Fw: KENYA: When the Police are the Perpetrators

[Lyn Jones]

 

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From: Marshall Saunders

To: Marshall Saunders

Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 7:37 AM

Subject: Fwd: KENYA: When the Police are the Perpetrators

Hi everyone, FYI

>>> Les Malezer <les.m...@gmail.com> 19/08/2010 4:31 pm >>>

[Aboriginal News]

When the Police are the Perpetrators
Author:  Paula Palmer
CSQ Issue:   34-1 (Spring 2010)

Samburu Under Attack

"I heard bullets, so I rushed out of my house,� said the woman, 
cradling her bandaged arm. �I was only about five meters outside when 
a bullet hit me in the arm, just below the elbow. My children were 
screaming. I saw the police kicking and beating them. Everyone was 
running and crying.�

The woman speaking was sitting in a circle of women in the Samburu 
village of Loruko, in northern Kenya. Together they were recounting 
the day last November when hundreds of Kenyan police attacked their 
settlement.

The attack came at dawn, as police surrounded the village and began 
firing into it.  Families were startled awake that morning by the hiss 
and zing of bullets and the cries of their neighbors as they realized 
they were under assault. Emerging from the darkness of the low mud 
huts called bomas, they saw children, women, and men running and 
crying as uniformed police beat them with heavy sticks and rifle 
butts. Lopeyok Lenkupai picked up his two babies and started running 
toward the edge of the village, but police bullets hit him in the hip 
and the chest, and he fell to the ground.

As police ground troops swarmed through the village flushing everyone 
from their homes, a police helicopter swooped down and circled the 
village to keep the people from escaping. �The police herded us like 
cows outside the village to an open field,� an elder recounted. �There 
were hundreds of us there. They told us to lie down, and then they 
stepped on us with their heavy boots, they kicked us and caned us. 
They beat the children and the ladies who were pregnant, the elders, 
everyone. They beat us all.� In the vacated village, police ransacked 
and looted the bomas. They emptied gourds of milk and dashed people�s 
precious stores of maize flour and rice to the ground. They broke into 
metal boxes where families store their valuables and took cell phones, 
ID cards, school supplies, watches, beads, and a total of $14,000 in 
cash from 110 homes.

As the battered and terrified people found their ways back into the 
village, a cry arose from one of the bomas, where children were seen 
stepping out into the sunlight, covered with blood. �You have killed 
my mother!� a small boy shouted at a policeman, who then peered into 
the dark boma. The policeman came out, blew his whistle, and all the 
troops retreated. When villagers went inside, they found a woman dead, 
her head nearly blasted away, and her infant at her breast. Her name 
was Ndanait Lemantile; she had five children.

A neighbor woman later recalled, �Our sister who was killed, she was 
nursing her baby when she died. We women cannot leave our children 
behind. The old men ran away, but we women, we lay down over our 
children to protect them. We were just waiting for death. This is the 
pain that women feel when we see our children beaten, when we hear 
them cry. We are afraid that the police will come again. We have heard 
that they raped women in other villages. We can�t sleep because of 
what we saw. Our children cry in the night.�

The surprise police attack on the Samburu community of Loruko was just 
one of a series that took place between February 2009 and January 
2010. During this one-year period, at least 10 Samburu villages in 
East Samburu and Isiolo districts suffered police assaults. In every 
attack, police brutally beat women, children, men, and elders, stole 
or destroyed their belongings, and terrorized the entire community. In 
some villages, police committed murder, rape, and arson. In the first 
coordinated attack on three villages in February 2009, the police 
confiscated all the people�s cattle, over 4,000 head, belonging to 86 
families. The loss of their cattle left these Samburu families utterly 
impoverished and dangerously vulnerable to famine at a time of severe 
drought.

Starting in late February of 2009, Cultural Survival began receiving 
disturbing reports of these violent attacks on Indigenous Samburu 
communities, including accounts of death, injury, disability, rape, 
displacement, terror, impoverishment, hunger, disease, and 
malnutrition. In November, we submitted a report to the United 
Nations, and in January 2010, human rights expert Chris Allan and I, 
as Cultural Survival�s Global Response program director, spent two 
weeks in Kenya conducting our own investigation. We recorded testimony 
from Samburu survivors and witnesses in five villages attacked by the 
police, and we interviewed respected leaders of local and national 
NGOs, clergy, health workers, human rights representatives, and 
elected and appointed regional officials. We consolidated our findings 
in a report that we submitted to the Kenyan government, the United 
Nations, the U.S. State Department, and human rights organizations. 
(You can view the report on Cultural Survival�s website:  www.cs.org/samburureport.)

When we arrived in Kenya, the devastating drought of the previous year 
had just ended, and the rains had greened the acacia trees and 
grasses. The forested slopes of the Samburus� sacred mountains rose 
from the vast plains, dotted here and there with the lone acacia trees 
that are emblematic of East Africa. We bounced along the deeply rutted 
dirt roads in our Land Cruiser, passing oblivious giraffes and 
elephants, and even a cheetah who sat motionless in the bright sun. As 
we neared a village, we would begin to see a few low bomas among the 
acacias and then the thorn-bush circular boundaries of the compounds 
called manyattas. As we stepped out of the vehicle, people began 
walking toward us from all directions, unhurried.

�Supa, supa,� they said as they softly shook our hands in welcome, 
smiling and intoning deep �hmmmm�s as we responded, �Supa, supa.� 
Everyone came, taking our hands one by one in greeting.  As our local 
guides and interpreters explained the purpose of our visit, people 
nodded, �Eeh, eeh,� and led us toward a shady spot where we could sit. 
The male elders brought their own tiny, three-legged stools and 
offered the same stools for us to sit on; the women and children 
settled into a circle around us, their colored skirts and red-beaded 
necklaces contrasting brightly with the dirt and ubiquitous dry cow 
dung. And then they began to tell us what happened.
Like the other pastoralist tribes in northern Kenya�the Turkana, 
Pokot, Borana, Rendille, Meru, and Somalis�the Samburu depend on their 
cattle for their survival and for their pride, status, identity, and 
happiness. For centuries, they have guided their herds of cattle, 
sheep, goats, and camels across the vast plains of northern Kenya in 
search of water and pasture. During droughts, they may lose half or 
all their animals, and their own populations rise and fall with the 
size and health of their herds. They know each animal by sight and by 
name and sing songs about them and to them. Cows� milk and blood are 
the Samburus� main source of nourishment and the centerpiece of every 
ceremony and celebration. In Lerata, I watched an elderly Samburu 
woman lovingly stroke and cuddle a calf for hours as we sat in the 
shade of an acacia tree hearing testimonies about the terrifying 
police attacks on her village.

The Samburu people�s daily life revolves around the needs of their 
cattle for pasture, water, and milking. The women milk the cows and 
other livestock in the morning, and boys and young men (morans) are 
charged with finding them pasture and water, protecting them, and 
bringing them home at night to the safety of thorn-bush corrals. The 
morans form a close-knit age set, learn critical survival skills 
together, and protect their communities� precious livestock while 
living on their own, apart from the manyattas. To protect the cattle, 
they face down lions and fight off raiding morans from neighboring 
rival tribes. Through the centuries, the Samburu and their pastoralist 
neighbors have occasionally raided each other�s cattle to replenish 
their stocks after droughts and to exert dominance over prized water 
sources and territory. Cattle raiding has been an unofficially 
sanctioned tradition among the morans as a way of proving manhood and 
gaining status.

But in the months leading up to the February 2009 police attacks on 
Lerata, Laresoro, and Naishamunye, cattle raiding among the Samburu 
and their rival tribes had intensified in both frequency and violence, 
mainly due to the increasing availability of guns in the region. 
Raiders carrying guns are much more likely to kill and injure tribal 
rivals, causing terrible grief and resentment and provoking acts of 
revenge. In early 2009, the communities and politicians were calling 
on the police to capture the cattle thieves and restore law and order. 
And that was the stated reason for the first police attacks. In 
February 2009, police assaulted the communities of Lerata, Laresoro, 
and Naishamunye ostensibly to recover cattle that the Samburu had 
allegedly stolen from rival tribes over the previous years. But the 
police confiscated the communities� entire herd, more than 4,000 head 
of cattle, leaving the people without income or food during a severe 
drought. They then redistributed the animals among the Samburus� rival 
tribes, without even bothering to trace or record their ownership.

A Samburu elder, who was a retired senior sergeant in the Kenyan army, 
tried unsuccessfully to retrieve his confiscated cattle. He told us, 
�I have never stolen any cattle. I retired from the army and have 
always been a 100-percent government person. I bought my cattle with 
my pension when I retired. The police took all 170 of my cattle. After 
32 years of government service I feel bitter.�  Three Samburu morans 
were shot and killed by police when they refused to abandon their 
confiscated cows.

Member of Parliament Raphael Letimalo, who represents Samburu East 
district, vigorously protested the police action, and he is still 
demanding compensation, but his pleas have been ignored. �Kenya is 
turning into a police state,� he lamented. �The police didn�t come 
here to look for stolen cattle. They came to take away all the cattle, 
like a punishment. The police are criminalizing entire Samburu 
communities and punishing all the people. Of course the people feel 
bitterness, and they will keep feeling this bitterness until the 
cattle are returned.�  Even the tribes that benefited from the 
redistribution of the confiscated cattle protested the police action 
for being punitive against the Samburu and provocative. For example, 
the Meru community of Isiolo strongly condemned �the excessive use of 
force on unarmed Samburu pastoralists� and stated that the police 
actions created �hatred and suspicion among the pastoralist 
neighbors.� They urged the provincial administration and political 
leaders to �dissolve the tension that has been created by the ongoing 
[police] exercise.�

The Kenyan government has much to be concerned about in this vast, 
scarcely populated, largely undeveloped northern region. Its neighbors�
Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda�are plagued with civil wars and 
unrest that can easily spill across unprotected borders. Small-arms 
traders bring guns across those borders into Kenya, increasing the 
deadliness of conflicts of all kinds. Bandits make roads so unsafe 
that last year a Catholic bishop threatened to pull all the church�s 
teachers, health workers, aid workers, and mission staff out of the 
region unless better security could be provided. Terrorists have 
already made devastating strikes in Nairobiand Mombasa, and the 
vulnerable northern and eastern borders offer them the easiest illegal 
entrance to Kenya.

The Kenyan government is eager to impose law and order in the north to 
make way for development and modernization in the region. Long 
neglected and deprived of government services, including roads, 
schools, and medical facilities, the northern region is now targeted 
for fast-track development. Government planners envision Isiolo as 
Kenya�s next wildlife tourism hub, with luxury hotels and a network of 
roads into the surrounding game reserves, national parks, and wildlife 
conservancies. The photogenic Samburu are sure to adorn the new 
tourist brochures and websites, but will increased tourism and 
development help or hinder the survival of their culture and 
pastoralist economy?

�The government has never helped us pastoralists the way they help the 
agriculturalists with subsidies, technology, and transportation for 
their crops,� said Raphael Letimalo, the member of Parliament who 
represents Samburu East district. �The Samburu are the people who have 
done the most to protect the wild animals here,� he continued. �We 
don�t kill animals for food, and we protect the elephants from the 
ivory poachers. We should receive the benefit from tourism.�

Letimalo and his constituents worry that instead of bringing the 
needed schools, clinics, and veterinary services to the north, 
development will benefit others and further encroach upon the pasture 
lands for their livestock. Chinese oil companies are already exploring 
near Isiolo. These pressures, along with gloomy forecasts of more 
frequent and severe drought as a consequence of climate change, are 
stressing the pastoralist tribes and intensifying their competition 
for scarce water and pasture.

To make matters worse, some politicians in the region have fanned the 
flames of intertribal conflict and are widely perceived as 
manipulating or even instigating the conflicts for their political 
advantage. Chief among them is Mohamed Kuti, member of Parliament for 
Isiolo District, who last year used his political influence to put 300 
government-issued guns into the hands of his Somali and Borana 
constituents, knowing that they would be used against the Samburu. 
Notably, Somalis and Boranas generally vote for Kuti�s Party of 
National Unity, whereas the Samburu generally support opposition 
candidates in the Orange Democratic Movement. Political manipulation 
of intertribal conflict was at the root of the nationwide violence 
that broke out after Kenya�s fraudulent 2007 presidential election, 
and many Kenyans fear that the 2012 elections will generate even worse 
violence unless the government takes steps toward political and police 
reform.

Everyone, government officials and pastoralist tribes alike, agree 
that the proliferation of firearms in northern Kenya is exacerbating 
all the other problems and that universal disarmament is necessary. 
Last November, President Kibaki announced a disarmament operation in 
the north, but the government missed a great opportunity to unite the 
different tribal communities through an impartial and collaborative 
disarmament process. Instead, Kibaki sent thousands of police troops 
specifically into the Samburu East district, where the majority of 
Samburu live, and authorized them to forcibly recover any firearms 
that were not voluntarily turned in before December 24. Samburu elders 
made lists of guns held in their villages and called the authorities 
in to receive them. Still, fear gripped the villages, and hundreds of 
women fled with their children in anticipation of the December 24 
crackdown. Fortunately, Raphael Letimalo and the Kenyan National 
Commission on Human Rights persuaded the government to postpone the 
deadline, first to January 20, 2010, and then to February 20. But the 
police didn�t seem to get the message. During the amnesty period, on 
January 10, they attacked the village of Lerata, and on January 12 they 
assaulted Kiltamany. In these attacks, eight Samburu women were raped 
in their homes, five morans were beaten unconscious, and two homes 
were set on fire. In Kiltamany alone, police robbed 46 homes and stole 
$550 in cash from a women�s self-help group that had received the 
money as a loan from an international organization.

The January 2010 police attacks have had profound psychological 
impacts on the Samburu people. A mother of five from Lerata said, 
�After the police attack, we women could not eat for three days; we 
just trembled. My children cried out in their sleep, and I couldn�t 
sleep at all. We heard a rumor that the police would come again, so we 
took our children out to the bush at night, hiding. I am more afraid 
of the police than of the wild animals. If they come again, I will run 
away with my children.�

The women have other worries as well. A 32-year-old mother of five 
from Kiltamany, who was raped, told me her story: �My husband was away 
working at the Lodge. I was alone in the house. A car came about 2 
p.m., and someone shouted to me, �Mother, mother, a car is here.� The 
policeman forced himself in. He said, �Give me your snuff.�  I said, 
�I don�t have any.� He said, �Give me some sex; I want to rape you.� 
Another policeman was shouting, �Catch the woman, catch her!� Then he 
raped me. Now I am so worried. Will that policeman make me sick with 
AIDS?�

As one indignant 82-year-old elder in Lerata pointed out, attacking 
Samburu villages to disarm the residents was wholly unnecessary: �The 
elders have a list of everyone here who has a gun, so all the police 
have to do is ask them. But instead they come and beat the women and 
the children, and steal their things. Women and children don�t have 
guns, so why are they being raped and beaten?�

Part of the reason for the blind ferocity of the police attacks could 
be the persistent racism and prejudice that Kenyans who have taken the 
path toward assimilation and westernization feel toward minority 
tribes like the Samburu who preserve their traditions. Throughout 
Kenya, the pastoralists are commonly derided as backward, stupid, and 
violent, and these racist attitudes make it easier for young police 
officers to dehumanize the Samburu people.

It is also true that throughout the country, Kenyan police forces have 
acted with notorious brutality and impunity since colonial times. Last 
year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, 
Arbitrary and Summary Executions blasted the Kenyan police, describing 
them as �a law unto themselves,� and reporting that, �They kill often 
and with impunity.� He attributed their behavior to their superiors at 
the highest level of government, who permit them to �kill at will.� 
Some of these high government officials are now under investigation by 
prosecutors for the International Criminal Court, and they may be 
brought to trial for instigating police and intertribal violence after 
the 2007 election. The police assaults on the Samburu people reveal 
yet another face of these corrupt and self-serving politicians who 
have enjoyed impunity too long.

�We are fighting two wars now,� summed up an elder in Lerata, �one 
against drought and famine, and one against the police. We have no 
government anymore. We have no country. The government is biased 
against us. Now our people are frightened and they are leaving their 
homes and going as far away as they can to hide from the police.� 
Another elder in Kirish appealed urgently for our help: �We are 
refugees now in our own country, so we are crying to you from our 
hearts because our government is against us.�
---
Paula Palmer is director of Cultural Survival�s Global Response program.

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/kenya/when-police-are-perpetrators

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