Deceptive calm in Mombasa

By David Ochami and Ngumbao Kithi

Security forces unveiled a show of might ahead of official opening of the Mombasa Show.

At the same time at least two police officers were critically injured in second grenade attack at 7.30pm in Makupa area. Unconfirmed reports by the time we went to press said the attacker was gunned down.

The coastal city has been in turmoil since the Monday murder of controversial Muslim cleric and terror suspect Sheikh Aboud Rogo.

Police believe elements of Al Shabaab are exploiting the killing of the controversial cleric to try and stir sectarian violence hence the attack on churches. They say a grenade attack and use of automatic weapons on security officers pointed to involvement of a third force.

President Kibaki had been expected to open the ASK show today as a signal by the Government that it intends to stamp its authority on the strategic coastal city and quell riots that have claimed the lives of four people, including two prison warders who died after a grenade was thrown into a police truck.

Fired upon

Parliament Wednesday interrupted normal business, after Narc-Kenya presidential aspirant and Gichugu MP Martha Karua moved a Motion of adjournment to discuss the situation in Mombasa that she said “continues to deteriorate”.

Police arrested dozens of residents at an apartment close to the spot where police were fired upon with automatic rifles and attacked with a grenade hurled into a police truck that killed two prison warders and injured 14 others.

And the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has broadened the mandate of a joint team investigating the murder of the slain cleric to include the attacks on churches and other premises. MPs condemned the killing of Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo, the burning of churches, and killing of police officers. They added the wanton destruction of private property was the work of hooligans.They threw their weight behind the Government and demanded that the security forces clamp down on the insurgents and criminals who had disrupted business at the coastal resort city. In Parliament, speaker after speaker appealed to Christian and Muslim leaders to forge a common front by preaching peace.

In Mombasa General Service Unit (GSU) officers locked down King’orani estate and Masjid Musa, the mosque in Majengo Wednesday where Rogo preached regularly, and raided homes in search of agitators and planners of the bloodletting.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who arrived in Mombasa on Tuesday night to meet Christian and Muslim leaders, condemned Sheikh Rogo’s killing, but warned the Government would not tolerate anarchy. GSU officers blocked all road access to the mosque where Sheikh Rogo’s body was taken after his murder and vast areas of Kingo’rani as a security measure.

The officers have also banned residents from peeping out of balconies following the attack on security officers in Kisauni on Tuesday.

Nobody was allowed to enter the mosque since Wednesday morning, raising suspicion that security forces were preparing to storm it or prevent any more prayers there for sometime. Reports showed leaflets were circulating in some mosques urging Muslims to mobilise.

Wednesday morning two other prison officers injured in the blast at Beersheba in Kisauni died from injuries suffered in that blast, while 11 others remained admitted at the Jocham and Coast General Hospital.

Coast Prison Commandant James Kodiany confirmed the deaths of the two officers from the grenade attack. He also disclosed that the explosive device was dropped from an apartment block above an open truck carrying security officers.

Meanwhile, intelligence and police sources in Mombasa have warned that the riots occasioned by Rogo’s killing are now giving way to planned violence by trained fighters linked to a possible terrorist cell.

Emboldened

After the grenade blast, Coast Provincial Police Officer Aggrey Adoli declared that “these are no longer rioters” and added: “We are now seeing external forces in this matter” referring to the escalation now taking a toll on exhausted security forces who have been battling emboldened rioters in narrow streets for days without rest and adequate supplies and reinforcement.

Wednesday Acting Internal Security Minister Yusuf Haji who visited Mombasa admitted that the scale of revolt that has engulfed Mombasa Island and Kisauni where Rogo enjoyed militant support had shocked the Government.

“We did not expect it to degenerate to this level,” said Haji.

He spoke at the Kenya Navy headquarters in Mtongwe, as police swept through Kisauni and Majengo slums, the epicentre of the violence.

Officers detained eight young men suspected of involvement in arson and rioting.

“We are in control of the situation now,” announced Haji despite the torching of a car in the Majengo shantytown.

Separately, police sources announced the arrival of 200 Flying Squad officers from Nairobi on Tuesday night to be deployed in Kisauni and other trouble spots.

“We are searching the house and we have arrested several people there,” Adoli said. He added that he could not isolate how many were men or children because “we are still sorting them out”.

Beersheba is a mixed neighbourhood of Christians and Muslims, but is also a known as an Islamist stronghold with a militant following for Rogo, who regularly delivered sermons calling for jihad (holy war) against Christians.

In Kisauni there was a heavy presence of the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) officers of the Administration Police detachment who arrived in Mombasa on Tuesday night.

Kodieny told The Standard young men atop an apartment block launched the attack on security officers on Tuesday.