Court sentences four to hang for ethnic clashes

By Paul Gitau

Tana Delta, Kenya: A court in Garsen, Tana Delta district has sentenced four men, including a former GSU officer, to hang.

The four are accused of allegedly participating in a violent robbery that led to the murder of 38 people, including nine police officers, at Kilelengwani at the height of deadly tribal clashes between ethnic Orma and Pokomo in late 2012.

Police and the prosecution accuse Mohamed Yusa and eight others of participating in the killing of his comrades during a communal war in which more than 200 people were killed.

Apart from the robbery with violence charge, the convicts were also accused of participating in violence leading to massacre.

Garsen principal magistrate Justus Kituku sentenced them to death after they were positively identified by witnesses while two others were acquitted for lack of evidence.

The court also issued a warrant of arrest for three suspects who had escaped from police cells at Gamba police station early last year.

Accusations made

The nine who faced nine counts of robbery with violence include: Ali Daku, Abdalla Balozi, Ade Ali, Ali Amuma, Ali Hussein alias Fundi, Salim Ismae, former GSU officer Mohammed Yusa alias Saa Robo, Feiswal Swaleh and Ali Barisa.

Those convicted were Daku,Hussein, Ismae and Yusa while Balozi and Swaleh were acquitted. Ade, Ali Omar and Ali Shore escaped from police custody during trial and have not been rearrested.

The incident at Kilelengwani was one of the most audacious mass murders of policemen in Kenya’s recent history and also one of the most gruesome events of tribal violence.

A judicial inquest into the murder of the policemen, who had graduated from the police academy less than a week earlier, was not conclusive and the culprits were not identified.

The inquest found that security agents from the two tribes participated in the violence.

Last week the government withdrew close to 200 General Service Unit (GSU) officers deployed together with the deceased without explanation, sparking fear of an exodus.

Sentencing of the four men coincided with renewed tensions between the two tribes.