Of Grieve & Loss (Video)

Garissa Attack Aftermath {VIDEO}

Our Lame Media

Human beings have a noted bias towards those of their kind and creed. This explains why Kenya's media has been the equivalent of a Nazi propaganda machine when it comes to Kenya's war on Somalia.  The media has been forever overlooking the serious crimes the army has been accused of committing in anyplace it has ever been deployed to; be it Mount Elgon, Mandera and now Somalia.

I'm not sure if its tribal. Tribal loyalty mainly consists of judging people solely by which side they are on and if the coverage is anything to go by, the media has been nothing short of cheer-leader for this effort.

It's not so much as being patriotic, it's that they've been consistently pursuing hatred and bigotry against Somalis for half a decade now.

The media eschews fairness and accountability, writes editorial urging the government to invade Somalia and casts a blind-eye on all the shortcomings of the military and the political class. It's like they've been paid to shill for all that is bad about this country.

Joseph Goebbels' (Hitler's propaganda minister) infamous propaganda principles included this

"Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the target of hatred."


Clearly some at NTV, KTN and Citizen have been reading this.

I hope this instills some cognitive dissonance in you and makes you seek information from unbiased sources. What we have in Kenya is a sham hate mongering machine that masquerades as MEDIA.

Let's all pray for peace and brotherly love.

Human Rights Watch Lambastes Kenya For Rights Violations in a Letter

Letter to Yusuf Haji, Minister of State for Defence

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Dear Hon. Haji:

I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch to raise concerns regarding possible violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law by elements of the Kenyan armed forces during Operation “Linda Nchi.”

Human Rights Watch researches violations of human rights and the laws of war by governments and non-state armed groups in more than 80 countries around the world. We raise our concerns with the responsible parties and with other concerned actors. For all abuses, we press for justice and accountability.

One focus of Human Rights Watch’s work is the protection of civilians during armed conflict. International humanitarian law (the laws of war) seeks to minimize civilian casualties during armed conflict, and prohibits deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians. It applies to all parties to a conflict, both government forces and non-state armed groups. The protection of basic civil and political rights under international human rights law must be assured in times of conflict as in times of peace.

We are concerned about possible violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by Kenyan armed forces during three incidents connected to Operation Linda Nchi. We wish to know what steps the Kenyan government is taking to investigate the incidents and its response in the event of any finding of wrongdoing.

We would appreciate your response to the questions raised below.

On October 30, 2011, the Kenyan air force carried out an attack with aerial bombardment that struck an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of the town of Jilib in Somalia. The international humanitarian organization Médecins sans Frontières reported treating 45 wounded people, including 31 children, and confirmed five civilian deaths following the aerial bombardment.

I. Possible Unlawful Attack in Jilib, Somalia
On November 1, Kenyan Armed Forces spokesperson Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir stated that the Kenyan air force attack at Jilib had only killed members of the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. A Department of Defence statement claimed that any civilian casualties might be due to the fact that “[u]pon the aerial attack an Al Shabaab driver drove off a technical battle wagon … [that] exploded while at the camp causing the reported deaths and injuries.” However, a civilian wounded in the attack told Human Rights Watch that she had seen a dark green plane drop one bomb on the camp. She said the plane then turned around, came back and dropped another bomb on the camp that wounded her, and started firing machinegun rounds.

International humanitarian law requires all parties to an armed conflict to only target combatants and never civilians. Attacks that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians are indiscriminate, and are a serious violation of the laws of war. Civilians have reported that al-Shabaab members were expected at the IDP camp. But a camp resident told Human Rights Watch that al-Shabaab members were not present at the time of the bombing as they were praying at a mosque in Jilib town, along with many of the town's male residents. Al Shabaab unlawfully places civilians at risk whenever they place their fighters inside the IDP camp. However, under the laws of war this would not justify indiscriminate bombing of the camp by Kenyan forces.

On November 2, Prime Minister Raila Odinga publicly promised that there would be investigations into any civilian deaths that occurred as a result of the military operation. Governments have a responsibility to investigate credible reports of violations of international humanitarian law and appropriately prosecute those responsible.

1. What investigations have the Kenyan armed forces undertaken thus far into possible violations of the laws of war that occurred in the Jilib IDP camp as a result of the military operation? 

2. What steps have been taken to hold accountable any military personnel found to be responsible for serious violations of the laws of war and to prevent such violations in the future?

3.What compensation is the Kenyan government planning on offering to civilians for loss of life, injury, and property damage if investigations determine Kenyan responsibility for unlawful attacks? 

4. More generally, what precautions are the Kenyan forces taking during their military operations to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law? What training in international humanitarian law have the Kenyan forces engaged in Somalia received? 

II. Possible Unlawful Attack near Kiunga, Kenya
On the night of November 3 the Kenyan navy intercepted a fishing boat near Kiunga, on the Kenyan coast near the Somalia border. According to research conducted by the Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) and shared with Human Rights Watch, the fishing boat voluntarily came to shore. Navy personnel searched and interrogated the persons on the fishing boat. The passengers, all of whom were Kenyans from Ngomeni, explained that they were returning from two months at sea, and had been carried by the tides toward Somalia, but were trying to make their way back to Ngomeni, near Malindi. The navy instructed the fishing boat to remain anchored for the night and promised to escort it to Ngomeni the next morning. At approximately 1 a.m. on November 4, the navy ship approached and fired on the fishing boat, which remained anchored off the shore of Kiunga.

According to MHRF, four civilians were killed, all of them elderly Kenyans: Mohamed Masuo, 85, Haji Omar Mote, 73, Isa Yusuf, 61, and Salim Chechemeyo, 60. The remaining fishermen swam to shore and were detained by the Kenyan armed forces at Ishakani. At least two of them had gunshot wounds. At the army base, they were allegedly severely beaten by Kenyan military personnel before being transferred to police custody and eventually released.

This account calls into question the version of events put forward by the Ministry of Defence. According to a statement by Major Chirchir on November 4, the fishing boat was fired upon after it refused an order from the navy ship to stop for identification.

International humanitarian law applies at sea and prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians. It requires that warring parties take all feasible precautions to ensure that objects attacked are valid military targets. International human rights law, which was also applicable, permits the use of lethal force outside of zones of armed conflict only when it is strictly and directly necessary to save human life.

1. What investigations, if any, have been undertaken into the conduct of navy personnel on the navy ship that fired on the fishing boat near Kiunga? Have any navy personnel been disciplined or otherwise held accountable? 

2. What investigations have been undertaken into allegations of mistreatment of fishermen detained at Ishakani?

3. What compensation is the Kenyan government planning on offering to civilians for civilian loss of life, injury, and property damagefor unlawful attacks or use of force? 

III. Possible Arbitrary Detention and Mistreatment in Garissa, Kenya
Human Rights Watch has received reports that Kenyan military personnel have been engaged in arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of civilians in Garissa, near the Somali border. A witness told Human Rights Watch that on November 11, military personnel detained individuals solely on the basis of their Somali appearance. The witness saw military personnel picking up suspects at pubs around Garissa, including DRC Pub and Locus; he later drove to Town Club and saw military personnel detaining additional suspects there, as well as pulling drivers out of taxis. The witness stated that those picked up by military personnel were forced to sit in mud and dirty water outside these locations. According to the witness, a number of them were beaten by military personnel while being interrogated. Most were then released after interrogation, but some were detained. The witness also heard reports that people were detained and beaten in Village Takwa.

Both international humanitarian and human rights law prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and national origin. Detention on such a basis is a violation of international law, as is all mistreatment of persons in custody.

1. On what legal basis did the military detain and interrogate civilians at Garissa?

2. What investigations have been undertaken into allegations of mistreatment of detained persons in Garissa?

3. What compensation is the Kenyan government planning on offering to civilians for injury from mistreatment?

The Kenyan Armed Forces have an international legal obligation to conduct any and all operations, both within and outside of Kenya, in accordance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch will continue to monitor the situation in Kenya and Somalia in order to promote compliance with international law by all parties to the conflict. We would greatly appreciate your response to these questions.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Bekele
Director, Africa Division
Human Rights Watch

The Cost of War; Trade Slump in Garissa

It's neither the Politicians nor the Generals that pay the price for war. It's rather the citizenry that is already suffocated by inflation and scarcity. 

And I'm not saying this to vindicate my stand on the occupation of Somalia by Kenya's Army.

It's the 1980s all over again

The Kleptocracy That is Kenya

In a post I wrote about 11 months ago titled "Kenya: The African Mexico, its Stockholm Syndrome and What Somalis Can do to change their fortunes" I wrote this telling paragraph:

 Kenya is being over-run by drug cartels and narco-hitmen. Its unprofessional and untrained police officers are getting whacked Mafia style right in the heart of Nairobi while they are pre-occupied with explaining their bad fortunes on non existent 'terrorists' and burqa clad femme fatales.
The uptick in clashes between Police and drug traffickers is a sign that Kenya's long running drug problem is coming of age. We have now entered a new phase where drug barons feel powerful enough to take on the weak  and co-opted police force. Kenya's is fast morphing into a Mexico. Its now the equivalent of a Brazilian Favella. Traffickers have heavily embedded themselves deep into every level of society and  are virtually controlling law enforcement on this almost failed state.

That prognosis still holds true today and this is the actual war we should be fighting today.

Much of the hooblah surrounding Kenya's occupation of Southern Somalia has gone overboard now. Those of us opposed to the Somali war are opposing it on philosophical, humanitarian and economic grounds. We are not opposed to the war in Somalia because we are lily-livered weaklings. We understand declaring war is different from winning a war and Kenya has over the past 47 years shown that it is bad at fighting.

There is a temptation to take uncritical pride in your country when its defending you against enemies foreign even if that enemy is the imagination of a couple of brain-addled politicians.

The real war Kenya's security apparatus should be fighting is the one against narcotics. Our youths and children deserve to be protected from the evils of hard drugs. Our greatest enemy is the insidiousness of  drugs, the way it separates families and corrupts every lever of our society.

The video embedded below is a good indication.

Yusuf Haji and George Saitoti Are Kenya's Shame

If not stopped by Kenyans of good conscience, Yusuf Haji and Saitoti will destroy much of Kenya's pride, international standing and economy. How and when Kenyans will wake up to this reality is not known but I have a feeling much of the public discourse on the war will change once the first images of dead Kenyan soldiers  tied to the back of a pickup trucks being dragged through the streets of Kismayu or Af Madow are broadcast on Al Jazeera.

Kenyans have to realise this is a costly war that does nothing to further their interests. This war will not feed the hungry in NEP and Turkana. It will not employ the hundreds of thousands of youths who are educated and unemployed. This war will not cure those dying in the Kakamega of dysentery and HIV. It will not bring peace those terrorized by the sungu sungu and Mungiki.

All this war does is risk the life and limb of the Kenyan soldier, encamped in a Somali bush, eating expired food. All this war does is bankrupt our economy and increase inflation. That this war was launched to get back three whites should tell you how stupid and reactionary it is. The government was not forced into action when tens of Kenyans were butchered in Turkana. DoD's sense of shame was not touched when Ethiopian bandits occupied a Kenyan village and prevented the PM from visiting.

It deserves to be mentioned that the bravest men fighting in our Army are Kenyans of Somali descent who took an oath to protect this country from foreign enemies not fight for a political group. The Mount Kenya Gang is cooking up a fake rationale for invading Somalia to further its political agenda. Our soldiers are being sent to war to boost PNU's polls and to take the nation's mind off of what's going on in the Hague.

That Kenya is ruled by spoiled brats who are really bad at their jobs is obvious to all. Messrs Saitoti and Haji have failed at protecting Kenya's security from within and from without. They have failed Kenyans living along the border with Ethiopia. They've failed to end the clan wars and cattle rustling in Isiolo and its environs. They've failed to protect tourists in the coast. They've failed to protect Kenya's maritime borders where pirates now operate without fear of apprehension. They've let Uganda occupy Kenyan territory. Might I go on?

These two degenerates have really set an example in bad leadership, mismanagement and neglect of duty.

Yet, now it turns out these wimps turned hawks are now sending thousands of Kenya's boys to war with a faceless shadowy group that is battle hardened.They've decided to deploy thousands of Kenya's lily-livered army to fight in a region Ethiopia and America before have failed so badly.

Al Shabab has nothing to lose and everything to gain. All this military invasion does is coalesce the population around the fake rallying crying that is 'defending the homeland against aggression by a foreign Christian enemy' (Just yesterday two new British recruits were napped by the Police).Their middle eastern financiers will flood the group with hundreds of millions of dollar while a single blast in Malindi or Mombasa will do all the damage it seeks to harm Kenya financially.

Military adventurism has failed in Somalia and this time round it will not be any different.This is an exercise in futility and the ever-changing rationales for it says all that you need to know. Kenyans need to wake up to the improprieties of these two men and their minions. The failure of 'Operation Linda Nchi' will bring forth the highly ethnicized nature of Kenya's military and will only diminish civilian control over it.

Finally, I should mention that Yusuf Haji spoke to the BBC Somali Service yesterday while in Mogadishu and declared that no Kenyan troops are in Somalia. This is clearly a lie but it says a lot of the man's lack of diplomatic suavity and incompetence.

Why Kenya's Foray into Somalia is Counterproductive and Destined to Fail

 It remains to be seen whether Kenya will stay in Somalia for any considerable length of time but its pretty obvious this latest military move is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction.

Elements in Somalia whether allied with the dreaded Al-Shabab or profiteering bandits have been relentlessly provoking Kenya by violating its territory and staging brazen daylight kidnappings. It is natural for anyone to react violently when tested by a bully. However, what needs discussion here is whether Kenya's inexperienced military with its antiquated hardware has any long term plans for combating the Al-Shabab threat.

A quick bombing raid of outlying Somali villages will not do away with the threat that is posed by Al-shabab. Neither will a prolonged ground combat which will only serve as a recruiting blitz for the terrorist movement. We all know how antagonistic Somalis are to any form of foreign occupation; even from what has been up to now a benevolent neighbour.

In an era of near economic crisis, with inflation this high and the shilling tanking at rates reminiscent of the Zimbabwean dollar, getting bogged down in a guerrilla war with an entrenched and highly mobile enemy is nothing more than inviting disaster.


The unintended consequence of this military campaign might be forcing the drought battered population into the arms of the Shabab all over again. Also, if Kenya's intentions were to protect its tourism, suicide bombings in Nairobi and Mombasa will do not much to encourage visitors to come to Kenya.
Given how amateur and corruptible our security and intelligence apparatuses are, the Shabab will be able to attack within Kenya with significant ease.

Kenya's own indigenous Somali population will also become the subject of unnecessary vilification and will be seen by the rest of the country as having divided loyalties, wrongly of course.

So What is the best answer in this scenario? Certainly its not just sitting back while your citizens are terrorized by foreign thugs.

My own thinking is that Kenya should beef up security around its border with Somalia and improve its intelligence gathering. Surgical strikes against militant groups suspected of being behind kidnappings, covert operations and commando raids within Somalia to kill the leaders of the bandits/terrorist groups that are behind cross-border raids into Kenya and closing up all revenue streams coming to Al-Shabab through money laundered into Kenya.

Al-Shabab is an evil organization that has perveted Islam and Somali culture to cause indescribable pain and suffering but its not an entity that Kenya alone can eradicate.

For Somali Speakers, here is a lecture by Sh. Umal about the group

The Standard | :: Somali refugees' tale of blood, sweat and tears

The Standard | Online Edition :: Somali refugees' tale of blood, sweat and tears

Somali refugees' tale of blood, sweat and tears

Updated 9 hr(s) 51 min(s) ago

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One hundred years of solitude and sufferance

'We have undergone untold suffering since our arrival'

By Amos Kareithi

Sitting on the barren ground and waving away dust swirling around her, Khadija Abdi Hajji patiently waits for the metal gates to open.

Hajji, 62, is in a group of Somalis who have just entered Kenya to escape years of violence in their country.

Travelling in a rickety van, they are lucky to have made it safely to the sprawling Ifo refugee camp in Garissa. As the van comes to a stop and gates to the camp are swung open, a stream of haggard looking women and children disembark.

Newly-arrived refugees rest as they wait to be registered at the Ifo camp in northern Kenya.

"I fled from my home in Kismayu last week. I will never go back ," she declares.

For months, she persevered as ten of her close relatives were gunned down by Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group that controls swathes of Somalia.

"A few weeks ago, a group of youths stopped me and decreed that the material of my bui bui (veil worn by Muslim women) was not heavy enough. They arrested and locked me up for hours," Khadija recalls.

After three more arrests and whipping, she sold all her belongings and headed for Kenya.

As she waits to be registered, she is living at Ifo, one of three camps which make up Daadab.

The other two are Dagahaley and Hagadera.

If she is lucky, Khadija will join an estimated 271,000 of her countrymen and women who are currently residing in the camps. The entire settlement has a population of 289,000 souls.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the fighting in Somalia has caused a steady flow of people into Kenya. More than 1,000 Somalis are arriving in the camps weekly.

The UN body said this year alone, more than 37,000 people have crossed the border into the camps.

However, conditions at the camps are deplorable. Firewood supply is rapidly diminishing, posing unprecedented problems to UNHCR, which has ran out cash.

Cultural practices

UNHCR’s spokesman Mr Emanuel Nyabera says the camps are congested as they were originally meant to accommodate only 90,000 people.

"We are having a serious problem as we can no longer cope with the high number of refugees coming in," Nyabera explains.

In handouts to journalists, the organisation said maternal mortality was high, with 298 deaths per 100,000 people.

"Cultural practices commonly prevent women receiving the appropriate care in a timely manner. For instance, caesarean birth is usually not accepted and as a result, many women die because of breech babies," it said.

Awareness about HIV/Aids is low, and few know how to protect themselves from infection. Poor sanitation also exposes refugees to disease as there is a shortage of 39,000 toilets.

A child prepares a meal for her family at Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana Photos: Amos Kareithi Thuku/Standard

So grim is the picture that the UNHCR chief executive, Antonio Guterres jetted into the country last week to assess the situation.

After being conducted round Ifo, Guterres expressed dismay at the conditions there.

Hovels dot all the major roads leading in and out of Ifo. Every available space has been taken over by shanties.

Cases of sexual violence have also been reported.

"We have not been able to offer dignified services to the refugees here," Guterres comments.

Tired of waiting to be allotted spaces to erect their tents, some refugees have resorted to grabbing available space.

Somalis say they are tired of atrocities committed by Al-Shabaab. Last month, the insurgents attacked a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, and killed up to 30 people, including six MPs.

Expansion

During a meeting with refugee representatives, Guterres was shocked to learn that some people had been exploiting the refugees by charging fees for services that should be free.

However, there is a glimmer of hope following several projects aimed at making life better.

A new expansion phase has started. Several boreholes have been sunk and a school is under construction.

Once complete in a few months, the new phase will accommodate an additional 80,000 people. However, this is still not enough.

As busloads of desperate refugees arrive daily, Somalis who have been at Dadaab for more than 20 years are longing for peace in their country.

Kenya's Interests are better served if it says Out Of Somalia

By Samir H


   A bunch of sisyphus morons in the kenyan cabinet have been cheerleading efforts to catalyse the epic confirmation of Kenya as a failed state. These quacks have learnt the art of prophesising from Dick cheney's school of fear mongering. They are being used by the United States of America to become a quassi-permanent occupiers of Somalia. The guilty pleasure of their existence is simple and understandable.In their galactic appetite for self-enriching ventures they will stop at nothing even if it means sending the countries children to a senseless war in a neighbouring country. Everytime we belly up to their filthy inarticulate utterances, they serve us nothing but comedy. These miscreants that are drumming up for war are pawns being used by America in a larger geo-political power game. That the united states has reasons for being scared of alleged terrorists taking over a major oceanic transport hub and the dangers they pose to the strategic interests of America is not suprising but for Kenya to volunteer itself to do the dirty job for some financial and military backing is mindnumbing.

With our antique military facilities and the history of foreign intervention in Somalia, Kenya is better adviced to keep its troops in Kenya. These snake-oil-salesmen tend to forget Black hawk down and the ethiopian defeat but maybe these moronic minions are mental dwarfs. Their tone deaf statements smell of selective amnesia. After leading to the deaths of more than a thousand people a year and a half ago they want to raise up religiouis and ethnic tension in the country again. How will a third of the country's population that is muslim react to kenya occupying an an islamic nation? why do we have to invite terror and bombings to our streets? Did we forget the 98 bomings? Are we forgetting how porous our bordes are with somalia and the ease with which these guys can wreck havoc in Nairobi? Are we forgetting the financial and economic implications of such attacks.God forbid they happen.

These politicians want to hoax the kenyan people to a war that can never be won. A war that will morally and financial bankrupt this nation. Maybe then the economy will stop teetering on the edge of collapse and go down the toilet for good. These self abnigating, perenially thirsty vampires are hyping up paranoid delusions about the dangers Alshabab posses to the horn of africa.

we will celebrate Dec 2012 as a soul wrenching day. A day when we will finally get rid of ur faithless stewardship of this country and bring it up from the abyss you have placed us into. These slimy slugs masquerading as politicians are simply fascists who want to start profiteering rings from a war that is better off left to those who knw and want to fight it.

It is time we put these people in the garbage can and started over again as a country because the past 40yrs were a sham. The current petulant presidency and the formenting graft that continues unabated should be the catalyst for a grassroots uprising. Our parliament has turned into Comedy audition show where guys mudling and hogwash one another but where real questioned aren't asked. Kenya is becoming a failed state under all indications and getting into war with somalia will finally put the doomed stamp to underscore that point.
Lets leave this war for the Americans to fight it.