Wagalla massacre

The Wagalla massacre was a massacre of Somali Muslims by Kenyan security forces on February 10, 1984 in Wajir District, North Eastern Province, Kenya.

The massacre

There exist numerous accounts of the massacre, which took place on February 10, 1984 at Wagalla Airstrip, approximately 15 km (10 mi) away from the district capital of Wajir. [cite news
title = Leaders demand probe into 1994 killings in northeast
work = The People
date = 2002-06-16] Reports of the number of men from the minority [cite news
title = Narc's Flagbearer in North Eastern And Supkem Leader is Labour Minister
work = The Nation
date = 2003-01-04]
Degodia clan [cite news
first = Tom
last = Maliti
title = Kenyans seek commission to discover truth of '84 mass killing
url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FD99F2F1A096A37&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
work = The Philadelphia Inquirer
page = A18
date = 2003-09-14
accessdate = 2007-08-09( [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-08/22/content_257438.htm alternate link] )] detained by security forces and brought to the airstrip range from a low of 381 [cite news
first = Owino
last = Opondo
title = Wagalla issue causes uproar in the House
work = The Nation
date = 2000-10-19] to upward of ten thousand. [cite news
title = Two-Week Ultimatum to Land Grabbers
url = http://allafrica.com/stories/200302280019.html
work = East African Standard
date = 2003-02-28
accessdate = 2007-08-09]

Death toll

The exact number of people killed in the massacre is unknown [cite news
first = Bob
last = Odalo
title = How Mulinge Saved Kenyatta From Coup
work = The Nation
date = 2000-03-26] and estimates range from 57 (the official government toll)cite news
title = Kenya admits mistakes over 'massacre'
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/978922.stm
work = BBC
date = 2000-10-18
accessdate = 2007-08-08] to more than five thousand. [cite news
author = Ongeri, Boniface, and Victor Obure
title = Fading

url = http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=7837
work = The Standard
date = 2004-12-09
accessdate = 2007-08-08]

Aftermath

For years the Kenyan government denied that a massacre took place and insisted that "only 57 people were killed in a security operation to disarm the [area's] residents". [cite news
first = Philip
last = Ngunjiri
title = Muslim leaders oppose plan to exhume bodies
url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-17963832.html
work = Inter Press Service
date = 1998-11-04
accessdate = 2007-08-08] It was not until October 2000 that the government publicly acknowledged wrongdoing on the part of security forces.

See also

* Garissa Massacre
* History of Kenya
* Human rights in Kenya
* Shifta War

References