Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08NAIROBI706
2008-03-12 13:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nairobi
Cable title:  

MOUNT ELGON CLASHES: KENYA'S ARMY STEPS IN

Tags:  PGOV MOPS KE 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000706 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2018
TAGS: PGOV MOPS KE
SUBJECT: MOUNT ELGON CLASHES: KENYA'S ARMY STEPS IN

REF: A. NAIROBI 653

B. 07 NAIROBI 1603

Classified By: Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger, reasons 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000706

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2018
TAGS: PGOV MOPS KE
SUBJECT: MOUNT ELGON CLASHES: KENYA'S ARMY STEPS IN

REF: A. NAIROBI 653

B. 07 NAIROBI 1603

Classified By: Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger, reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: On March 10, Kenya's military deployed to
Mount Elgon, which has been the center of a violent land
dispute since 2006. Previous efforts by the police to quell
the violence have been unsuccessful. The settlement of the
post-election political dispute between President Kibaki and
Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga set the stage for the
military intervention to make a renewed effort. The violence
in Mount Elgon predates the post-election crisis and its
continuation bears no relation -- causal or otherwise -- to
the separate issue of political power-sharing within Kenya's
new coalition government. Mount Elgon, on the other hand,
does demonstrate the incendiary nature of land tenure issues
in Kenya and the urgent need for the coalition government to
address land reform in a comprehensive way. End Summary.

--------------
Kenya's Army Moves In to Mount Elgon
--------------


2. (C) On March 10, the Kenyan Government stepped up its
efforts to quell violence in the long-troubled Mount Elgon
region in Kenya's Western Province. (Note: The violence in
Mount Elgon, which started in 2006, predates the
post-election crisis. Its continuation thus bears no
relation -- causal or otherwise -- to the separate issue of
political power-sharing within Kenya's new coalition
government. End Note.) Kenya's Director of Military
Intelligence confirmed to the Defense Attache that Kenya's
armed forces moved two infantry companies into the southern
area of the mountain along the Ugandan border to target the
Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF),an informal militia drawn
from members of the Soy subclan of the Kalenjin tribe that
may number in the thousands. So far, Kenyan troops have
found an SLDF training area and a weapons cache in the
heavily forested border area. According to press reports,
they have detained 51 suspected militia members.


3. (U) The military operation came in the wake of a March 4
SLDF raid west of Kitale that killed 12 people. (This is not
the first time the Kenyan military has deployed to the Mount

Elgon area.) According to press reports, SLDF militia burned
five people alive inside a house, shot four others, and
beheaded three more. Witnesses said that the victims had
fled Mt. Elgon in 2007 and may have been killed because they
refused to allow their sons to join the militia or provide
the SLDF with protection money and food.


4. (C) Member of Parliament for Mount Elgon, Fred Kapondi,
accused government troops of targeting populated areas
instead of rounding up militia members; however, a Kenya Red
Cross official dismissed as inaccurate reports that 30,000
people have been newly displaced as a result of the
operation. "While we stand ready to provide assistance, we
do not anticipate large scale displacements as a result of
the current military operation," the official said. So far,
the government has reported one casualty, reportedly an SLDF
member. (Note: News reports indicate that hundreds of people
have fled to Uganda for shelter. A local religious leader
told PolOff that 100 people are rumored to have been killed
in the operation, although it would be difficult to tell if
they were militia members: women and boys as young as eight
are among those who have been inducted into the SLDF, he
said. End Note.)

--------------
Land Dispute Fuelled the Conflict
--------------


5. (U) Disputes between the Ndorobo and Soy subclans of the
Kalenjin tribe over the allocation of government land have
been at the heart of the Mt. Elgon conflict (ref B). The
hunter-gatherer Ndorobo (also referred to as Ogiek or Mosop)
were evicted from their ancestral lands in the forested upper
slopes of Mt. Elgon in the early 1970's. After a severe
drought (and a desire to conserve the biodiversity of the
area, which later became a national park),the government
relocated them and encouraged them to take up farming. Many
did so in Chebyuk, a region where there were also Soy

NAIROBI 00000706 002 OF 002


pastoralists.


6. (U) In a series of settlement phases over the years, the
government allocated plots of government land to Ndorobo and
(to a lesser degree) Soy families. In 2006, the government
implemented the third phase of the Chebyuk land settlement
scheme, allocating land to only 1,700 of 7,500 applicants.
Accusations of corruption and unfairness tainted the
settlement process, and Soy members formed the SLDF that year
to contest the allocation formula, under which they felt
shortchanged.


7. (C) The ensuing clashes have left 45,000 to 70,000
displaced and over 500 dead. Kenyan police efforts to subdue
the violence have been ineffective, and accusations of
excessive force and even sexual violence against local
residents have soured relations with the local community.
While military officials have recognized the need to crack
down on the SLDF and indeed were tasked with it in October
2007, they were hesitant to do so before the 2007 general
elections because of the politically sensitive nature of the
task.

--------------
Land Reform Needed to Pacify It
--------------


8. (C) Comment: The Mount Elgon situation is a vivid example
of how incendiary land disputes can be in Kenya. It is
unclear how successful the current military operation will be
in restoring calm. The violence has clearly evolved past the
anger at the Chebyuk settlement scheme, and other militias
may also be forming (namely, the Ndorobo "Moorland Forces"
and the newly-formed "Political Revenge Movement.")
Observers have critisized the government's approach to
managing the conflict, from the way they managed the
settlement scheme (not very well, according to many accounts)
to the way they are dealing with the SLDF problem (The SLDF,
critics say, are a well-organized and trained force that
blends easily into settled areas and has thousands of
fighters. They are not 200 fighters hiding in the forest, as
the government has been treating them). While the military
operation may impede SLDF's ability to wreak havoc in the
short-term, the basic problem -- too many people who want a
limited amount of land -- remains.


9. (C) Comment, cont.: During the Ambassador's recent trip
to the Rift Valley, the vast majority of interlocutors
(including Sabaot elders and Ogiek civil society) stressed
the importance of land reform. The Ambassador in turn
emphasized the need for a renunciation of violence to allow
access of NGOs and others to provide assistance and to help
craft longer-term solutions. Regardless of the outcome of
the current operation, legitimate grievances will certainly
remain among the communities living around Mount Elgon.
Reforming Kenya's land tenure system and supporting
marginalized communities will be critical to resolving the
immediate conflict in Mount Elgon and preventing similar
conflicts from occuring in the future. The recently-agreed
power sharing arrangement between President Kibaki's Party of
National Unity (PNU) and Prime Minister-designate Raila
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) will set the stage
for these (and other) important long-term reforms. Both
sides have acknowledged the importance of such reforms, and
our support could significantly help the process. End
Comment.
RANNEBERGER