Military priest recalls how two hyenas rescued him in Somalia

Father George Makau preaches to KDF solders. Fr Makau during a confession session. [PHOTOS: MOSES MICHIRA/STANDARD]

By MOSES MICHIRA

Two hyenas paid the ultimate price and conceivably saved the lives of a dozen Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers during the military’s incursion into Somalia. The pair of wild animals, known for their greed and uncanny ability to feast on their live prey, were killed when they trampled on a series of roadside bombs planted by the Al-Shabaab militants targeting KDF trucks last year.

The stunned but relieved soldiers did little to celebrate the lives of the animals as is the military creed. However, one KDF personnel deeply appreciates the significance of the incident because it saved his life.

The hyena story now forms part of the memorabilia of many incidents for Major Father George Makau, a chaplain in the Kenyan military. He will forever remain indebted to the wild animals.

The chaplain, who kept a rifle on his left shoulder, a Bible and a rosary in his right hand for the 11 months he was in the frontline inside Somalia, has finally opened up about his life changing experience and the bravery of Kenyan soldiers.

Dodged bomb

He dodged the roadside bomb but still got shot in the line of duty. Major Fr Makau was injured and airlifted back to the military hospital in Nairobi in mid-September last year and has now made a complete recovery.

He now makes constant reference to incidents from the warfront in his sermons to encourage soldiers and their families within the army barracks. His sermons provide a first-hand account of a soldiers’ life at the frontline of the military incursion dubbed ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ sanctioned by retired President Mwai Kibaki in October 2011.

Makau was in the first contingent that made history for crossing over into Somalia on assignment to eliminate the militants that had taken over Kenya’s eastern neighbour and had made nerve wrecking cross border incursions into Kenyan towns along the border. Their ruthless escapades included killings and kidnappings of foreign tourists from as far a town as Lamu.

Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab Islamist group controlled most of the country that has been without an established civilian-government since the fall of Siad Barre’s rule in 1991.Buoyed by the lack of a proper governance system and military, the al Shabaab mutated into a terror group that became a major security threat within and outside Somalia.

In Kenya, the militant group was linked to several attacks along border towns, grenade attacks and kidnappings prompting the then President Kibaki to launch the cross-border offensive.

Maj Makau’s role in the incursion is unique and less talked about. He provides moral support and spiritual guidance to the soldiers who profess to the Catholic faith. “It is common for a soldier to be in stress at the warfront. I was their father and counsellor.”

There were two other chaplains for Protestants and the Muslim faithful. “Everyone in the army must belong to any of the three faiths,” says Maj Makau. He granted an interview to The Standard On Saturday after a mass he conducted in a barrack in Nairobi recently.

A similar mass thousands of miles inside Somalia would last no more than 20 minutes, he said, which typically was concluded at dawn before the militants were up for another day of heavy fighting.

“I would have my gun strapped to my right hand side throughout the mass and at all times,” Makau says, gesturing how the rifle would be strapped on his shoulder while delivering the mass in a dug-out trench that doubles up as a dormitory.

Confessions, which are a central pillar of the Catholic faith, were given in the bushes while the others kept watch.

The soldiers lived each day knowing they could die under a hail of gunfire. His role at keeping the soldiers grounded in their faith and remembering their loved ones at home may have kept the soldiers’ morale high. Being ambushed by militants were regular events. Al-Shabaab fighters would launch attacks using bombs and heavy artillery mounted on improvised pick-up trucks called ‘technicals’.

On September 22, last year, the worst happened. Al-Shabaab executed an ambush at Osingo near Afmadhow. Father Makau was engaged by the serene quietness of the bush before suddenly being surrounded by a hail of gunfire and screaming militants.

He clutched to his weapon and rosary and realised the explosion of gunfire was in fact an ambush. The KDF soldiers returned fire in equal measure. He remembers the unstoppable cacophony of shooting and then suddenly wincing in pain. He had been shot in the leg and sustained serious injuries. He survived the battle but that moment also marked his withdrawal from the battlefront. He was airlifted to a hospital bed at the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi.

Haunts everyday

The bullet was lodged in the upper left leg. It was subsequently removed at the hospital. But that outcome was perhaps better than what would have happened earlier in mid-November 2011 that would have led to his permanent withdrawal.

It was an incident that still haunts him every day. They were driving through the town of Tabda in the first month after entering Somalia. Two hungry hyenas on the hunt had accidentally stepped on a roadside bomb set up by Al Shabaab that was targeted at the KDF. Fr Makau was in the front vehicle that was part of the convoy. The retinue of soldiers arrived at the spot to find the mutilated and ripped up bodies of the two wild packs that had taken the full impact of the bomb. It was a chilling sight.

If the convoy of soldiers had arrived at the spot before the two hyenas, the massive casualty level of fatalities would have been shocking.

Fr Makau and his colleagues would have been killed and become part of the statistics of men in uniform who have paid the ultimate price in Somalia in defence of the homeland. “It (the explosive) was right on the path we were to use.”

Fr Makau denied stories that the KDF tortured or involved itself in mistreatment of Somalis; even pointing out that the Somalia National Army (SNA) had a policy of assimilating the prisoners of war.

“If there was any torture, it must have been by the SNA… captured militants were taken in to join the Somalia army that we were fighting alongside.” It was easy to assimilate the militants into the SNA because most had been disoriented over promises of salaries from their commanders that were never forthcoming, he claimed.

Al Shabaab have claimed that the KDF soldiers were involved in torture of innocent people as the basis for the retaliatory terror attacks in targeting several towns across the country, including the September 21 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi.

Survivors of the mall attack said the gunmen had come to revenge on the atrocities committed by the KDF on their people, with the threat of carrying out more severe attacks should Kenya refuse pulling its officers out of Somalia.

Wonders back

Back in Somalia, KDF Muslim soldiers and members of the Somalia National Army would hold their five prayers jointly, under the cover of their Catholic and Protestant colleagues. Now back home, Fr Makau spends his time at the 1KR barracks in Nanyuki.

But his mind often wonders back to those tense and dangerous days in the battle front in Somalia and the role that KDF has played in the liberation of the war torn country from militants.

The hail of bullets, the wail of soldiers and the sight of dead Al Shabaab militants who fell prey to KDF bullets because they would not relent. Nanyuki, under the picturesque Mt Kenya, is a much more peaceful and serene place than where Fr Makau took a bullet to his leg in Somalia.

And every evening when the cover of darkness envelopes the barracks, he remembers the brave men in the battlefront still serving in Somalia and says a silent prayer for them and their families.