How the Wagalla Massacre occurred and its extent
The unsettling story of the Wagalla Massacre is one of the lowest points in Kenya’s history. The 1984 mass killing reads like a chapter from the 2008 post-election violence.
Like the poll-related chaos, it captures the callousness and cruelty of a people against their compatriots. It all started on February 10, 1984, when members of Degodia, a Somali clan, were gathered by security forces and taken to an airstrip in Wajir.
The operation, which involved regular and administration police as well as the army aimed to disarm the Degodia and force them to identify the bandits committing crimes in the district. The operation covered all areas of the district, including Tarbaj, Leheley, Wajir-Bor and Khorof Harar.
First, the army surrounded Bulla Jogoo and ordered the residents to leave their homes. During the swoop, women were raped, houses burnt and property looted. According to Mr Justus ole Tipis, then a minister in the Office of the President, the residents refused to obey the orders.
The military then forcibly removed men from their houses and took them to the airstrip, 9 miles (14km) West of Wajir Town. Government accounts say those held were interrogated for three days, and a scuffle erupted when the district commissioner, accompanied by the local police division commandant, entered the airstrip.
Some of the crowd fled, while others shouted at government officers. In this confusion and stampede, 29 people died of gunshots or were trampled upon, while 28 others were killed when the army met with resistance. But unofficial sources said the men were stripped naked and their movements restricted to a few narrow steps either forwards or backwards.
After many hours without food or water, the sun still beating down mercilessly, they were told to lie down on their chests on the hot tarmac. Those who disobeyed were shot, while others died of heat exhaustion, others reportedly survived on urine as drinking water.
Yet other residents are said to have been showered with petrol and set ablaze as relatives watched helplessly. Mr Ahmed Khalif, the then area MP, told Parliament the following week that more than 1,000 people starved to death.
