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Kenya: How the Violence Over Land Started
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The Nation (Nairobi)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Mike Mwaniki
Nairobi
The violence in Mt Elgon started in 2006.
The region, which covers 944 square kilometres, is home to about 135,033 people, most of them from the Sabaot, Iteso and Bukusu communities.
Sabaots are divided into several clans, including Kony, Bok, Sebei and Bongom.
Mt Elgon has four divisions: Cheptais, Kapsokwony, Kaptama and Kopsiro.
A report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says that the conflict in the area had mutated into criminal activities although it was initially linked to protests over Phase Three of land sub-division in the Chebyuk Settlement Scheme.
To quell the violence, Kenya Army soldiers were deployed to the area last February for an operation aimed at flushing out the Sabaot Land Defence Force and seizing illegal guns from the militiamen.
But, according to the commission, the military had been torturing people to death and those who survived were badly injured.
However, both the military and the Defence minister, Mr Hussein Haji, have denied claims of torture.
According to investigations by the commission, which is a Government agency, the land that sparked the violence covers about 21,000 acres.
The land was first occupied by the Ndorobo community in the early 1960s.
In 1971, 109 families from the community were moved out of the forest to a settlement scheme, but it was never degazetted from the forest.
In 1979, it was proposed that the scheme be delinked from the forest. By then, the number of families had increased to more than 2,000. As a result, the exercise was nullified.
Interference
Ten years later, provincial commissioner Francis Lekolool tried to complete the resettlement but the process was marred by political interference, nepotism and corruption.
Applicants, however, held onto their ballot papers and allocation letters.
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The second attempt at resettlement was in 1990, but it was also soon abandoned due to the 1992 clashes that hit most parts of the Rift Valley.
In 1997, there was another attempt at resettlement but it was also abandoned due to lack of political will.
The most recent attempt started in 2000. The first two phases were completed successfully. Trouble erupted in the third phase.
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