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'{{Short description|1984 killing of thousands of [[degoodi]] clan members by the Kenyan Army in Wajir County, Kenya}} {{EngvarB|date=May 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = Wagalla Massacre {{Location map|Kenya|lat_deg = 1.7822|lon_deg = 39.9339|caption=}} | location = [[Wagalla Airstrip]], North Eastern Province, Kenya | coordinates = {{coord|01|46|55.92|N|39|56|2.08|E|display=inline,title}} | date = February 10, 1984 | type = [[Massacre]] | fatalities = 5000 }} {{History of Kenya}} The '''Wagalla massacre''' was a [[massacre]] of ethnic [[Somalis]] by the [[Kenyan Army]] on 10 February 1984 in [[Wajir County]], Kenya. [[Daniel arap Moi]] opened barracks near Wagalla, where he brought soldiers to 'discipline the villagers'. ==Massacre== === Overview === {{context|date=February 2021}} The massacre took place on 10 February 1984 at the [[Wagalla Airstrip]] against the [[Degoodi]] clan. It was facilitated by other Somali clans who spied and helped Kenyan troops. The facility is situated approximately 15&nbsp;km (9&nbsp;mi) west of the county capital of [[Wajir]] in the former [[North Eastern Province (Kenya)|North Eastern Province]], a region primarily inhabited by the Somalis. Kenyan troops had descended on the area to reportedly help defuse clan-related conflict. However, according to eye-witness testimony, about 5,000 Somali men of were then taken to an airstrip and prevented from accessing water and food for five days before being executed by Kenyan soldiers.<ref name="Wmrookp">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12463001 Wagalla massacre: Raila Odinga orders Kenya probe]</ref> In 1984 former dictator president Siad Barre's of Somalia response to the Kenyan president: The Somali people [in Kenya] who are being mercilesly per secuted, it is something I cannot watch idly. The persecution inflicted upon them clearly reveals that Kenya does not regard them as part of the Kenyan society, if they did, they would not have treated them this inhumanely. The obligation of Somalism [i.e. shared ethnicity] forces us not to watch idly if we are the Somali government and we will take a clear action I say this to the Kenyan government; I have instructed Somalia's military to be put on high alert and be ready for any subsequent orders. If the Kenyan government does not stop this campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Somali people in Kenya, be assured that their silent cry will not fall on deaf ears [i.e. military action). According to a commissioner with [[The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya]], a government oversight body that had been formed in response to the [[2007–2008 Kenyan crisis|2008 Kenyan post-election violence]], the Wagalla massacre represents the worst human rights violation in Kenya's history.<ref name="Wmrookp"/> ===Death toll=== The exact number of people killed in the massacre is unknown.<ref> {{cite news | first = Bob | last = Odalo | title = How Mulinge Saved Kenyatta From Coup | work = [[The Nation (Kenya)|The Nation]] | date = 26 March 2000}}</ref> However, eyewitnesses place the figure at around 5,000 deaths.<ref name="Wmrookp"/><ref> {{cite news |author1=Ongeri, Boniface |author2=Victor Obure |name-list-style=amp | title = Fading images: How province is fighting one-eyed bandit's legacy | url = http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=7837 | work = [[The Standard (Kenya)|The Standard]] | date = 9 December 2004 | access-date = 8 August 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071010051019/http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=7837 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 10 October 2007}}</ref> ==Aftermath== For years the Kenyan government denied that a massacre had taken place and insisted that "only 57 people were killed in a security operation to disarm the [area's] residents".<ref> {{cite news | first = Philip | last = Ngunjiri | title = Muslim leaders oppose plan to exhume bodies | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-17963832.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110516181219/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-17963832.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 16 May 2011 | work = [[Inter Press Service]] | date = 4 November 1998 | access-date = 8 August 2007}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}} It was not until October 2000 that the government publicly acknowledged wrongdoing on the part of its security forces.<ref name="BBC"> {{cite news | title = Kenya admits mistakes over 'massacre' | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/978922.stm | work = [[BBC]] | date = 18 October 2000 | access-date = 8 August 2007}}</ref> In 2010, Bethuel Kiplagat stepped aside{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} as chairman of the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission because of his alleged involvement in authorising the action that led to the massacre.<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/1022/US-professor-quits-Kenyan-truth-commission-citing-lack-of-confidence US professor quits Kenyan truth commission, citing lack of confidence] ''CS Monitor''</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}}<ref> {{cite news | title = Leaders demand probe into 1994 killings in northeast | work = [[The People (Kenya)|The People]] | date = 16 June 2002}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}} Reports of the number of men from the Somali [[Degodia]] sub-clan, in particular, that were detained by security forces and brought to the airstrip range from 381<ref> {{cite news | first = Owino | last = Opondo | title = Wagalla issue causes uproar in the House | work = [[The Nation (Kenya)|The Nation]] | date = 19 October 2000}}</ref> to upward of ten thousand.<ref> {{cite news | title = Two-Week Ultimatum to Land Grabbers | url = http://allafrica.com/stories/200302280019.html | work = [[East African Standard]] | date = 28 February 2003 | access-date = 9 August 2007}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}}<ref> {{cite news | first = Tom | last = Maliti | title = Kenyans seek commission to discover truth of '84 mass killing | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FD99F2F1A096A37&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | work = [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] | page = A18 | date = 14 September 2003 | access-date = 9 August 2007}}(<span class="plainlinks">[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-08/22/content_257438.htm alternate link]</span>)</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2021}} In April 2012, Kiplagat was reinstated as TJRC chairman after the Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa brokered a truce between him and the other commissioners.<ref>[http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/04/kiplagat-tjrc-foes-call-a-truce/ Kiplagat, TJRC foes call a truce]</ref> The same year, the former Kenyan Prime Minister [[Raila Odinga]] ordered an official probe into the atrocities and indicated that the national attorney general should bring to justice those responsible for the killings. Odinga also ordered a museum to be constructed in honour of the victims.<ref name="Wmrookp"/> In memory and honor of those who lost their lives in this massacre, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) in conjunction with local and international partners has supported the construction of a monument in Wajir Town. The Monument, which is set to be unveiled on 14 February 2014, has the names of 482 victims engraved on marble and pasted on a wall. These names were taken from the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report and subjected to a thorough validation exercise for purposes of ensuring that they were indeed names of the people who lost their lives as a result of the massacre.<ref>https://www.knchr.org/Articles/ArtMID/2432/ArticleID/1024/Wagalla-Massacre</ref> In February 2015, the Wajir County governor Ahmed Abdullahi said his government would partner with local and international human rights organisations in seeking justice for the victims of the massacre, saying that the Truth Commission report offered such an opportunity which remained squandered. "Those mentioned by the TJRC report and witnesses must be prosecuted. The people who afflicted the pain to our people remain unpunished and are still with us," Abdullahi said.<ref>See: [http://allafrica.com/stories/201502160347.html Kenya: Wajir Governor to Sue State Over Wagalla Massacre], AllAfrica/The Star, 15 February 2015. Accessed on 25 June 2015.</ref> ==Film== The film/documentary ''Scarred: The Anatomy of a Massacre'', directed by Judy Kibinge, founder of the East African Documentary Film Fund, is the first independent visual attempt to chronicle the history of the massacre as experienced by both the victims and survivors, some of whom were government officials. The documentary was launched at the National Museum in [[Nairobi]] in February 2015.<ref>See: [http://sahanjournal.com/new-documentary-wagalla-massacre-victims-recount-horror-dark-days/#.VOL4meaUd5c In new documentary, Wagalla Massacre victims recount horror of dark days], Sahan Journal, 16 February 2015. Accessed on 26 June 2015.</ref><ref>See: [https://www.academia.edu/10954141/SCARRED_the_Anatomy_of_a_Massacre A report with detailed testimonies of witnessess], by Judy Kibinge. Accessed on 18 Feb. 2021.</ref> ==See also== * [[Garissa massacre]] * [[History of Kenya]] * [[List of massacres in Kenya]] * [[Human rights in Kenya]] * [[Shifta War]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== *Salah Abdi Sheik, [https://books.google.com/books/about/Blood_on_the_runway.html?id=bG0wAQAAIAAJ Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984], (Northern Pub. House: 2007) {{Authority control}} [[Category:1984 in Kenya]] [[Category:Massacres in 1984]] [[Category:Massacres in Kenya]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1984]] [[Category:Wajir County]] [[Category:Massacres of men]] [[Category:February 1984 events in Africa]] [[Category:Violence against men in Africa]] [[Category:Anti-Somali sentiment]]'