During his recent visit to Western Province, President Kibaki ordered a decisive onslaught on the Sabaot Land Defence Forces (SLDF). In a direct affront to this directive the militia launched swift fresh attacks leaving a number of local politicians dead. This followed an earlier attempt to kill the local MP and Assistant Minister for National Development, Hon. John Serut Bomet. They also made a number of new demands which include the creation of a new district and the transfer of all Provincial Administration officers serving in Mt. Elgon region. These thinly veiled political demands by the militia are a manifestation that their grievances have graduated and escalated from demands for equitable distribution of resources to a desire for the control of a viable terrestrial economic unit or governable territory.
The primary statutory responsibility of the Armed Forces in Kenya is the defence of the territorial integrity and independence of the State. Their secondary role is to aid civil authorities in the maintenance of law and order and amelioration of civil disasters. Governments all over the world avoid involving their armed forces in containing localised armed insurrection to avoid the stringent rules of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Non-International Armed Conflicts and the 1977 Protocols additional thereto. Armed militia groups like the SLDF thrive on the logistical support of a complacent local population or a foreign power. At the moment there are no indications that the SLDF has the backing of any foreign power. The government has deployed over 600 officers from the General Service Unit (GSU), the Regular Police and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) of the Administration Police yet the nefarious activities of the SLDF continue unabated. President Kibaki even hinted that Kenya would request Ugandan authorities to assist in apprehending SLDF militiamen who seek refugee across the border after committing atrocities across the border. Just what makes the SLDF militia such a force to reckon with?
The SLDF is adopting tactics similar to those of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and its activities have spread fear and caused massive demographic displacement in Mt. Elgon and neighbouring districts. If not checked now, the militia could grow into a fully fledged insurgent group controlling a terrestrial economic unit. The problem of Mt Elgon may then become a Non-International Armed Conflict and this will force the government to apply the Common Geneva Conventions and United Nations (UN) Protocols while dealing with members of this rag tag army. The SLDF does not have tactical superiority over the Kenya police but a number of factors favour them. The suppression of non conventional armed groups like the SLDF requires the deployment of a security force that is highly mobile, versatile and agile. The police have done a lot to contain the situation in Mt. Elgon but the terrain does no favour their type of operations. They have to be in a state of constant mobility in order to respond to all incidents and move to hotspots where the SLDF militia attack the population. Their goals are usually to repulse or apprehend the attackers where possible. In addition the police have to investigate the actions of the SLDF like any other ordinary crime. When normality is restored the police typically move out of such an area and leave the local population to pick up the pieces and fend for themselves without a first line of defence. This leaves the population vulnerable to fresh attacks and without a proper support mechanism for a gradual return to ordinary social life.
Kenya does not have a territorial defence force to protect civil populations residing in a combat zone. Only the Kenya Armed Forces have the logistical capability and the equipment to carry out this role. The government should urgently deploy the Kenya Army to Mt. Elgon to supplement the police efforts of containing the SLDF. Whereas the Army should not get involved in direct combat with the militia it can assist in several ways. Firstly, the local population will not be left defenceless in the areas which have been cleared of the SLDF militia. Secondly, the Army will hold areas devoid of the militia as Grounds of Tactical Importance (GTI) in the security operation against the SLDF. This will give the police ample opportunity to gather crime intelligence from the local population while pursuing the criminal gang in other areas. Finally, the Army has the appropriate equipment for prolonged camping in hostile terrain where they can provide relief services such as food, clean water and medical assistance. The Army can also provide equipment and personnel to make roads and light bridges to improve vehicular mobility in the hilly terrain of Mt. Elgon. The Armed Forces Act allows the president to deploy the Kenya Armed Forces in places like Mt. Elgon where forces meant to curb internal security threats face serious logistical problems. The deteriorating situation in Mt. Elgon calls for such urgent deployment. The president will simply be discharging his constitutional responsibility as the Commander – In – Chief if he deploys the Kenya Army to Mt. Elgon.
1 comment:
Cpt Munyiri,
I stumbled on your blog and Iam impressed by your views. I read all the commentaries and can only urge you to keep up the good work. The only one that left me hopelesly lost is on Afar community in response to Philip Ochiengs' article. It is refreshing to read such insight in these days of political mudslinging. Lots of thanks.
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