Residents cry out for solution to inter-clan wars in troubled Wajir

Wajir, Kenya: Ibrahim Kulow, 31, pensively looks at the open skies of Wajir town, before calling out a list of names he says are those of his family members killed in the past, and present inter-clan skirmishes.

In every conflict, he is directly affected as his village, in the outskirts of Wajir town, bore the brunt of anger and avenge by a rival clan.

On May 30, when he heard information that militia gangs supposedly from his community descended on Gunana, a sleepy border village exclusively inhabited by one of the local clans and massacred 12 people, he, together with hundreds of others, immediately fled from the village to avoid being killed or harmed.

The suspecting militia had marched 40 kilometres across from Mandera and targeted the village to avenge the killings of six of their community members at Gofole Village adjacent to Takaba town two days prior.

And true to his fears and that of community members Wagbera Village, a group of young men from another clan went on the rampage, armed with crude weapons and petrol bombed and torched houses belonging to his clansmen.

The anger of the clan youth flared up after the bodies of Gunana raid victims, were brought to Wajir town for a burial in accordance with Islamic practices.

Left in ashes

By the time security officers arrived at the Manyatta for possible intervention, hours later, more than 200 houses including traditional Somali huts and multi-million investment and residential bungalows, were demolished.

 Kullow, who has lived in Wagberi Village for the last 31 years says he has always known peaceful co-existence and is at a loss to explain the turn of events.

“Last year, our village was similarly reduced to ashes following an eruption of hostilities between two Somali communities in Mandera County. We were on the verge of recovery from the scars of the recent inter-clan war,” Kulow says as his four- year-old son, now out of school, sought an explanation as to why their house and his school uniform, were burnt by the community of his best friend and classmates.

“Sometimes I wonder where we belong as Garre families in Wajir. We are repeatedly treated as immigrants and expansionist from community from Mandera County, while in Mandera, we are treated as outsiders,” he continues.

Prone areas

Together with thousands of others from his Garre clan, he lives with his seven children and two wives on an open field in Bulla Hodhan on the western peripheries of Wajir town. Another community, not involved in the ongoing conflict, offered them the place to live.

The scar left on Mzee Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, 50, by the arsonists will never heal, according to him: “Last year, I lost property worth Sh1.5 million after enraged youth burnt down our entire village in a revenge attack for members of their community killed in Rhamu in Mandera County. Here again, I lost property worth Sh4.5 million, after our village was set on fire by assailants from a rival clan.”

Halima Ahmed, 54, has been weeping for the last one week since the said militia descended on her remote village and brutally killed 12 young men. They were burnt alive inside their grass-thatched Somali traditional huts.

“Three of those killed were my relatives, and I wonder why they had to die in such an inhumane way. They had to die just because suspected members of their clan had killed some people in Takaba in Mandera County, ” she says.

The latest spate of violence has, so far, claimed the lives of about 50 people according to humanitarian agencies in Wajir and Mandera counties, and more than 20,000 people displaced.

It was sparked by the killing of three labourers from the Degodia clan by suspected Garre clan members on May 13, in Ogoralle area in Wajir County.

The men were gunned down while clearing bushes on a road between Wajir and Mandera counties, according to the local county authorities.

The road works funded by Wajir County government has been seen as  a source of the latest conflict between the two clans, with Garre community maintaining the Degodia clan from Wajir County has extended the common border between the counties by five kilometres into their ancestral land. This claim is vehemently rubbished by the Degodia community.

According to Wajir County Commissioner Naftali Mungathia, more tan 12, 000 from the both warring clans have been displaced since the eruption of the last hostilities.

“At the moment, we have 12,000 IDPs in two centres of Tarbaj and Bulla Hodhan. An unknown number live with relatives within Wajir town” he says.

And in the first step to return to normalcy, the county commissioner says the government has declared a curfew, which starts from 8.30pm to 6am in the following morning .

Mungathia says more security personnel have been deployed on attack-prone areas along the common borders of the two counties and in the main centres like Wajir town.

The Garre are the dominant clan in Mandera, while Degodia are the majority in Wajir.

Political scores

Salah Abdi Sheikh, an analyst on social and political issues in Northern region says both clans have a quick to assemble clan militia, which are properly funded by a number of  politicians and elites in Nairobi.

“Politicians and prominent wealthy business people and elites are funding bandits indirectly and giving them moral support to carry out raids and counter raids,” he says.

While the latest clashes have been portrayed as a struggle for pasture and water, a section of leaders have been cited for stoking the embers of animosity through their inflammatory statements to settle some political scores.

Salah says some of the leaders, when playing to public gallery,  preach peace, but are war mongers behind the scenes, adding that some of them fuel conflict for political survival and relevance to repackage themselves as the advocates and heroes of their communities to retain their political seats in next General Election.

Mandera County Commissioner Michael Tilal, says security has been beefed up in the hotspots.

Wajir County Director of Education Hassan Dualle, says more than 3,000 children who fled with their scared families have dropped out of classes, with 15 schools in the hard hit locations completely shutting doors since the clashes began three weeks ago.

“Among the 3,000 children whose learning was disrupted by the ongoing inter-clan conflicts, more than 300 are candidates expected to sit for their national exams next term. Our county was second last in the both KCPE and KCSE nationally last year because of  conflict, and this year, the possibilities are again very high” he says.

The county education boss says  among 15 of the schools closed are 13 primary schools, while two are secondary schools.

He says among  the schools affected are Burumayo, Ogoralle, Duntow, Basinichi, Zarman, Batalu Gunana, Mansa, Dambas and Jaijai.

“On Wednesday,  I went round the expansive affected areas and found that most schools were closed. We have advised head teachers of schools, which were not affected by the clashes to admit any child looking for a place in their respective classes” he adds.

And in Mandera County, 39 primary schools and one secondary school, have remained closed indefinitely for the last three weeks according to the county director of Education Hassan Jillow Karayu.

He says: “Thousands of children are now out of schools due to the renewed conflicts. Banisa sub-county is the worst area with eleven primary schools closed, followed  closely by Mandera central with seven schools closed.”