Fear grips residents as dreaded SDLF militia said to be rebranding

SDLF leader Wycliffe Matwakei burial in Mt Elgon in 2008. . [PHOTOS: FILE/ STANDARD]

Kenya: In the furthest riches of the scenic Mt Elgon, frightened residents talk of a dreaded militia that is now regrouping.

They say Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF), believed to have been wiped out during a military onslaught in 2008, is taking a foothold and fears abound that it is a matter of time before matters get out of hand.

“In Chepkube, we cannot access the forest because remnants of SLDF have taken over the area. They are a law unto themselves,” says one man, who asked not to be named for fear of a reprisal attack.

“If we do away with the shamba system, we might stop them because they grow food in forest land,” he added.

The new outfit has apparently rebranded, and goes by several names, including the “Forty Brothers.” Police said other names doing rounds include Serut Boys, 40 Brothers, 15 Brothers, 4-2 Brothers.

The man added: “The forty brothers are scattered all over the Cheptais and Mt Elgon district. They are like a football team where every one plays his role from training, logistics and intelligence gathering. Some live among us and we know them.”

It is an ominous development for an area where the SLDF carried out a terror campaign that included chopping off people’s ears, at the height of its operation.

The provincial administration and the security agencies also admit the militia is ‘rebranding’ and could strike at the most unexpected time.

If not, police and administrators say retaliatory attacks are an option because members of the outlawed militia responsible for some heinous crimes committed by SLDF, are yet to be fully integrated in society as they have not gone through the mandatory cultural rituals of cleansing to become ‘normal’.

Forty brothers

We are told there are training camps in the forest and in Uganda, where former SLDF deputy commander David Sichei Chemaimak and his followers Benson Kawos alias Murungaru, Martin Musitunini Chepketi, Martin Juma Chepkechir, Musee Maurice Kiyieny are said to operate from.

A resident of Toroso Village said: “These are people who feel vengeful. They have been few, but the number is growing. These are repercussions of displacement. The 40 brothers live mainly in areas bordering the forest from west–east of Mt Elgon Forest in the two divisions of Kopsiro and Cheptais. There have been incidents of people whose genitals have been ‘harvested’ for not being sympathetic to the Sabaot land rights. There is as sense of lawlessness among the people in the region.”

Residents say there has been recent attacks, which they attribute to the outfit’s remnants.

According to Cheptais Deputy Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Kennedy Osando, SLDF remnants feel ostracised and, therefore, more susceptible to militia activity.

Insecurity in Mt Elgon is real given a recent ban by the government of the ‘shamba system’, which in the absence of cultivable land in settlement areas, allows locals to grow food on gazetted forest land at Sh1,000 per acre renewable annually.

The change in forest management policy has rekindled muted demands for land rights, which in turn, has led to sporadic attacks between the two communities that have since 1972, been tussling over the control and ownership of the disputed Chebyuk Settlement Schemes.

At present, there are genuine concerns that the growing population of landlessness is a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode, the provincial administration say.

“Without the security agencies, SLDF would regroup at the shortest time possible. They live among us. We are aware their networks are still intact and political leaders are attempting to revive them for their use in future, but we are on top of the things,” says Osando.

Patrick Chimobo and his brother Francis, were attacked on May 21 as they worked on their land in Chebyuk Forest.

“We were attacked by a group of people armed with machetes and an AK47 rifle. These people live in the forest and only come out to attack those working on land. When they attacked us, they told us it was a taste of the things to come, ” explained Chimobo, who during the attack, was in the company of Emmanuel Kwemboi and Dickson Kibor. The attackers hacked Chimobo’s left hand while his younger brother lost an ear.

Mt Elgon boasts of the highest presence of security more than areas designated operation areas in northern and north-eastern Kenya.

These include regular police, administration police, Anti-Stock Theft Unit, Kenya Defence Force (KDF, the Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and the Kenya Forest Service guards.

Relapse to violence

All these groups were involved during the onslaught against SLDF in 2008. KDF has maintained a camp at Banantega in Emiar Location and a military base at Kapkota in Chesikaki Location.

There is risk of Mt Elgon relapsing into violence given persistent political rivalry between the pro-government and anti-government forces, which police in the area say they are unable to control.

Although local people and leaders would not openly talk about the existence of SLDF mutants – Forty Brothers, Fifteen Brothers, 4-2 Brothers and another group of “Brothers” named after a prominent politician, in privacy they worry about groups of young men now said to be undergoing military training in the Chebwek, Kopsiro and Chepkube forests (part of the larger Mt Elgon Forest), which are generally out of bounds of state security agencies.

And as a statement of the fragility of security of Mt Elgon, The Standard on Saturday with a team of guides were forced to turn back following sporadic fighting in Kopsiro Forest, which host the contested Chebyuk settlement scheme.

The attack by suspected Ndorobo forest dwellers, known locally as Chepkitale (forest dwellers) or Mosop (highland dwellers), unleashed panic in areas around Chebyuk Phase III settlement scheme.

Local county administration and police conceded after the incident that took place in Chemondi sub-location of Chesikaki that high presence of SDLF remnants is a headache to the government. Speaking to The Standard on Saturday, Osando admitted the number of illicit arms, still in the wrong hands, is a major challenge.

He says: “We have received reports about the presence of illegal firearms and regrouping of SLDF, but our operations have not yielded any results,” says Osando.

Raised hopes

The palpable peace in Mt Elgon was put to a sterner test during President Kenyatta’s visit of Bungoma County on May 17, when Mt Elgon MP John Serut asked the president to excise more for land to resettle thousands of internally displaced people that were evicted from Chebyuk Forest.

The request instantly raised hopes of then landless being settled in what the area MP termed as Chebyuk Phase IV.

Cheptais Assistant County Commissioner David Siele, concedes that the land issue is time bomb that needs to be addressed once and for all.

“SLDF was only suppressed, not eliminated. What must be addressed is the affiliation of the criminal gangs to local politicians. ,” says Siele.