Extra-judicial killings in north eastern region should stop

On Friday July 22, just as residents of Elele village in Mandera County ended their weekly prayers, a contingent of security forces rounded them up outside the mosque and demanded that they produce guns. After residents denied they had guns, the men beat up some of them and proceeded to search the houses, breaking in doors in the process. Later, they left, leaving behind bewildered residents. The men wore plainclothes, and covered their faces in turbans and drove in unmarked Toyota Land Cruisers.

Nearly two weeks earlier, they similarly raided Harwale village in Mandera early morning, beat up the residents and disappeared with six men. Efforts by the provincial administration officials in the area to talk them out of the brutal punishment meted on the residents were fruitless. The men were held incommunicado at unknown location, and released a couple of days ago after intervention by local leaders. This ‘hooded’ security men are reportedly from the military intelligence, and take their instructions directly from Nairobi.