Where is Justice?: Three Years from Kenya's Okoa Maisha

Oct 27, 2011
Mariko Siegert

Justice - morguefile.com

The Mt. Elgon region has not seen justice being brought to the people. The families of the joint military-police operation are yet to receive compensation

According to a report released by the Human Rights Watch on October 27, 2011, there are over 300 people still missing three years after an anti-insurgency campaign in the Mt. Elgon region, Western Kenya. HRW insists the Kenyan government ensure justice for victims and their families of the Mt. Elgon crimes, and that regional and international bodies, such as International Criminal Court, intervene if it is unable or unwilling to bring justice to the region.

The Onset of the Insurgency and “Okoa Maisha”

The insurgency started in 2006 when the Kenyan government attempted to evict squatters in the Mt. Elgon region. The government has been dealing with squatters since 1960s and some who have accepted its resettlement scheme never received title to the land while many remained landless. Sabaot Land Defense Forces militias resisted these attempts by attacking thousands of civilians they suspected of supporting the government.

Faith V, whose husband was arrested on March 16, 2008, said in “Hold Your Heart”, a report released by HRW:

“They started torturing him just next to our house. They were soldiers from Chepkube. When I witnessed him being beaten, I locked the children in the house so they wouldn’t see that. . . .

. . . [T]he military brought [my husband] back and he showed them his ID. They told me “We have brought him back for you to see him for the last time. Have you heard those bullets at Kimaswa? That’s the weapon that is going to be used on your husband.” The soldiers suspected my husband because he was from Chepyuk [an area from which residents had been displaced due to the disputed government land resettlement scheme opposed by the SLDF].” (“Hold Your Heart”, Human Rights Watch, 2011, p. 31)

In 2008, the Kenyan government carried out a joint military-police operation called “Okoa Maisha (‘Save Lives’ in Swahili)” to root out the SLDF, of which the uprising has already gotten out of hand by then. Under Operation Okoa Maisha, security forces committed extrajudicial killings, and tortured and arbitrary abducted people. Between 2006 and mid-2008, it is estimated that SLDF killed 750 and the security forces 250.

Left in Legal and psychological ‘Limbo’

HRW says the Kenyan government has made little effort to provide assistance for the families of the victims of Operation Okoa Maisha, during which the government denies the mass disappearances occurred. The families of the disappeared have been denied access to their death certificates which will allow them to receive compensation. The government is refusing to officially recognize their relatives’ deaths in relation to the Operation.

Ursula C, whose husband has been missing since the Operation leaving her with nine children, told HRW:

“There were two kids in secondary school and I was unable to pay school fees. They [school officials] never gave me any bursary. They said, “Go and bring the death certificate of your husband.” The chief told me, when I went to seek the death certificate, “You have not buried your husband. . . . How do you know he died? He might have just gone to Uganda or other places.” So he chased me away. So I sold the cow that was left to pay the school fees.”(“Hold Your Heart”, Human Rights Watch, 2011, p. 49)

An account of a 28-year-old woman from Mt. Elgon is contained in “Mount Elgon: Does Anybody Care?” released by Medicins Sans Frontieres in 2008.

“The first time, the SLDF came at night and killed six people. The second visit was during daytime. They burnt and looted everything. . . . We walked through the forest. From Chepyuk to Masob we walked ten hours. . . .This was in February 2007. I stayed in Teldet with my sister for one year. . . . [T]he SLDF followed us down there and started the killing there. . . . Once the SLDF was there, the government came and burnt all houses because most of the culprits, the SLDF were there. . . . It is not our wish that we stay here. Life is very difficult here. It is very cold and we lack essential things like clothes and food. We have had sick children and I also suffered from pneumonia at one point.” (“Mount Elgon: Does Anybody Care?” MSF, 2008, p. 7)

Many families of the victims of the Operation have been displaced over and over again, with little resources to support themselves. They have witnessed violence imposed on their family members and neighbors, which has caused them develop psychological trauma. One of the women the HRW interviewed told it she didn’t know how to get help because of the fear of and mistrust in the government.