The sun was burning furiously. As its rays cut through the azure blue sky, the earth below shook and cracked. The shrubs and vegetation had been burned into golden brown. The air was still and stifling. A trail of dust appeared in the horizon, following on the tail of a speeding government land rover. Terrified by the approaching sound, a warthog leaped from behind the bushes; a family of Dik Dik scattered and ran helter-skelter. The driver slowed down near a bend. Another land rover had blocked his way. As he lowered his window to inquire, a group of men, armed with assault rifles, jumped from the stationary vehicle and opened fire.

After the sound of gunfire had died down, a powerful wind blew, spewing dust on the blood-soaked vehicle as if mourning the deaths. A Cambridge trained young administrator, Daudi Dabasso Wabera, the District Commissioner Isiolo, had just been murdered for being a mediator in a country that was approaching its independence. This was on June 28, 1963.

The bullets rained from the Shifta (Somali) bandits who were fighting for secession of the North Frontier District (NFD). Kenya was a breath away from internal self-rule when Wabera was murdered in cold blood. With a few months to full independence in December 1963, the Somalis in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa demanded to be part of the Somalia Republic. They didn't want anything to do with a new Kenya. The government of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta told those who wanted to leave to do so as individuals. The secessionists formed a guerrilla army, the Shifta and enlisted the support of Boranas from Isiolo and Marsabit.