The Impact of Small Arms and Light Weapons on Security: A Case Study of North Eastern Kenya

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The Impact of Small Arms and Light Weapons onSecurity: A Case Study of North Eastern Kenya.

LIST OF ACRONYMS

UN-united NationsOAU-Organization of African UnityPOV-Post Election ViolenceNEP-North Eastern ProvinceSALW-Small Arms and Light WeaponsAK 47-Automat Kalashnikov 47US-United StatesUSSR-Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicHoA-Horn of AfricaLRA-Lord’s Resistance ArmyDRC-Democratic Republic of CongoUNGA-United Nations General AssemblyGATT-General Agreements on Trade and TariffsMIC-Military Industrial ComplexUNPGESA-United Nations Panel of Governmental Experts on SmallArmsGSU-General Service UnitKDF-Kenya defense ForcesMoU-Memorundum of UnderstandingNFDLF-Northern Frontier Districts Liberation FrontSNM-Somali National MovementSPM-Somali Patriotic MovementUSC-United Somali Congress

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KNFP-Kenya National Focal PointWFP-World Food ProgrammeTFG-Transitional Federal GovernmentKANU-Kenya African National Union

ABSTRACT

Today proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons is amajor challenge facing most of the war torn regions of theworld such as the Middle East as well as much of the Africancontinent claiming the lives of many soldiers as well asinnocent civilians. Therefore this paper will mainly focus onKenya, which was one of the most peaceful countries in theregion before the Post-Election Violence (POV) that happenedin 2007-2008 that tarnished the country's image. This can behowever contested since there was constant proliferation ofSmall Arms and Light Weapons in the North Eastern part of thecountry bordering Somalia. This region was also once a majorcause of conflict between the security authorities of thecountry and a group of armed rebels called Shifta that emergedimmediately after independence.

Most of the arms possessed by the Shifta's were acquiredfrom Somalia. Although the Shifta rebellion was crushed by thepowerful Kenyan military, much of the communities or rebelsretained their arms while acquiring more weapons from theporous border of Somalia. Thus although the larger part of thecountry has been peaceful, these region has erupted intotribal conflicts from time to time claiming mainly the livesof women and children. Thus this paper will focus on theproliferation of small arms in the NEP and the impact on thesecurity of the country as a whole.

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CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION

Kenya for many years has struggled with the problems

concerning the spread of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)

within its borders and the impact on the security of the

country at large. The main regions affected are pastoral

regions such as North Eastern Province, upper Eastern province

and the North Rift regions. These pastoral communities mainly

acquire these arms so as to protect their livestock from

cattle rustlers as well as wild animals which is a frequent

issue in the pastoral area according to Muchai (2005, pp. 117-

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119). Kenya does not manufacture arms but these arms find its

way into the country illegally mostly from its neighbors.

Somalia and South Sudan is one such neighbor which has been

unstable for many years. The Somali from Somalia has been

supplying the pastoral Somali communities in the North Eastern

province due to porous border thus making the region prone to

conflicts frequently.

Most of these pastoral regions are conflict prone due to

the presence of small arms and light weapons such as the

famous AK 47 and others include G3, pistols, grenades these

comes in line with the United Nations Panel on Governmental

Commission on Small Arms defined as “revolvers and self-

loading pistols; rifles and carbines; sub-machine-guns;

assault rifles; light machine guns.” (UNGA, 1997).

The most widely used weapon in the North Eastern region

as well as other conflict zones in the world is the AK 47

(Automat Kalashnikov 47) which was invented in the Second

World War during the invasion of Russia by Germany and was

constructed by the one mechanic known as Mikhail Timofeevich

Kalashnikov (Blain, 2009). AK-47 is mostly preferred because

of its ease to master as well as it is easy to operate without

much training. Thus most of the people in the pastoral

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communities opt to buy the AK-47 for it is cheap and light to

carry around at the same very efficient.

The North Eastern province of Kenya in the past have been

linked with the most intractable conflicts involving tribal

clashes due to many reasons such as clashes over land,

political affiliation among many others. The most recent

clashes happened last year (2012) August and the conflict has

resurfaced again on 27th, 2, 2013 which is between two large

clans partly caused by politics as well as land dispute in

Mandera County as explained by Judie Kaberia in her article in

the online capital FM news (2012). Not forgetting the shifta

issue that has been a major problem in the region for a long

time leading to the isolation and marginalization of the

region by the government for many years causing

underdeveloped. Conflicts in the form of tribal clashes is a

normal phenomenon in the region and has been there for decades

and will still be there unless proper disarmament is conducted

which will need an active government involvement without use

of violence in the disarmament practice, only then will the

region be saved from constant conflicts.

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

1. To investigate the link between illegal arms supply and

conflict in the North Eastern province as a pastoral

region.

HYPOTHESIS:

1. There is a relationship between proliferation of illegal

arms and insecurity in North Eastern Kenya

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. How has proliferation of small arms and light weapons

created insecurity in North Eastern Province of Kenya?

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review will be composed of works done by

scholars of international relations that are well versed with

the field of conflict as well as in the field of proliferation

of Small Arms and Light Weapons. Therefore the review will

start from a general perspective explaining the Proliferation

of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the world then henceforth

narrowing it down to Africa and finally to the horn of Africa

where Kenya will be mainly focused on.

SPREAD OF SALW DURING AND AFTER THE COLD WAR

Many scholars as well as research institutions in the

world base their argument concerning the proliferation of

small arms and light weapons to the cold war and they termed

the weapons as the exact weapons of mass destruction since

they are used in most of the conflict across the world which

causes numerous deaths. Peter D. Wezeman conducted a research

sponsored by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his

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report he claims that the cold war was the sole mastermind of

the spread of SALW since each bloc wanted its existence to be

present in different parts of the world thus leading to supply

of SALW so as to safeguard the ideologies present in those

regions (2003, p.3). Thus SALW were the weapons of choice in

these regions since they were cheap compared to other powerful

weapons, therefore USSR as well as the U.S would be able to

purchase these weapons in large numbers so as to lure these

countries to support their bloc (2003, p.7).

Wezeman also gives the percentage of the usage of SALW as

90% in of the 49 conflicts that had occurred after the end of the

cold war between 1990 and 1999. But he doesn’t forget to mention

also the usage of powerful weapons by major powers when they

became involved in conflicts giving an example of the extensive

use of air power by the U.S military in Kosovo the Year 1999 and

in late 1990s the bombardment of Grozny the capital of Chechnya

by the Russians using heavy artilleries (2003, p.10). The author

thus helps us to understand that although heavy weapons are used

in war most conflicts have used SALW since they are cheap and

easy to operate mainly when major countries are not involved and

a large number of those conflicts occur in Africa.

Kiungu in his master's thesis uses the ideas of Michael

Klare from his article “An Overview of Global Trade in Small

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Arms and Light Weapons” which is an article in the book, Small

Arms Control: Old Weapons, New Issues. He argues that for the past 30

years the spread of SALW has been very swift since most of the

International community such as the United Nations has been

paying attention to the transfer of major weapons such as

tanks, artilleries, naval warships and military aircraft

forgetting what has today become the true weapon of mass

destruction in Africa as well as most of the conflict regions

(2007, p.p25-26). In a UN report there is also evidence of

transfer of about 5000 AK-47 from Serbia to Liberia, a country

then at war and under a UN arms embargo. The rifles had been

taken from Yugoslav army stockpiles; one of the planes

transporting them was registered in Ukraine. Thus the United

Nations is also to blame for the proliferation of Small Arms

and Light Weapons since they have placed minimal attention on

their spread thus today the major weapons of mass destruction

in conflict regions are SALW especially in African conflicts

as highlighted by Bourne (2007).

The expansive use of SALW in most conflicts made the

international community to react in 1997 whereby a UN report on

the Panel of Government Experts on Small Arms for the first time

provided a definitive framework for addressing SALW

proliferation. It wasn’t only the international community that

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has addressed the effects of SALW but also the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) in 1996 addressed the negative impact of SALW

in the Yaoundé Declaration under paragraph 27. Again the OAU met

in 2000 in the capital city of Mali, Bamako in which the Bamako

Declaration of 2000 was born which created an African Common

Position on the Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and

Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (APF, 2006, p.6). All

these initiative was taken so as to stop the spread of these arms

which took and is still taken the lives of thousands in conflict

zones.

The leaders of the African continent were forced to come up

with a mechanism to stop the spread of SALW due to the worst

Genocide in the history of Africa which claimed the lives of a

million in Rwanda which broke out in 1994. According to a

publication of Africa Peace Forum the genocide was one termed as

ethnic rivalries where the Tutsi who were the majority were

massacred by the Hutu minority facilitated by the use of SALW

whereby close to a million lives were lost within a hundred days.

Thus the African leaders had to meet and combat the spread of

SALW so as to counter a repeat of the same (2006, p.7).

PROLIFERATION OF SALW IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

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The Horn of Africa is a region in the inner part of East

Africa that consists of Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia,

Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda which their land mass is

approximated to 5.2 million km2 having a population of more

than 160 million people which consists of populations that are

one way or the other have similar tribal links. Somalia is one

region which has a Somali population divided along four

different states due to the irredentist nature of the

colonialists (Whitehead, 2003, p.1). This region is also a

region which has been claimed to host a large number of SALW.

Kennedy Mkutu in his article “Pastoral Conflict and Small Arms:

The Kenya-Uganda Border Region” confirms that most of the

communities living in these region are mainly pastoralists who

migrate from one state to another due to unfavorable weather

at the same time looking for pasture and water for their

animals. These intermingling and migration causes tensions

between the communities living in these regions thus causing

conflicts over pastoral land leading to deaths and acquiring

of arms so as to protect themselves from other pastoral

hostile groups (Mkutu, 2003, p.42). The same can be said to

the people of Somalia since large population of them practice

pastoralism.

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The famous Johan Galtung’s theory of structural violence

justifies Mkutu’s claims. Galtung claims that “unequal

accesses to resources, to political power, to education, to

health care, or to legal standing, are forms of structural

violence (Winter & Leighton, p.1). Thus it justifies the

conflicting nature of pastoral communities over pasture and

water for their animals and leading to direct conflicts so as

to ensure the survival of their animals. In that sense

pastoral community in this region such as the Pokot, Samburu

and the Rendile acquire SALW from their neighbouring rebel

groups in the border region such as the LRA (Lord’s Resistance

Army) of Uganda as well as the Mirille of Ethiopia (Mkutu,

2003, p.54). The same can be said of the pastoral communities

in somalia as well as their neighbours who also practice

pastoralism as well.

Bourne in his book, “Arming conflict: The proliferation of small arms”

is concerned about the spread of SALW since the 1990s whereby

he explains in his book that over 500,000 deaths as well as

countless injuries are caused by SALW and most deaths comprise

of the civilian population, he further clarifies that most of

these conflicts are experienced in Africa (2007, p.14). It’s a

true fact today Africa is the continent with the leading

conflicts starting from the North part of Egypt to the central

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part which has caused the bloodiest conflicts since the 1960s

especially in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Horn of

Africa especially Somalia which has recently elected a new

president after a long civil war of over 20 years that has

claimed the lives of thousands and displace a large population

since 1991 when SiadBarre was overthrown from power. Reviewing

Africa’s conflict history the author is much justified in his

belief of branding Africa as the leading host of conflicts.

One might fail to understand what the so called Small

Arms and Light weapons could be, but the United Nations Panel

of Governmental Experts on Small Arms (UNPGESA) provide in

their 1997 report which gave a clear definition of small arms

and light weapons.

“Small arms” are, broadly speaking, weapons designed forindividual use. They include, inter alia, revolvers andself-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machineguns, assault rifles and light machine guns.“Light weapons” are, broadly speaking, weapons designedfor use by two or three persons serving as a crew,although some may be carried and used by a single person.They include, inter alia, heavy machine guns, hand-heldunder-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, portableanti-aircraft guns, portable anti-tank guns, recoil-lessrifles, portable launchers of anti-tank missile androcket systems, portable launchers of anti-aircraftmissile systems, and mortars of a caliber of less than100 millimeters (Kytomaki&Yankey-Wayne, 2003, p.5).

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This definition by the UN makes the Horn of Africa as the

region which hosts the largest number of SALW as explained by

a survey conducted in 2003 by the Kenya National Focal Point

for SALW. The survey clarifies that Horn of Africa is among

the most armed regions in the world whereby Somalia alone is

believed to host Small Arms and Light Weapons in millions thus

facilitating spread of these arms to its neighbors especially

the North Eastern region of Kenya which is the immediate

neighbor and has people of the Somali origin making the

intermingling between them very easy. The survey interestingly

explains that every second household in the region had a gun

and 60% of the patients in hospitals are being treated for

gunshots (Whitehead, 2003, p.1).

Transfer of SALW in the African continent especially in

the pastoral regions is a profitable business. The

proliferation of SALW has been widely covered by many scholars

especially in the Horn of Africa. One prominent scholar who

has written many articles and journals concerning

proliferation of SALW in Kenya is Mkutu Agade who has mainly

focused in the Northern Region of Kenya especially around the

Kenya Uganda border thus forgetting the North Eastern region

which is said to house the largest SALW in the country. Many

of the authors have left out this region which from time to

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time erupts into tribal conflicts whereby Small Arms and Light

weapons are bought during such tribal clashes. Therefore this

paper will cover the impact of small arms in the North Eastern

region so as to pave way for further research involving the

proliferation of SALW in the region which is bordering Somalia

a country hosting the largest arms in the horn of Africa.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

The term Military-Industrial Complex is usually used to

comfortably bring to light the relationship that can be

developed between government forces and other defense minded

organizations (MIC, 2006). This statement possibly can mean

the relationships that exist between an arm producing

government or a company and any other institution that have

the financial capability to buy the weapons. Thus the theory

links the trade between arms producing government such as the

South Africa and non-government institutions which as well can

includes rebel movements that have today acquired arms

comfortably as far as the have the finance to purchase the

deals.

Military industrial complex is a phrase which first came

up in an American report in the 20th century and was later

capitalized on by the U.S outgoing Present at the time,

President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell speech on 17th

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January 1961. Eisenhower warned the U.S claiming that it was

an age where many governments and institutions were arming

themselves and it would lead to war in the end thus warned the

U.S to be extra careful. Thus the Military industrial complex

theory is widely acknowledged to him (Harting, 2000, p.33).

Therefore, this theory is most suitable for this paper

mainly because the research involves proliferation of Small

Arms and Light Weapons in which most of these weapons are

produced by developed countries who have heavily financed

their military industrial complex producing arms for trade as

well for defense. (Azziz Chaudry, 2008) a senior officer at

General Agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT) wrote on the

impacts of the MIC on the third world country, he claims that

most of these weapons are traded to third world country and

create conflicts which are profitable to the developed arms

producing States. This justifies the sole aim of the

industrial complex which is to supply arms to different states

as well as organizations be it a rebel movement, the sole

benefit being the profit they gain. Thus the same impact is

also felt in a country such as Kenya which has no proper

border security and illegal arms are supplied through the

porous borders thus impacting heavily on the security of

border regions such as the North Eastern region of the country

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which has been for many years supplied with arms from Somalia

which will be justified in the paper later on.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The data used for this project are mostly secondary

sources whereby the researcher consulted textbooks, journals,

magazines and Periodicals. The researcher also consulted

internet sources which are more or less related to the

research topic and managed to come up with meaningful

information through use of the above data though much of

primary sources have not been used.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

The paper will highlight the impact of SALW on the

security of Kenya specifically focusing on the North Eastern

region of Kenya. Chapter One of the paper includes:

introduction, objectives, hypothesis, research question,

literature review, theoretical framework, methodology and the

chapter outline.

Chapter Two of the paper will tackle the illegal transfer

of SALW from the bordering countries to the North Eastern

region of Kenya. These chapter will also show the different

methods the smugglers use in transferring the arms into the

North Eastern region and beyond.

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Chapter Three will analyze the impact of the spread of

SALW on the security of the region as well as outlining the

role of these arms in the frequent tribal conflicts

experienced in the region.

The Forth Chapter will articulate the role of government

in the disarmament initiative as well as outlining the methods

of disarmament used in the past by the security forces.

Chapter Five of the paper will include conclusion and

recommendations that if put in practice by the government

might help facilitate disarmament than the use of force

experience in the region during the past attempts.

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CHAPTER TWO:

ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF SALW INTO NORTH EASTERN REGION OF

KENYA

North Eastern province is a region which has been

historically marginalized by the government of Kenya for many

years. Its marginalization started during the colonial times

extending through the Moi Regime. The region is arid and has

unmarked border line of about 700km with Somalia which has been

excluded from nation building as well as the pastoral lifestyle

of the Somali communities living there. The province is composed

of three main counties, Garissa which borders Wajir to the North,

Isiolo and Tana River to the west, Lamu to the south and Somalia

to the east mainly composed of Ogaden clan of Darood origin, then

Wajir bordered to north by Ethiopia and Mandera, Garissa to the

south, Somalia to the east and to the west is Eastern province

while the main clans are Ajuran, Degodia and Ogaden, the final

county in the region is Mandera bordered by Somalia to the east,

Ethiopia to the North and Wajir to the south (Weiss, 2004, p.66).

HISTORICAL CONTEXT SALW IN NORTH EASTERN REGION

The transfer of SALW into Kenya’s North Eastern region must

be understood in relation to the colonial history of the Somalia

as well as its collapse. Somalia was colonized and divided

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between Italy and Britain and gained its independence in 1960.

The irredentist nature of the colonialists divided the Somali

people into five countries: British Somaliland (now Somaliland),

French Somaliland (now Djibouti), Ethiopian Ogaden, North Eastern

Kenya and Italian Somaliland (now Somalia) (AFP, 2006, p.56).

The Somali in the North Eastern out of their free will

agreed to join Somalia during a referendum conducted in 1962

under the supervision of British colonialists. Therefore after

this open will of the Somalis in Kenya, Somalia decided to

confront Kenya to let the people practice their rights but to no

avail. It was then that Somalia decided to help the Somalis in

Kenya exercise their freedom and fight for their succession. The

Somali government literally armed the Somalis in Kenya leading to

the Shifta War that started in 1963. The war was between the

Somali communities living in the North Eastern region and the

government of Kenya. The war ended in 1967 with the signing of

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “inter alia” which called for

normalization of relations that was signed in Arusha with

presence of Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda and was between the

presidents of Somalia and Kenya (Makina, 1982, p.97). The arms

acquired during this time were never surrendered to the

government and still is in the hands of the North eastern people.

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The supply of arms into North Eastern did not end but in

early 1981 we see an irredentist Somali movement calling

themselves NFD Liberation Front which toured several Arab

countries seeking for funds as well as arms. Their main aim was

to fight the government and liberate about 200,000 Somalis

leaving in the region. The shifta’s (bandits) came to action by

killing a District Officer in November 1981 (Makina, 1982, pp.97-

98). It was after the murder of the government official that the

government retaliated by announcing a curfew of dusk to dawn and

deploying General Service Unit (GSU) in the area. The government

blamed Somalia for the shifta re-appearance though still there

was no disarmament carried out after the incident.

In 1969 Somalia government was taken over by the famous

General Mohammad Siad Barre through a bloodless military coup.

Barre proved himself a dictator by banning all political parties

and placing the country under military rule. He came up with an

expansionist ideology meant to unite all the Somali regions and

create a ‘greater Somalia’. Thus the bi-polar world especially

the Soviet Union stockpiled arms into the country to help Barre

achieve his dream of a greater Somalia and in return allow the

Soviets to have their military base in the country. Therefore

Barre acted in 1977 by attacking Ethiopia so as to regain the

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Ogaden region leading to the Ogaden war that lasted between 1976

to1978 leading to the defeat of Somalia (AFP, 2006,p.56).

The failures of the military group in the Ogaden War lead to

the formation of three rebel groups; the Somali National Movement

(SNM) in the Northwestern region, the United Somali Congress

(USC) in central and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), in the

southern region. Therefore this rebel groups possessed weapons

they acquired from the government and thus started trading in

these arms with their neighboring Somali communities in the North

Eastern region who were in need of arms so as to protect their

livestock. The main facilitating factor of cross border trade of

illegal arms was the weak and porous border as well as lack of

security. Thus since 1980 illegal SALW trade has become common

between the Somali communities in Somalia and those in North

Eastern Kenya whereby every household or every livestock owner

had an AK 47 (AFP, 2006, pp.56-57).

Some might wonder how these arm dealers pass through

security carrying AK-47 which is easily visible. The reason is

that the border securities are the main backlash since they are

extremely poor and accept huge bribes so as to supplement their

poor wage. Thus corruption is the major cause of proliferation of

arms into Kenya since the country is ranked 154th worldwide and

35th in Africa by the Transparency International’s (TI) 2010

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Corruption perception Index (CPI) and only surpasses Burundi in

East African region (T.I, 2010, p.14).

During the Cold War the two powerful states namely United

States and the Soviet Union had the largest military industrial

complex companies. These two Powers wanted to get more influence

in the world thus they started arming nations such as Somalia so

that each of them could get the strategic position of the country

and become more powerful than the other. During Siad Barre’s

reign most of these arms were supplied to the people of North

Eastern province since he wanted to unite all the Somalis and

there was the re-emergence of the Shifta War in 1981 when a

District Officer was killed though it was suppressed immediately.

Thus we see the impact of the theory in the North Eastern region

of Kenya having a great influence.

ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF SALW INTO NORTH EASTERN KENYA

In his article Kassim (2013) explains that John Patrick

Ochieng the deputy director of Kenya National Focal Point (KNFP)

on SALW admits that the number of illegal arms in the wrong hands

have been tremendously increasing according to a survey done in

2011 which clearly indicates that between 530,000-680,000

firearms are in the wrong hands and a large number of these arms

have come from the North Eastern region of Kenya directly coming

from Somalia and Ethiopia through arm smugglers.

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According to Murunga (2005), most of these illegal arms

found their way into North Eastern region after the fall of the

president of Somalia Siad Barre in 1991 leading to instability

and conflict between different Warlords thus causing mass influx

of refugees into Kenya. Most of the displaced were armed and

crossed to the Kenyan border finding themselves in Mandera and

thus giving the locals in the region arms so as to acquire

shelter as well as food (p.148). Human Rights Watch in a 2002

report also documents some of the major dispersal points of SALW

to Nairobi and other parts of the country as the North Eastern

towns of El-wak and Mandera, other towns include, Isiolo in

Eastern province and Lokichogio (p.11). This justifies the

presence of mass SALW in North Eastern region since some of the

towns in the region (Mandera and El-Wak) acted as markets for

these arms as well as dispersal points to the rest of the

country.

Kassim Mohamed a writer for the STAR, (a newspaper in Kenya)

conducts an investigation in 2012 and finalized in 2013. The

author meets with different Small Arms and Light Weapons dealers

in Somalia and the findings are really shocking. In his

investigation he be-friends with a one arm dealer named Ibrahim

Fuad who he meets in Beled Hawo a small town located in the Gedo

region of Somalia. The dealer explains to him that the arms he

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trades in is acquired from a bigger arm supplier in Baidoa

Somalia’s third largest city and operates his business through

mobile phone link.

METHODS AND ROUTES OF SMUGGLING SALW INTO KENYA

Ibrahim Fuad used to be an arms dealer in Somalia but

noticed that the arms business is not as profitable as trading in

Kenya as overheard from his colleagues. It was then that he

decided to expand his business to Kenya and Ethiopia though he

also explains that most arms end up in Kenya since Kenyans are

willing to pay more for the weapons. This is true since ownership

of arms in Kenya is illegal thus makes it more profitable and

hard to transport through different check points which makes it

more expensive since one has to bribe policemen in the process of

the transportation.

Transporting arms into the North Eastern part of Kenya is

easy as explained by Ibrahim due to the large porous border

between Somalia and Kenya. But Ibrahim has another route he uses

immediately the arms are brought from Baidoa he uses Ethiopia as

a transit route to Kenya specifically through some two small

border towns called Dollow and sufta located along the Triangular

border between Kenya and Ethiopia.

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The weapons first arrive from Baidoa to Baled Xawo

transported by a truck and an old Nissa, inside are the arms

packed in sugar packages branded World Food Programme (WFP). The

vehicles doesn’t only carry the weapons but also carries other

goods such as clothes and food stuffs making it difficult for

people to detect the content of the WFD branded packages. The

packages are then offloaded into a local shop but one interesting

thing happens before that, Ibrahim had to confirm the contents in

the bags. Each bag had a mark on the side and different bags had

different marks such as WP, WR and WA. The meaning of the

abbreviation was later explained by Ibrahim as World Pistol,

World Rocket and World AK-47. The sacks contained different arms

such as Russian and Chinese pistols, AK 47s, hand held grenades

and rocket propelled grenades.

These shows how the countries such as China and Russia who

has large MIC companies are flooding arms to African countries

such as Somalia and Kenya. These countries act nice but are true

hypocrites and are the main violators of international law as

well as the resolutions they usually come up which “prohibits”

trade in illegal arms. Ibrahim who is an arm dealer doesn’t know

where the arms come from and how they find their way into Somalia

and this is not his concern what he needs is just profit just

like the Russians and the Chinese. The only thing Ibrahim Knows

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is that his dealer gets some arms from the Ethiopian military

after killing the Al-shabab militants and others is acquired from

traders in Somalia and Yemen.

Baled Xawo is a strategic town for arm dealers due to its

closeness to the North Eastern town of Mandera. The arms from

here are transported at night for fear of the Transitional

Federal Government (TFG) soldiers, they use boats to cross river

Dawa whereby he hires 20 men, some from Suftu and others from

Baled Xawo and each man is given a $100. The arms are then

offloaded from the boats to an awaiting lorry, they use torches

and hurricane lamps in the dark so as to avoid been seen. Kassim

from here was told to stop his investigation and asked to meet

him 24 days later in Moyale a town in Eastern province.

In Moyale Ibrahim divides the consignment to avoid road

blocks and uses a different mode of transport, the common mode of

transport is the use of Lorries which transport animals. Most of

these arms end up in Mandera and El-Wak a small town near Mandera

where the arms are sold to local tribes which are in conflict

such as the recent skirmishes between Dagodia clan and the Garre

clan where the most common weapon used is the AK-47. Ibrahim also

explains some of the other weapons are transported to Nairobi in

the Mathare slums where an AK-47 costs sh93,500 and Russian

pistol costing sh59,500 giving him a big profit.

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CHAPTER THREE:

THE IMPACT OF SALW ON THE SECURITY OF NORTH EASTERN REGION

North Eastern Kenya is one of the regions in the country

that host large amount of Small Arms and Light Weapons. The

proliferation of these weapons is made possible by the presence

of arm dealers across the bordering Somalia which has the biggest

SALW stockpiles in the Horn of Africa. North Eastern region has

also large unguided borderline in which arms can easily be

smuggled into the country with few or no border patrol security.

Corruption is also another major contribution of SALW

proliferation in the region where these arm traffickers pay huge

amount of money at the police check points and easily find their

way into the country. Usually spread of arms in a region has

numerous uncountable impacts on the people as well as the

security of the country at large. Therefore this chapter will

focus on some of the negative impacts caused by the proliferation

of SALW in the Region.

MARGINALIZATION AND MISTREATMENT OF CITIZENS

Marginalization of the region was a major impact caused by

the surplus arms presence in North Eastern Province. The history

of the marginalization by the government of Kenya leading to

underdevelopment nature of the province came to action during the

31


Shifta War in 1962. The rebellions main aim was to secede from

Kenya and join Somalia since they believed that all Somalis were

from Somalia. According to Weiss, (2004) the then president Jomo

Kenyatta of KANU (Kenya African National Union) took strict

measures to quell the rebellion by invoking section 85 of the

1963 constitution and declared a State of Emergency. The

president then ordered the armed forces to use unlimited force

against anyone crossing international borders at the same time

police brutality was allowed whereby prisoners suspected of

having arms were killed in custody (p.66).

Thus many detainees just disappeared without any record of

their whereabouts while punishment for harboring a criminal

(shifta) was by life in prison. This showed how brutal the

Marginalization of the government was towards the region. The

shifta war ended in 1968 but the marginalization of the region

and treatment of citizens of the NEP as hostile has never ended

till to day though the Kibaki regime has been trying to treat

them equal to other citizens in Kenya but still the elements of

marginalization do exist (pp.66-67).

TRIBAL CONFLICTS AND LOSS OF LIVES

One of the major reasons why the armed dealers such Ibrahim

targets NFD as a ready market for their arms is due to the

presence of different hostile tribes in the region. The region is

32


normally conflict prone in where different tribes frequently

engage in fights over grazing land and water so as to feed their

animals. Thus such kinds of conflicts are made worse by the

presence of arms whereby every pastoralist has to have an AK-47

so as to protect their animals from outsiders. There are

documented numerous conflicts in the region over land a good

example is found in an IGAD report of 2007 about Wajir town

which is dominated by three major clans, Ajuran, Ogaden and

Dagodia. The district has been a conflict prone zone where inter-

clan animosity has been experienced between the three clans since

independence due to the presence of SALW in the district (p.142).

A recent conflict has been experienced in Mandera where many

lost their lives and others displaced crossing over to the border

of Ethiopia. The two clans are Garre and Dagodia a conflict

believed to have been politically motivated. The clashes occurred

in 2012 but have been on going up to one day to the general

elections whereby both clans are armed with AK-47 and other forms

of SALW such as G3s. In 2008, more than 40 people lost their

lives while thousands were displaced in a clash between the two

clans which forced the military to intervene. Thus the presence

of SALW in the region has complicated life for the innocent

people living peacefully (IGAD, 2007, p.143).

33


In the past also Wajir district has experienced bloody

skirmishes between the Dagodia clan and the ajuran which lasted

for at least 3years. The conflict was more of a political which

started in 1991-92 when the Dagodia community occupied both the

parliamentary seat in the area leaving the Ajuran with none. The

conflict was fought between the two clans led to loss of lives

and scores of injuries caused by the use of SALW in which both

the clans acquired during the shifta war that lasted between 1962

to 1968. The government failure to conduct proper disarmament was

to blame for the arms in the wrong hands. The war ended when the

government created a third constituency in the area after the

community of sued the government for neglecting them thus marked

the end of the conflict with help of security personnels

(Akiwumi, 2003, p4).

CATTLE RUSTLING

Cattle rustling have been a constant practice among pastoral

communities for a long time whereby the rustlers used crude

weapons such as spears, bows and arrows to attack their

opponents. This was also a common practice in North Eastern

region where different communities engaged in cattle rustling

practices and taking their animals. Immediately after the

emergence of these modern technical weapons, cattle rustling have

turned to be bloodier costing lives of many pastoralists in these

34


regions since it involved use of SALW compared to the earlier use

of spears and arrows. The emergence of these arms has led to

poverty among many pastoral communities who were mainly nomads

and depended on these animals for their livelihood. Thus once the

animals were lost poverty encroaches the victims leading to loss

of lives. Some of the victims decide to revenge thus acquiring

more arms leading to increase in SALW in the region. It’s also

noted that arms are also acquired by the said pastoralists so as

to protect their animals from cattle rustlers thus leading to

further small arms encroachment in the region (Africa 24 Media,

2011).

INSECURITY IN THE REGION

Dabar Maalim in his contribution to insecurity and

underdevelopment in north east Kenya to the Symposium for the

Sustainable Development of North Eastern Kenya (held in 1994),

laments that Insecurity has become the biggest obstacle to

development in northern Kenya. Loss of life, loss of property,

fear and general stress caused by insecurity has become the

unfortunate characteristics of the region (Abdi, 1997, p.7).

Given the regions political history as well as its similarities

with the neighboring Somalia cannot be understated in terms of

security problems. Constant incident of insecurity has been

witnessed in the region since independence due to presence of

35


arms and this was severed after the incursion of Kenya Defense

Force (KDF) into Somalia in 2011. Most incidents of insecurity

today is experienced in Garissa the headquarter town of NEP.

There has been rise in attacks on security forces in Garissa

County after there was announcement in late 2012 by al-Shabab, a

Somali based al Qaeda group that they will reward $8,000 for the

killing of Kenyan security officials as intercepted by

intelligence groups in the country. Immediately after this

announcement Garissa County has been a nightmare for security

forces where by police officers are killed on a daily basis as

the worst horror in the town was witnessed in November 2012 when

three KDF forces were killed on their way to the army camp. The

army retaliated by shooting on sight the residents of the town,

beating them at the same time detaining others as well as burning

the biggest market in the Region called ‘Suq Mathowe’ which

claimed billions of money and property. The insecurity in the

county came with the defeat of al Shabab and the presence of arms

in the wrong hands (Bosire, 2012).

The insecurity in Garissa and the influx of arms are in the

rise evidenced when security patrol car in Amuma area which is

the border between Somalia and Kenya intercepted a group of

people suspected to be Al-Shabab members while in a vehicle

coming to Garissa. The Incident lead to the arrest of 6 suspects

36


on 11th December 2012 and the security forces recovered 2

pistols, two grenades and 85 five bullets while four suspects

escaped. The weak border security in the region has been the main

reason leading to the influx of arms into Garissa town thus the

rise of insecurity in the North Eastern province as a whole

(Sabahi, 2012).

37


CHAPTER FOUR:

DISARMAMENT OPERATIONS SPONSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT

Small Arms and Light Weapons spread in North Eastern

Province has been a problem since Kenya’s independence. There

have been numerous cases of insecurity which in turn lead to

government planned disarmament operations which mostly turned

sour leading to death of citizens and Massacres caused by the

security forces. Therefore the chapter will focus in details some

of the disarmament operations mainly focusing on the most

coercive disarmament operations involving wide human right abuses

were experienced.

THE COUNTER INSURGENCY OPERATION DURING THE SHIFTA WAR

Immediately after independence Kenya encountered a

secessionist movement in the North Eastern province who was

formally known as the Northern Frontier Districts. This region

believed that they belonged to Somalia since they are of Somali

origin and wanted to join the larger Somalia. In doing so, the

people of the North Eastern Province were acting towards a 1962

referendum which was carried out by the British administration on

which side the people of North Eastern wanted to join of which

they unanimously chose to join Somalia. This was against the will

of the Kenyan government thus when the people of NEP discovered

38


these they acquired arms forming a militia group or bandits which

in the local Somali name was known as ‘shifta’ (Makina, 1982,

p.97).

The Kenyatta government on learning about the Shifta

insurgency they responded harshly by coming up with an operation

pioneered by a special force known as the Counter-Insurgency

General Service Unit. These unit adopted harsh methods in dealing

with the situation by forcing the civilians into concentrated

camps (protected villages) as told by older women who literally

witnessed the injustices done to them as well as their children.

The main reasons civilians were put in concentration camps were

to flash out shiftas and retrieve firearms from them. In the

process of retrieving the firearms, women and young girls were

raped; others tortured so as that to get information from them.

There were grave human rights violations which was undocumented

during this time apart from the few reported cases. In these

years of the operation the region was declared a prohibited zone

whereby security personals were empowered by the government on

shoot and kill basis of those who are suspected of being

insurgents while their livestock was confiscated. The operation

lasted for four years whereby in these period lives of more than

2700 were lost in the concentration camps (Wepundi, Ndun’gu &

Rynn, 2011, p.7).

39


Although the government dealt with the shiftas harshly it

created hostility between the government and the local people

living in NEP. During this operation a lot of arms were retrieved

but at the same more than what the government had was still in

the hands of the civilian population in the region which became

bitter creating more insecurity since they have been hurt by the

inhuman nature of the government in executing the operation.

Therefore the overall security of the region deteriorated instead

of improving.

OPERATION BLOODSHED (THE WAGALLA MASSACRE)

The operation bloodshed was not a form of disarmament as put

by the government but was an operation which was meant to wipe

out the people of the Degodia clan and one of the worst actions

of genocide nature that has ever happened in Kenya as reported by

the Amnesty international in their 1984 report. The darkest hour

of the people of North Eastern occurred on February 10th 1984

when Benson Kaaris then PC ordered Kenya security forces which

include the army, air force, police and the Administration Police

to rounded up more than 5000 men after burning their houses and

forced them into a small airstrip in Wagalla, a small town 9

miles to the west of Wajir district and started slaughtering them

(Salah, 2007, p.1).

40


The Manner in which the people were tortured during the

operation bloodshed will make one shed tears. The torture and

killing of the people took place in Wagalla airstrip in

description was fenced with razor sharp wire and the surface of

the airstrip was made of rigid gravel which had sharp edges.

There was no sight of trees within the airstrip and the nearest

shade was approximately 500 meters away from the fence. One

tragic form of torture was witness in Lehely which is some miles

south of Wajir where Hassan Shaikh Abdikarim was beaten by the

security forces in front of his family and was later tied to the

back of the army lorry and dragged to Wagalla, a distance of

about a hundred kilometers on a rough road of thus died on the

way (Salah, 2007, p.2).

At the airstrip people were forced to strip and lie on their

bellies on the sharp edges of the gravel which was very hot from

the scorching sun of the February sun approximated to be 40

degrees Celsius. Those who refused to strip were shot and killed

on the spot. The following day the security forces gathered a

group of people and poured petrol on them and burnt them alive

while the others watched in horror and another man who refused to

comply with orders given was stoned to death to act as an

example. As days passed by the scorching sun burnt the people

forcing them to drink their urine. Another form of torture

41


according to eye witnesses who survived was that people were

beaten until their bodies were covered with blood after this they

were hanged from a tree upside down by their testicles an image

which no human being can ever want to see (Salah, 2007, p.2).

Such were the gruesome operations the Kenyan government had

conducted and these were the worst two operations among the

multiple operations in the name of disarmament was conducted in

the region. The shocking part is that the government never

acknowledged this intended genocide that led to the loss of 3000

Somalis which the government claims to be only around 381 deaths.

Up to date justice has not been done and there was no detailed

investigation conducted to bring the perpetrators to justice

since the incident was plotted by the government (Salah, 2007,

p.9).

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CHAPTER FIVE:

CONCLUSION

SALW spread in North Eastern Kenya has been a security

problem to the region and the country as whole for many years.

According to the arm dealers, Kenyans pay more money for these

arms than the people of Somalia do pay which makes the

possibility of more arms finding their way into the country very

high. The Kenyan government is solely to blame for the

proliferations of arms into the country because of the corrupt

nature of the security force which instead of protecting the

country’s borders and check points are receiving bribes and

turning a blind eye while arms are trafficked into the country.

Thus to counter the spread of SALW into the North Eastern

region as well as to other parts of the country, the government

should disarm the people in North Eastern and provide enough

security to avoid any clan conflict since the main reason why

arms are being acquired by the locals is to protect their clan

against another. In ensuring these, then the government will be

looking forward to North Eastern which is free from arms and a

reduction of the arms smuggling into the country.

There has been negative impact in the region in relation to

the spread of arms and many of the civilians have lost their

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lives in the constant clan conflict that has been experienced in

the region the recent one being the conflict between Garre and

Degodia in Mandera in 2013. These conflicts come with a lot

complex other issues such as cattle rustling whereby the clans in

conflict steal livestock from each other creating misery and

poverty at the same time leading to hatred between the locals and

in the end we see conflict occurring periodically in the sense of

revenge attacks. Thu surplus arms in the wrong hands will

therefore cause insecurity as witnessed in recent wake of

insecurity in Garissa town where the security forces are the main

target. Thus the deployment of more security in the border towns

will reduce influx of more arms reducing the insecurity in the

town and the country at large.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Violence and insecurity has developed a tight friendship

with the people of the North Eastern region and the main reason

why there are conflicts from time to time is conflict over

pastoral resources. If this is the main problem, then the

government can counter this by coming up with irrigation schemes

and reduce the number of people that are depending on pastoralism

which always involves trespassing of clans into other lands which

belong to different clans thus fuelling conflicts. This will be

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different in farming whereby one is not roaming around but is

instead at one point which reduces conflicts over resources

drastically. Another step the government can take is creating

industries and creates employment for the pastoralists so that

they could find another source of income than depending on

pastoralism completely.

Insecurity in the region as well as widespread of arms is

caused by the minimal presence of security forces in the North

Eastern towns. The shortages of security personnel’s is worsened

by the shortage of security vehicles which make the security

forces hard to cover an area in case there is an insecurity case.

Therefore what the government should do is employ large number of

security personnel in areas where there is constant security

cases while reducing the security forces in areas which are calm

and peaceful these will balance the scale and insecurity issues

will be handled with ease before much damage happens. The

government should also provide enough vehicles which would make

the dispatching of the forces quick that using only one vehicle

to dispatch them to different places which would be time

consuming.

The government is also faced with the menace of stockpile of

arms in the region and various disarmament operations carried out

has turned bloody and unfruitful. It’s high time the government

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used other approaches instead of using security forces. The

People in this region are mostly Muslims and respect the

religious leaders as well their elders very much, therefore the

government should bring together this elders as well as the

religious leaders and urge them to disarm their respective clan

promising them rewards. If this method is put to practice then it

would definitely without doubt bare fruits unlike the earlier

bloody operations.

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CONTENTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS............................................................1

ABSTRACT....................................................................2

CHAPTER ONE:................................................................3

http://www.un.org/Depts/ddar/Firstcom/SGreport52/a52298.html

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INTRODUCTION................................................................3

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:....................................................5

HYPOTHESIS:................................................................5

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:........................................................5

LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................6

Spread of SALW during and after the cold war...............................6

Proliferation of SALW in the Horn of Africa................................8

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.........................10

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.......................................................11

CHAPTER OUTLINE............................................................12

CHAPTER TWO:...............................................................13

ILLEGAL TRANSFER OF SALW INTO NORTH EASTERN REGION OF KENYA................13

Historical context SALW in North Eastern Region...........................13

Illegal Transfer of SALW into North Eastern Kenya.........................15

Methods and Routes of Smuggling SALW into Kenya...........................16

CHAPTER THREE:.............................................................19

THE IMPACT OF SALW ON THE SECURITY OF NORTH EASTERN REGION.................19

Marginalization and mistreatment of citizens..............................19

Tribal conflicts and loss of lives........................................20

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Cattle rustling...........................................................21

Insecurity in the region..................................................21

CHAPTER FOUR:..............................................................23

DISARMAMENT OPERATIONS SPONSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT.........................23

The counter insurgency operation during the Shifta War....................23

Operation bloodshed (the Wagalla massacre)................................24

CHAPTER FIVE:..............................................................26

Conclusion................................................................26

Recommendations...........................................................27

BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................28

The Impact of Small Arms and Light Weapons on Security: A Case Study of North Eastern Kenya

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