THE UNBELEIVABLE WAGALLA MASSACRE:

Death in the desert

`` The operation was a big success. I have no apology to make on what happened the much I can do is to offer my sympathy to those who lost their lives and to the survivors.’’ Those are the words Mr.BensonKaaria – former North Eastern Provincial Commissioner uttered to TJRC yesterday.

Mr. Benson Kaaria was the North Eastern PC from April 1980 to April 1984. He is also believed to have chaired the provincial security committee meeting on February 9, 1984 which authorized the operation to round up Degodia males.

Let’s get to the roots of the whole ordeal. According to S. Abdi Sheikh’s book ‘ Blood of the Runway, The Wagalla Massacre of 1984’, a week before the massacre, there was a high level meeting in the then Harambee House where the office of VP at the time was located. This meeting is rumoured to have discussed the issue of the Degodia clan in Kenya. Benson Kaaria, who was the PC at the time, gave the final order for the execution of the operation.

On 10^th February, 1984, the Kenyan Air force supported by the military, the police and the Provincial Administration rounded up over 5,000 men, forced them in to a disused airstrip at Wagalla and started slaughtering them one after another. The rounding up was coupled with rape, assault and burning of houses. The target was Degoria – a Somali clan.

The surface of the Wagalla airstrip was made of compact gravel with very sharp edges. The runway was so white that it could reflect sunlight into the eyes of the people inside the airstrip. This was the place where over 5,000 men were deatined on the morning of February 10^th, 1984.

Some of the victims underwent the following: Hassan Sheikh Abdikarim was beaten to pulp and dragged to his house at Leheley Trading Centre and was further tortured in front of his family members before he was tied to the back of the army truck and pulled on the rough road to Wagalla.

A popular old man in Wajir, Haji Warerra was arrested on a Friday, February 10. He said at the airstrip, men were forced to strip and lay on their bellies. ‘’ Those who resisted to go nude were shot.’’ On the following day, the security men poured petrol on some people and set them ablaze. By Saturday afternoon, he realized they would not be released. ‘’ We were now very hungry and thirsty. I saw people drink their own urine. Some weak ones collapsed and died. Those who resisted the order to strip naked were shot outright.’’ Later in the afternoon of the fourth day, about ten Lorries drove in to collect dead bodies and the half-dead. They were piled onto the vehicles and taken to the bush where they were left for hyenas. ‘’I was among those whom security men mistook for the dead. I found myself in Tarbay.’’ Warerra was rescued by an Italian Missionary Anna Lina Tonneli. The events of the five-day ordeal still haunt Warerra forever. He lost sexual desire and suffered hallucinations. ‘’ It can happen anywhere. I might be walking and I hear gunfire, screams and the stench of death. I then have to sit until the images clear.’’

The late Imam of Wajir mosque refused to go nude and was practically stoned to death. Meanwhile, Mohammed Musa was tortured so much that he confessed to owning a rifle. He told the forces that he kept his gun in a well. He explained to them that the well was too flooded for him to reach the bottom. Musa survived Wagalla and lived to tell the tale.

According to eyewitnesses, at first, they were whipped in turns by the soldiers until they were a mess of blood. Then they were suspended from a tree by their testicles and they were finished off using bayonets. This continued for three days and the remaining men bolted the high razor sharp fence to escape but most of them were sprayed with bullets.

So what was the cause?

Though there are different stories explaining this, there are two main dominating versions. The first version states that, the meeting at Harambee HSE took place as a result of perceived threat to National Security by a rebel clan of the Somali tribe. On this basis, a plan was hatched to gather all the male members of the Degodia clan, which was suspected to be troublemakers and punish them until they yield their weapons.

The other version is that it started with a murder in Somalia of a Degodia man. According to the Somali law, the penalty for murder is death but the Somali authorities released the suspect without charge because he was a relative of the former Somali president Siyad Barre. The suspect disappeared and went into hiding with the assistance of the Somali intelligence services. Diplomat Sheikh Yarrow who was from the same community as the murdered man insisted that the murder be apprehended and the law be allowed to take its cause. However, those close to the president objected. Before the matter could be settled, Sheikh Yarrow was appointed as an ambassador to Europe whereby before the first 3 months were over, he was called back to ‘consult’ with the president. However, he was informed that his life was in danger and instead, he flew to Addis Ababa and formed the first Ethiopia based rebel movement against Barre government. This was the root for punishing the Degodia clan. Kenya and Ethiopia host largest numbers of the clan and since Ethiopia was not on friendly terms with Somalia, Kenya was the natural ally that could be used to revenge against the small clan.

Mr. Kaaria, your orders triggered the most inhuman act in the Kenyan history. Over 5,000 lives were claimed during the massacre yet you stand on your grounds to say ‘NO APOLOGIES.’ Go low! You owe an apology to the lost lives and the survivors.