million rounds of ammunition were kept. By this time, an arms race had begun in Kenya between the pastoralist communities. Since then leaders and military officials from these areas have been under pressure to arm their communities, leading to an endless quest for guns.

But even with that, the endless arming of the KPR by the government and the politicisation of communal security has turned out to be the main contributor to the mayhem in the north.

POLICE ENTANGLED

In yet another incident, where the police got entangled in the arming aspirations of some communities, a vehicle bearing government registration numbers was stopped at the Kawalake Bridge in Lodwar. On inspection, the vehicle, which we have established belongs to the Turkana South CDF office, was found with six AK-47 rifles and 30 rounds of ammunition. The three occupants of the vehicle – a woman who works for the Turkana South CDF office, the driver and a reservist – were taken to court and charged with illegal possession of firearms.

The Nation has been told that local journalists were threatened against reporting the incident.

The discovery of the cache, believed to have been bought from South Sudan, created tension between the Turkana and the Pokot that lasted weeks. It is in this pandemonium that Turkana South MP James Lomenen fired what could at best be described as an inflammatory tweet at his counterpart from Tiaty, William Kamket. No action has been taken against the MP about the tweet or the discovery of weapons in a car assigned to his constituency.

“Not having people in court does not mean we haven’t summoned them,” says Mr Natembeya when asked about the vehicle. “It is a case we are still investigating and when we have strong evidence that CDF money is being used to buy ammunition we will charge them,” he says.

*****

SOME OF THE BIGGEST RAIDS OF 2019

JANUARY 3: Armed bandits in Yatya, Baringo North, shoot dead a herder and make away with more than 30 head of cattle.

JANUARY 6: Suspected bandits from West Pokot raid villages in Kamelei, Elgeyo-Marakwet, and steal an unknown number of cows. This comes just a day after leaders from the two communities, security teams, elders and religious leaders held a peace meeting in Kapsait village in West Pokot.

FEBRUARY 6: Eight killed, seven injured and livestock stolen in Lokorkor, Samburu, in an attack by over 300 bandits.

FEBRUARY 10: One person killed and more than 700 cattle driven away by suspected bandits in Nabwel Nyang village, Samburu North.

FEBRUARY 10: Bandits raid homes in South Gem in Siaya County and make away with 40 cows.

MARCH 6: Officers acting on a tip from the public arrest seven suspects in Bahati, Nakuru County, believed to be behind the theft of livestock.

MARCH 7: Three people, among them two church leaders, are killed in Kaongo Atune, on the Meru-Isiolo border, by suspected bandits. Rev Josphat Kalunge, Pastor Henry Nkunja and Benjamin Kaberia were coming from a peace meeting.

APRIL 2: Bandits shoot dead two primary school children during a raid near Tot in Marakwet East. The attackers spray the 10-year-old pupils from Chesowach and Embomir Primary schools with bullets before taking off with more than 200 cattle towards River Kerio.

MAY 20: Armed bandits shoot dead a senior police officer in Merti, Samburu North. The officer was leading a team pursuing rustlers who had stolen 50 cows in Suiyan.

MAY 21: Geoffrey Kamunyareng, a GSU officer based in Lodwar, was on his annual leave at home in Psutonu, near Kamelei trading centre, in Tapach Ward, Elgeyo-Marakwet, when he was shot dead as he responded to a distress call from his neighbour, whose eight cows had been stolen. The cows were driven towards Embobut Forest.

MAY 23: Six schools along the West Pokot, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Baringo borders close after a string of attacks in Kerio Valley. The attacks led to 30 deaths in a span of two months. The schools are Liter, Kalya, Kabero, Kamelei, Tendererwa ‘A’ and Tenterwa ‘B’ primary schools.

MAY 27: One person is killed and another seriously injured after bandits spray them with bullets in Cheputulel in Pokot Central. The two were on a motorcycle heading for Chesegon from Lomut trading centre when they were ambushed.

JUNE 3: Bandits steal pedigree cows from farmers in Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County. Five of the cows are later found in Kisii.

JUNE 13: A one-and a half year-old girl is among five people killed after bandits believed to be from the Borana community attack Quri village on the Isiolo-Garissa border. The baby was shot while on her mother’s back, who was running away from the bandits.

JULY 3: One man shot dead and 250 cattle stolen at Elle-Bor village in Marsabit County. The cattle are traced to Idido village in Maikona, about 40km from the scene, but police fail to recover them.

AUGUST 25: Twelve people are killed at Forole in Marsabit County and over 1,500 livestock stolen.

SEPTEMBER 17: Three herdsmen are killed and more than 100 camels stolen by bandits in Garbatula, along the Isiolo-Garissa border. The stolen animals are driven towards Garrisa.

OCTOBER 13: Bandits attack Lanyiru village in Laikipia and steal 109 goats after killing one herder.

NOVEMBER 1: Bandits kill a herder in Laisamis, Marsabit and steal 40 camels. The attackers believed to have come from Merti Town flee towards Wajir County.

NOVEMBER 3: A vehicle ferrying passengers is attacked by bandits along the Badassa-Shurr road in Marsabit. Some of the passengers sustain injuries as bandits make away with their personal effects.

NOVEMBER 6: Thirteen people including two policemen are killed in an attack at Jaldesa, 25km away from Marsabit town. Government announces forceful disarmament in the area following the attack.

– By Claire Wasilwa