The Wagalla massacre, Wajir, February 1984

In short

Wagalla is an airstrip near Wajir, in the mainly Somali north-east of Kenya. In February 1984 Kenyan security forces sent to disarm the Degodia clan after clashes between clans brought men to the airstrip and held them there. Al Jazeera reported in 2014 that "eyewitnesses claim that thousands of people were delivered to the airstrip, kept hungry, ordered to strip naked and lie on the ground for days" (Al Jazeera, 27 February 2014).

Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) listed Wagalla among the massacres "committed by state security agents" and wrote that "no government official has been prosecuted or otherwise publicly held to account" (TJRC report, as compiled by McMaster University).

For the region's history after independence, see the Northern Frontier District, 1962–1967.

What happened

• The operation. It "started as an effort to disarm the ethnic Degodia clan following clan-related conflict in the region" (Al Jazeera).
• The roundup. A former police officer told Al Jazeera that soldiers stopped men in the streets of Wajir and asked their clan: "If you say, 'I'm Degodia', they would put you in the lorry and drive off" (same source).
• At the airstrip. One survivor, then a schoolboy, said the men were held "for four days" on the ground with "no food or water in the scorching February sun", and were "continuously beaten and tortured, with some executed" (same source). The BBC reported witness accounts that some 5,000 men were "denied food and water for five days before being shot by the army" (BBC News, 15 February 2011).
• Other abuses. The TJRC reported "torture, brutal beatings, rape and sexual violence", and "burning of houses and looting of property" (as quoted by Al Jazeera).
• The burial. Those killed were buried in an unmarked grave near the airstrip (same source).

The death toll

The record since

• 15 February 2011. Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, ordered an investigation and said: "We are yet to know who gave the orders to the soldiers and who made the decision." He also ordered a museum built (BBC). The TJRC's chairman, Ron Slye, called it "the worst human rights violation in Kenya's history" (same source).
• The TJRC's own dispute. Commission chairman Bethuel Kiplagat was himself under investigation over Wagalla. The TJRC report records that his statements on government responsibility led to conflict-of-interest objections. A claim against another commissioner, Major General Ahmed Farah, was investigated; the TJRC found that he was "out of the country before, during, and after" the massacre (TJRC report digest, Kenya Transitional Justice Network, 2013).
• 2013, the TJRC report. It named Wagalla as "a clear example" of collective punishment in northern Kenya. It recorded that when the official Benson Kaaria was questioned, "he defended the security operation and stated that it was successful", despite "over 57 persons" killed and "only four (4) Guns recovered" (same source).
• 2014. Al Jazeera reported that "none of the perpetrators have been brought to justice, and none of the families have been compensated". A monument had been put up in Wajir by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (Al Jazeera).

Who suffered?

• Degodia men and boys detained at the airstrip, and their families (Al Jazeera; BBC).
• Women, in the sexual violence the TJRC reported (as quoted by Al Jazeera).
• Households in Wajir whose houses were burned or looted (same source).

Sources differ

• The number killed. From 57 (the first official figure) to 365 (the later official figure), "close to a thousand" (TJRC) and up to 5,000 (witnesses).
• How long the men were held. One survivor told Al Jazeera four days. The witness accounts reported by the BBC say five days.
• Who gave the orders. The government defended the operation as a security operation, as Kaaria did before the TJRC. Al Jazeera wrote that witness accounts "later formed part of the argument that the Kenyan government played a role in planning and executing the operation". In 2011 the prime minister said it was still not known "who gave the orders".

Read the primary sources yourself

• Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya, summary of the 2013 report (Kenya Transitional Justice Network): Internet Archive.
• TJRC report, extracts on history compiled by McMaster University's truth commissions project: PDF.
• TJRC full report volumes, held by Seattle University School of Law: collection.
• Abdi Latif Dahir, "Kenya's Wagalla massacre 30 years later", Al Jazeera, 27 February 2014: article.
• "Wagalla massacre: Raila Odinga orders Kenya probe", BBC News, 15 February 2011: article.