The untold stories of Wagalla Massacre continues as victims await justice to happen.
Men were tortured one after another to death as others watched. According to
eyewitnesses, at first they were whipped in turns by the solders until they were a mess of
blood. Then they were suspended from a tree by their testicles and they were finished off
using bayonets. This continued for three days and the remaining men bolted the high
razor sharp fence and were sprayed with bullets. Over 3000 men jumped that fence but
only a few made it to the nearby bushes. Bullets felled the rest.
With four thousand bodies in their hands the airforce men panicked and started the
biggest cover up operation of all time. They loaded the dead and the injured on to lorries
and scattered them in area of more than 1000Km2. Some bodies were collected from as
far the Ethiopian border while other were found at Habaswein’s Ewaso Nyiro River bed.
A rescue operation mounted by an Italian, Annalina Tonneli and other social workers
could only recover about 600 bodies.
Several people helped in the rescue operation. Two
of the rescuers hold a credible position in NGOs and a reputable university respectively.
One of the men who was instrumental in the rescue operation eventually became the CEO
of one of the most important parastatals in the Kenya. Josten Bjordal was an NGO staff
member at the time and participated and helped in the rescue operation that saved so
many. He eventually wrote a book about the incident, which is banned in Kenya to date.
Nomads found bodies scattered all over the bushes and buried them. Mass graves exist in
many places in Wajir district. One such place is next to Wajir TB Manyatta right in the
middle of town. Over thirty unidentified bodies are buried there.
The painful narration continues tomorrow.
Abdirahman Ali
TheAfricanVoices Founder
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