Friday, 18 October 2013

PROFILING OF INSECURITY IN KENYA IN 2013




(i)                  TERRORIST ATTACKS IN KENYA IN 2013
January – June
On 4 January, at 7 pm, two people were killed and seven wounded in a grenade attack at Dagahale area in Garissa. The grenade was hurled from a saloon car at a tent where people were chewing Khat.[1]
A grenade was thrown into a police vehicle as it drove past a crowd along Ngamia road near the local District Officer's (DO) office on 7 January 2013. Four people including three police officers were seriously wounded in a grenade attack on a police car in Garissa town.[2] On 8 January, one of the wounded, a 22-year old man succumbed to injuries. The number of wounded admitted in hospital were confirmed as eight people including four police officers.[3]
On the evening of 9 January, Two grenades were thrown into the World Food Programme (WFP) compound in Mandera Town. There were no injuries reported. The blast occurred as a group of worshipers were leaving a nearby mosque after their prayers.[4]
On 16 January, suspected Islamic militants shot dead 5 people and injured 3 others at a restaurant in the eastern city of Garissa. Authorities said they believed the gunmen belonged to the Al-Shabaab group, as the victims included a senior prison warden, fitting a pattern of attacks against security forces.[5]
Two men believed to be suicide bombers of Somali origin died on the morning of 17 January 2013 after Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) they had went off in Hagdera refugee camp in Dadaab.[6]
On 31 January, a blast injured three Kenyan policemen during the evening in the Dagahalley area of the northern town of Dadaab. The explosion had targeted a police vehicle.[7]Police had earlier in the evening recovered two hand grenades.
On 2 February, a KDF soldier was killed in a blast in Wajir after a terrorist who appeared to know him hurled a grenade at the man and his girlfriend. The officer was among several people on a break from the coordinated Linda Nchi operation in southern Somalia between the Somali military and Kenyan forces against the Al-Shabaab insurgents.[8]Two other policemen were wounded in the explosion, while the woman had injuries to her legs.[9]
On 5 February, an administration police sergeant was assassinated in Garissa. He had just arrived in the town from his habitual station in Dadaab when one of several gunmen shot him in the head. The assailants escaped the scene by foot, with police making no arrests.[10]
On the evening of 18 April, four armed men walked into the Kwa Chege Hotel in Garissa and started shooting. At least six people were shot dead and 10 others seriously wounded.[11]
On 20 April, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed security chiefs to visit Garissa and thoroughly investigate rampant insecurity in the area after the killing of ten people in 18 April.[12]Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo also ordered regional police chiefs to direct their investigations on recent attacks and form specialized units charged with tracking down terror groups operating in the Garissa region.
On 19 May, a suspected terrorist, Felix Nyanganga Otuko and his wife were shot dead and six police officers injured during a security operation in Githurai Kimbo suburb, Nairobi which lasted 12 hours.[13]
The state has been responding to insecurity through the transferring of senior police officers as was witnessed in the shuffling of ten senior officers including Bungoma OCPD Amos Cheboi.
Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo announced the transfer of Cheboi at the Police Headquarters. Nyeri OCPD Kirinya Limbitu was moved to Bungoma to replace Cheboi while Lugari OCPD John Leshimbiro is the new Nyeri police boss.Rachuonyo deputy OCPD Bernard Macharia was promoted and named the new Lugari OCPD while Vihiga’s Lawrence Garama was moved to police headquarters, personnel division. The new Vihiga OCPD is Mr. Alfred Onyango who was operating from police headquarters, Vigilance House.[14]
Mr. Elphas Korir, the OCPD for Teso North has been moved to Vigilance House and was replaced by Lucas Onyango while the new Laikipia East police boss will be Kipkorir Tum who will replace Joshua Lekutai.

July—December
On 21 September 2013, armed gunmen attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing more than 70 people and injuring more than 150. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall.[15] The attack was thought to be orchestrated by extremists against non-Muslim Kenyans and Westerners in the area.[16]
Anti-terror police arrested two suspects at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after the Westgate attack who had suspect documents which included an expired passport which did not belong to one of them.
The Government has reacted to this by drawing up a ‘Nyumba Kumi’[17] security plan where one is supposed to know their neighbors and what they do for a living. The national and county governments have also agreed to formulate a national disaster template to ensure efficient emergency response. The integrated national security management structure will incorporate county commissioners, governors and citizens based on the ‘Nyumba Kumi’ initiative.[18]
The county governments and the national government have also agreed to partner in installation of an integrated Close Circuit Television (CCTV) system to combat crime in the country. This was after a meeting between the Council of Governors and President Uhuru Kenyatta.[19] The two levels of government agreed to take immediate steps to link security-related technologies such as CCTV, into one integrated platform as well as improve community policing, especially in border counties, to tighten loopholes currently being exploited by people illegally crossing into Kenyan territory.
Cabinet Secretaries for Interior and Government Co-ordination Joseph Ole Lenku, Devolution and Planning Anne Waiguru and the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua said the integrated security framework will involve active participation of citizens.

The Kenyan government, through the head of Anti-Terrorism Unit Boniface Mwaniki, has intensified search for the suspected terrorists who attacked Westgate Shopping Mall by offering Ksh.500 000 bounty for any information leading to arrest of two owners of a vehicle which was used during the attack.[20]
 Members of Parliament called for closure of refugee camps after the Westgate terror attack. Mr. David Wafula (Sabot MP) had asked the House Committee on Administration and National Security to give the country a status report on refugees in the country since he claimed revelations by intelligence reports showed that some camps were being used as training grounds for terrorists. This is because of the talk that some of the terrorists behind the Westgate Mall attack might have entered the country masquerading as refugees.
On 26 September, men believed to be terrorists attacked a police station in Mandera Town near the Somalia border and killed two police officers, injured three others before burning at least 11 vehicles. They also threw a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) on the local DO’s office burning it down before escaping in the 3 am incident.
The attack was the second one in a day following another one that occurred earlier on Wednesday night in Wajir Town where one man was killed and four others wounded following an explosion and shooting. Police said gunmen hurled two grenades at a crowd but one exploded in the 7 pm incident. And as they were escaping they opened fire killing one man and injured three others.
One of the attackers was injured by the grenade that exploded and was later arrested by the police. He is in custody helping police with investigations. Wajir police boss Isaiah Odhiambo has tightened security in the town.
Extra-judicial killings in Mombasa linked to terrorism
On 4 October, Sheikh Ibrahim Omar and three others were summarily executed in the wee hours of Friday morning in Bamburi, Mombasa, just a kilometer from where his predecessor Aboud Rogo was killed last year (2012).at the end of the day, four more people were killed during protests which followed afterward and the Salvation Army Church was set ablaze. Police have been pursuing Sheikh Abubakar Sharif alias Makaburi, a preacher whom they suspect to be behind terror plans at the Coast.

(ii)                CLAN CLASHES
The North-Eastern Kenya county of Mandera has been experiencing a spike in inter-clan clashes, with several deaths recorded in June 2013. Episodes of insecurity, since March 2012, have affected the delivery of aid to thousands of displaced people as well as access to basic services. On 23 June, an attack in the village of Choroqo, in the Banisa area of Mandera, left at least 16 people dead, according to information from Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS).
The Choroqo raid followed an incident in which several people were hacked to death and others shot dead in Mandera and the neighbouring district of Wajir.
Leaders from the warring Garre and Degodia clans, both of Somali ethnicity, had on 23 June signed a peace agreement to stop the clashes, with hefty fines set for those engaging in violence.
The protracted tensions and conflict between the two communities largely result from competition for natural resources and political disagreements over governance issues in the new devolution structures.
President Uhuru Kenyatta called for peaceful solution to the clashes in Mandera without necessarily involving the army. This was because the military option has often been criticized by human rights groups in Northern Kenya due to associated human rights violations.[21]
However, a contingent of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), General Service Unit (GSU), Administration Police, regular police and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) were sent to restore law and order when the clashes were escalating further.
In 28 August, more paramilitary police were deployed in Moyale Town following fresh inter-clan clashes that left unknown people dead, injured and others displaced. Police spokesperson Gatiria Mboroki could not confirm claims by Marsabit Governor Ukur Yattani that up to 20 people had been killed. This was after the Kenya military forces were deployed to Moyale in early August following a confrontation between residents and security forces that left one dead. Several houses were torched in the village attacks that brought business to a standstill.[22]The attacks were between Burji, Gabra and Borana. General Service Unit, administration police and regular officers had also been deployed in these areas.
Since August up to October, families have been fleeing volatile areas of Baringo in Samburu County due to killings that started in August. Latest incident was in early October at Simiti village when a herder and a student were killed by raiders suspected to be Turkanas. 

(iii)              GANG ATTACKS
In April and May, a gang went on rampage in Bungoma County killing at least 15 people and maiming more than 150 mercilessly.[23] The State bolstered security but there were fears that it had only led to a lull before more attacks worse than before began. Politicians from Western Kenya had warned that it is just a matter of time before fresh round of killings erupt in Bungoma and Busia Counties.[24] In May, reprisals attacks arose where vigilantes lynched eight suspects. President Kenyatta chaired a crisis meeting back then at State House, ordering top police chiefs to stop the spiraling insecurity in parts of the country. The meeting was attended by all Provincial Police Officers (PPOs), Provincial Criminal Investigation Officers (PCIOs) and formation commanders from the Regular and Administrative police units.

(iv)               CATTLE RUSTLING
On 3 Feb, six people including three police officers were shot dead in a cattle theft raid in Ng’aratuko in Baringo County.[25]
On 30-31 March, an elderly man was killed in Itongo village in Kuria East District following a cattle rustling incident. The incident happened after members of the Abanyabasi clan attacked their Abairege clan counterparts and made away with 25-30 cattle from several homesteads.[26]
On 18 September, nine year old boy was killed in Baragoi cattle rustling incident and over 30 cattle stolen.[27]
0n 3 October four men were killed and several women and children were injured after more than 200 bandits believed to be from neighbouring Uganda and Turkana County raided villages in West Pokot.700 cows were stolen.
During the weekend of 5-8 October, two people were killed and three others were injured during a raid by more than 100 armed rustlers at Suyan village in Baragoi, Samburu North. The heavily armed raiders drove away with over 300 head of cattle.

(v)                 ROBBERIES
On Wednesday, January 09, an expatriate member of the UN staff was reportedly attacked and shot by an unknown gunmen on Ngong Road after withdrawing cash from an ATM machine at the Nakumatt Junction supermarket.
On Friday, January 11, , five Peace Corps volunteers were assaulted and robbed while walking from the Westgate Mall to the Kenya Continental Hotel. 
On Monday, January 14, an UNEP employee was robbed just outside of the UN Crescent offices along the Gigiri Lane, across from CAC2. 
On Saturday, February 02, a UN staff member was shot and robbed by five assailants on Chaka Road, in Hurlingham. 
On Sunday, February 10, a man armed with a knife mugged and tried to carjack mission employees as they were returning to their vehicle which was parked on United Nations Avenue at the back side of the Village Market in Gigiri.[28] 
On 30 April, Flying squad officers gunned down 4 suspected gangsters believed to have been part of a gang that attacked a G4S cash delivery van in Ugunja Siaya on Tuesday and made away with an estimated 6.5 million shillings.[29]
On 20 June, nine suspected gangsters were shot dead by police in Nairobi in Warren area within Kasarani.[30]
In  July, Dr. Jesse Mwangi, an Egerton University lecturer was shot dead by a gang of armed gangsters who abducted him as he left a local hotel where he was chairing a wedding committee meeting for one of his friends.[31]
28 July, seven suspected thugs were killed in Nakuru robbery attempt. Police shot dead the seven, six men and a woman.[32]
On 8 August, Managers of a Nairobi company shot dead two gangsters who had robbed their firm near Embakasi along the Eastern bypass in Nairobi. A third suspect was lynched by the public who caught up with him as he escaped.[33]
On 19 August, three suspected robbers were shot dead by police in three separate incidents and three firearms recovered in Nairobi.[34]
On 24-25 August, a retired British officer Lt Col David Parkinson was killed after five robbers raided his farm in Nanyuki.[35]
On 2 September, two suspected gangsters were shot dead by police officers while robbing a petrol station at Kenlands Estate in Nakuru town.[36]
On 12 September, police shot dead three armed robbers who had strangled to death a Norwegian national in the lakeside city of Kisumu.[37]
On 18 September, armed gang of five shot and seriously wounded a form four student at Ngomongo village in Kirinyaga County and also kidnapped the girl’s mother.[38]
On 20 September, three people were lynched by an angry mob in Malindi town on suspicion of being members of a gang of armed thugs, who have been killing and stealing from 'boda boda' operators.[39]
On 25 September, 3 suspected thugs were gunned down in a botched robbery attempt in Korogocho.[40]
On 25 September, two girls, aged between three and twelve years, were killed during a shootout in Korogocho where police were hunting down a criminal.[41]


 ***Kenya security ranked among the worst- DN 15-10-2013 by Ibrahim Index African Governance (IIAG)***



[5] The Miami Herald (15 January 2013). "Kenya police: Suspected militants kill 5 people"
[6] "Terror suspects die after bombs explode on them". The Standard Retrieved 17 January 2013.
[7] "Policemen injured in Dadaab blast". The Standard Retrieved 2 February 2013.
[8]"KDF soldier killed in a blast". The Standard Retrieved 2 February 2013.
[9] "Gunmen shoot dead police officer" Retrieved 5 February 2013.
[10] Ibid
[15]"Americans among injured in deadly Kenya mall attack". USA Today Retrieved 21 September 2013.
[16] ibid
[17] A community policing system adopted from Tanzania ensuring neighbors know each other. President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed County Commissioners to work closely with Governors to ensure the establishment of the structure at all administrative levels.
[29] http://k24tv.co.ke/?p=2702 retrieved 30 April 2013
[38] http://k24tv.co.ke/?p=12452 retrieved 19 September 2013
[39] http://k24tv.co.ke/?p=12511 retrieved 20 September 2013
[40] http://k24tv.co.ke/?p=12819 retrieved 25 September 2013
[41] http://k24tv.co.ke/?p=12885 retrieved 26 September 2013
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