I want to highlight and honour this comment that Richard L. posted several days ago, but deep down in the original, first blog. His is a far more important voice and witness than my words can be. Please read what he has said — again if you have already. Do not forget his voice.

Roxanne

“When a community is bomborded from left, right, centre and above we are left with nothing to do than sit and wait until we are all gone! Its despair total despair here.The borana are here, the somali are here! The governement is here and worst of all the famine I have never seen in my last 28 years of existence on this earth!

Last Saturday, 5th Sept 09, was one of the worst raid by the Borana! A friend visited the scene and took pictures of bodies riddled with gunshots that can only equal the black hawk down of the US soldiers klled in Somalia!. The only question that remain unanswered; one needs enormous resorces and logistical support to raid more than 3500 cattle that was driven away that morning! Worst still is the way this cattle disapear without trace-this must be modern raiding!

I met young boys who ran away that morning from their manyattas [houses]! Their descpription of the whole ordeal reminds one of the Sobibor massacre only that this time round the attackers didn’t have the gas chambers! One would describe how his brother was shot trying protect cattle from being driven away! The other tells how he tried to use a stone to deter a bandit with an automatic rifle! At the end of the day all is gone and the little boys were picked by their mothers after I managed to arrange accommodation for them at Archers post.

A permanent solution to this heinous act is required urgently! We are crying and asking the international community to come to our aid because the Govt we could have run to is watching while all this is happening at her doorstep!”

We’re doing a vendor booth at this Sunday, September 13th, huge Cambridge International Carnival in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (www.cambridgecarnival.org). There’s plenty of putting our heads together planning that we have to do for it.  We’re hoping to raise considerable funds at Sunday’s carnival for food through the sale of Samburu crafts, with baked goods I and my students are cranking out, with T-shirts my friend and superb designer Jahim is working on. And with those wristbands: no, I didn’t send them. I don’t know who did, but Thank You, Thank You! And there are other fund raisers, and grants to write, and people to speak to over here…

…But that’s an intellectual answer, for the mind but not necessarily the heart.

Oh, what a hodgepodge of emotions!

This is my second blog post in the same number of minutes. This morning, the Sunday before (American) Labor Day, I received a forwarded e-mail requesting that I get out the news of attacks on the Highland Samburu [see just prior post]. Then I went off for a very enjoyable Labor Day barbecue and meal with my family: lots of corn on the cob, grilled chicken and shrimp, brownies and bread I made, cheesecakes my cousin made and tomatoes from her garden, potato salad my aunt made…. Then I came home to a second e-mail with the news recorded below.

If you too can enjoy a rich, peaceful meal and gathering, without fear of attack, with your family and friends, please say a prayer, wish or blessing upon the Samburu, who would dearly love to enjoy the same.

Roxanne

“At 6 am on Saturday, Sept. 2009, 300 heavily armed Borana and Somali gunmen attacked the Samburu tribe at Losesia, near Archer’s Post, approximately 38 km from Lerata. In addition to killing 3 herdsmen and injuring 2 others, the militia stole 3765 head of cattle, 2635 goats and sheep, 141 camels, and 19 donkeys. All livestock were removed in lorries.



It is believed they were assisted by the militia group, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and that the Samburu tribesmen were on their own land and the attack was unrelated to water or grazing rights disputes. Threats of more severe attacks on the Samburu tribe had been made by Borana and Somali in the Isiolo District for several weeks, with the Samburu people told to ‘prepare for doom’ and warned foreign militia troops from Southern Ethiopia and Somalia had been valed in to help fight and  eradicate the Samburu [See August 20th blog, "Shouting Loudly."]



Police were called repeatedly to assist and ignored all requests for help, even those made by some government officials.   When police failed to assist, distress calls were made to NRT (Northern Rangeland Trust) to aid the injured, but they were unable to respond.



These attacks occur during a severe drought which has resulted in widespread famine, which had been complicated by a maize shortage and police attacks on Samburu tribe in February, when over 5000 livestock were removed, villagers beaten and strafed at by police in helicopter, with lorries being used in the operation to move the livestock. At that time, 2 children had been kidnapped and brutally murdered in addition to other murders and human rights violations, such as the use of chemical weaponry on young children. The further loss of livestock is certain to cause profound  suffering and further loss of life.



Earlier this month, reports of Samburu people being killed for body organs were reported in the Samburu Highlands, where similar attacks and livestock thefts have occurred on the Samburu, leading some to be concerned about early genocide trends.



Both the attacks, murders, cattle theft and drought are spreading and with it my understanding of Kenyan political and physical geography. Part of the Save Samburu blog’s function is to literally read key events and sympathetic understandings of the Samburu into the record of the internet.

 This letter is formal rather than chatty and blog-like.  It also bears witness to the widespread and coordinated nature of the atrocities perpetuated upon the Samburu. I really do not feel that genocide is too strong a word to describe what is taking place to the Samburu in Northern Kenya.

 I don’t know all of the references made to peoples and past events. Like you, the reader, I am piecing the picture together as new and background information arrives. We cannot afford to wait until clarity and understanding occur.  I wish bad news would stop arriving but we must all bear witness and not lapse into silence.

Roxanne

Email received:
Here in the highlands things are better, worse or the same, as elsewhere in Samburu, depending on the topic: the same cattle raiding and losses, less human starvation but rampant malnutrition, and a lot of livestock death, and as of last week, a bizarre new form of crime being perpetrated: murders (4 near Maralal in one week) in order to steal people’s organs. We don’t know if this is a repeat of Tanzania, or if it is the “modern” kind, selling them for illegal transplants, but people are much more fearful of this than of the Pokot rustlers, where at least everyone knows the rules of the game.

Famine relief rations have been distributed twice since June, but the distribution is deeply flawed: the soldiers who are supposed to keep order are actually selling over the fence to people with money. The other distribution was of bulghar, which no one knew how to cook.

The weather on Lorroki is truly bizarre this year: a severe drought, yes, with failed maize crops and dying animals, but twice in the past four months there has been a sudden downpour with tsunami-like flash flooding in the lugga which comes out of Kirisia forest. The dam which was built last year was immediately smashed by a wall of water and everything in its path swept away. A couple of hours later, it’s all gone. The biggest problem is that everyone from the lowlands is now here on Lorroki with their animals so what little grass there is has disappeared. Kirisia forest is now full of animals domestic and wild fighting for the same meager resources.

As to cattle raiding, the Samburu and Pokot wazee keep making peace agreements which are then abrogated a week or two later by others. For example there is a small weekly market near Tinga which Pokot sometimes attend because it is near the escarpment. A month ago, four Pokot came and a Samburu youth shot one of them in retaliation for previous attacks [by Pokot against Samburu], the Pokot immediately responded by killing four Samburu on the spot– end of peace agreement. But the general picture is the same- they attack Samburu, Samburu follow their cattle and recover some, the government does nothing.

There has also been regular violence in Losuk for a long time now. For us, this all began in April 2005 when I was attending a conference and got a text message saying “we are being attacked by Somali cattle rustlers.” That was at the group ranch in Tinga.

The old people here say the emitai, the Triple Disaster of a century ago has come back again.

We want to thank a local group from the bottom of our hearts for their donation today of $500 to KARE, so that KARE could purchase dry milk and other food for the Samburu. We also want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to every individual and group who has heard this outcry and given support to save the Samburu.

The speed of modern electronic communication still amazes me. I found out this morning of this group’s  Board of Directors’ vote; immediately e-mailed my friend and KARE founder, Tina Ramme, of the important news.   Between that time and watering the garden, Tina’s delighted response came back across an ocean, thousands of miles and hours of time difference: “I am so encouraged” by this and other donations and “I can’t wait to tell the Samburu!”

In her text e-mail, Tina wrote of  a young boy and others they came across when they were traveling.  That young boy is one of the Samburu whom your donations provide the immediate means to live. They are actively searching for means of their people’s survival, not abandoning but caring for each other. The Samburu are buoyed up, not only by the food that your donations help provide, but by the knowledge that you and others in the world know of their current existence and care about their fate. This knowledge is no small support to their spirits.

Thank you for all of your donations.

I will shout loudly.  We all must shout loudly so that the Samburu lives continue. Rumour succeeds almost as well as reality itself in spreading fear. And rumours are abounding of Somali mercenaries preparing to attack the Samburu at the political instigation of Kenyan government officials. The phrase rumour spreads is “Impending Doom.” The problem (and fear) is that they may well be real. Certainly the Oromo Liberation Front is real and confirmed by highly reliable sources.

But shouting loudly and clearly is different than whispering fearful rumours. Speak out against the public indifference and private instigation of the Kenyan police and government against the Samburu people. Lives depend on our voices.

From Tina:

Thank you for being warriors for the Samburu’s rights. We all are cheered by your fight from afar and the knowledge that you stand with us in solidarity.

We have gotten word that a Somali militia group has arrived in Isiolo, paid soldiers of fortune, to help finish the job, supposedly commissioned by Kenyan government officials.   The groups recruited were the Oromo Liberation Front and a group called Awija.  This has been confirmed true by dozens of other reliable sources.

We have been instructed to ‘prepare for impending doom.’  Let’s hope this is a false alarm or disabled before we realize any consequences, However, if anything unfortunate should happen, please promise you will continue to shout loudly from there.

All the best,

Tina

The story below is all too familiar: cattle theft by armed “bandits” with the tacit support of the police, to be loaded into waiting trucks. A culture of official corruption and the willingness to set one tribe (the Somali Borana) against another, the Samburu pastoralists, leads to more loss of lives and livestock.

I received this story forwarded from Kenya:

Sunday, August 9^th: YET ANOTHER MASSIVE ATTACK AGAINST SAMBURU. THIS IS THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY IN KENYA THAT HILLARY AND BARACK HAVE PROMISED KENYANS TO HELP END 

An attack on the Samburu people by over 300 uniformed individuals occurred at daybreak on Sunday, Aug 9, 2009, immediately following the Saturday livestock market in Archers Post just as people were about to return home. The attack occurred on the Ewaso River at the Nashamuni area, the same site of the original Feb 17 raid in which 2 Samburu children were kidnapped and 300 cattle stolen.  

Moran [Samburu men aged 15-30 whose role is to protect the tribe] immediately notified community members that they needed help when the armed gunmen began shooting, wounding 2 Samburu and killing the 2 young moran, Lenayasa and Lakaguili.

No police responded, although the site of attack was very near the Archers Post Police office.     

Moran followed their cattle and by 7 PM people were radioed that the cows were at the Kashuru area near Mt Meru, a Somali area. The cattle were then picked up at this location by 10 lorries.  Again, no police responded to repeated calls for help. The moran  tried to get plate identification numbers but the vehicles were too far away and one group of attackers blocked their approach.   

Because the attackers, over 300 in number, were in uniform, no one is sure who these bandits were – [police] officers or Borana/ Somali in uniform.  

Oddly, the Kenya Army held exercises all day yesterday for Operation Walk and Shoot, where t-shirts were hidden in thick thorn brush and troops were required to ferret them out. Samburu communities between Archers Post and Wamba speculated about the purpose of the exercise throughout the day.

update:

More details on yesterday’s attacks:

From a witness, collaborated by 6 others independent witnesses.

Buffalo Springs rangers met the moran and their cattle just outside the [wildlife] park boundaries minutes before the shootings and asked them to graze a little further from the park boundary – they were about 1000 feet away. They very politely said ‘no problem’ and began moving away.

As the 4 guards walked away, but were still within earshot, one made a call and the attackers immediately moved in, uniformed, killing 2 boys, wounding 3 others, and taking the cattle. The moran feel they were assessing how many moran were present before the moving in to attack them. All 4 [park] guards were Borana.

There was a 3rd person injured, not reported yesterday, who was transferred from Archers Post Hospital to Wamba Hospital today due to extensive injuries.

Tina writes of the latest….We came across a young boy and about 20 others.  They had traveled hundreds of km on foot in search of food and water but were too weak to go further. They had been sitting under this tree without food or water for 3 days when we came upon them.

In the all too African game of Politics versus People, politics is winning and people are dying, as the drought worsens, famine and cholera spread across Northern Kenya. Unbelievably, Kenyan and US aid organizations continue to ignore pleas for help.

Tina writes……..I am sad to report the famine is worsening, as predicted, and the most severely impacted are traditional indigenous communities in remote locations, especially pastoralists, who have few communication and transportation resources and little political representation. A horrible March Across Samburu is now taking place by the living dead, people who are starving and now walking long distances desperate for food and water, collapsing and dying. There is a massive famine here, complicated by water shortages and cholera outbreaks. We are trying to get numbers of casualties, which will not be easy, and photos of the people affected. The villages we have been helping —those who lost cattle– are suffering but alive. Several families arrived in Lerata yesterday from a community northwest of Wamba and collapsed in hunger, carrying dead children. This is only going to worsen until rains come.

Three reliable people all independently contacted every aid organization listed in Kenya, over the past 3 months,  and all refused to assist these people—I increased this search to the U.S. based orgs, same result. Some feel the aid distribution is unfairly controlled by those with political agendas.

In 1955, 14 year-old Emmett Till, a young African-American boy visiting relatives in the Delta area of Mississippi, was lynched and brutally murdered for whistling appreciatively at a white woman. But what does this have to do with the Samburu? Two blogs ago (July 22nd) I posted a stomach-turning e-mail about those in the Samburu District of Northern Kenya. Some local Samburu told what actually happened to the two young children kidnapped by Somali bandits during the first, small cattle raid which brought in the Kenyan police with their shooting people from helicopters, raping of women and wholesale looting of the remaining cattle. Samburu trackers found the children far from home, hanging from a tree, throats slit and bodies skinned! Even as I type this, it makes my eyes prick with tears and my mind incredulous. Then several weeks ago, two young Turkana children were also kidnapped, killed, skinned and hung from a tree, just as the Turkana tribe were beginning to express sympathy with their Samburu neighbors.

Why did the Samburu, who have worked and lived with Tina for years, not tell her until she pressed and pressed? Because they “feared you would stay far from us.” The message the lynchers of Emmett Till and the kidnappers of the Samburu and Turkana children deliberately fostered was “you who are related to this child: know your place. Keep quiet; stay small. Your child’s body is shameful and you are nothing to us. If others learn of your child, you will be nothing to them too.”

Emmett Till’s mother, upon seeing his battered body – broken bones, bullet hole to his head and eye gouged out – refused that message. She insisted on an open casket at his funeral. She showed her dead son to the world, laid out in all the ugliness of his dying. She did not hide him. In a outcome his lynchers could not have imagined, Emmett Till’s deliberate murder inspired Rosa Parks to sit at the front of the bus. It catalysed the American Civil Rights Movement.

An American living in Northern Kenya, whose insight led to this blog, said:

 “Any one who can skin kids as part of their game plan are asking us to imagine the worst. That is what this old teacher has done. Because I’ve seen it before. When they had a funeral in Chicago in 1955 for Emmett Till in an open casket to show what racists in Mississippi had done to a 14 year old boy only a year older than me [at the time] for just looking at a white woman. Those kids killed in Samburu last Feb and in Isiolo in July demand justice. And that means we must fight to protect the rule of law in Kenya. There are not any easier alternatives that will work.

Blessings to you who care.”