Mystery of mass graves that haunt the living

By Anderson Ojwang

Many families in Mt Elgon District are still astounded by the mystery of missing relatives killed by the Saboat Land Defence Force (SLDF) and the military during operation okoa maisha.

Some have waited for three years to recover and bury those tortured and brutally slaughtered by the gang and their bodies disposed in pits and mass graves in the vast district.

Others have agonised for seven months after the military arrested and took away their relatives to Kapkota Army Base.

Mzee Naibei Matere shows where the body of his wife was found after she was killed by SLDF members. Photo: Anderson Ojwang and Correspondent/Standard

Violet Chebwobi, also a resident of Emia, witnessed the abduction of her husband and co-wife by SLDF members who took them to the forest. Her search for the bodies was unsuccessful until August, last year, when a man led her to a pit.

"I was taken to a place between Chewango and Tendibali and shown a latrine. I removed the shrubs and positively identified my husband and co-wife. There were several bodies in the pit," she says. Chwebwobi says she has had terrible nightmares since then, which she blames on her dead relatives. She says in her dreams she sees them complaining of ‘suffering from cold’ in the forest.

The military has also been accused of using the same tactics as SLDF. Esther Chebet Miti claims her husband was killed by the military and she has not found his body. She claims she saw an army helicopter take his body and that of their neighbour to the forest and throw them in a grave they had dug.

"After my husband was killed at Kapkoto base, I saw a plane at 5pm land in the area and a military vehicle arrived at the scene. Two white sacks were removed from the helicopter and thrown into a pit. A cold chill ran down my spine and I knew that was my husband’s body and that of our neighbour being dumped," she says.

The body of Chebyuk sub-location sub-chief Patrick Kiptemo Sewi has not been found to date after he was allegedly tortured to death by the military.

His wife, Phylis Tamnai, says he had been arrested three times by the army and did not return after his final arrest.

"Some people told me that after he died, the military took the body to the forest. It is not easy to access the place because the military has barred residents from going there," she says.

The executive director of Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) Samuel Muhochi confirmed the existence of graves and caves where SLDF and the military buried their victims. He says his team recovered five bodies in Kamarang Hills, 200 metres from the military base.

Kangaroo courts

"The relatives identified the decomposed bodies from the clothes they had worn at the time of arrest. The bodies were partly eaten by wild animals. We know they were killed by the military and not SLDF according to evidence by the relatives," he says.

The executive director of Western Kenya Human Rights Watch, Job Bwonya, says the SLDF had a kangaroo court in Kamarang Hills where those sentenced to die were killed and thrown into the pits, caves or in the bush. Bwonya says the military adopted the same tactic and threw bodies in the same places to conceal evidence.

"I have been to these areas and the claims are true. People cannot venture into mass graves for fear of reprisals from the military," he says.

But military spokesperson Bogita Ongeri dismissed the claims saying his officers did not kill. He says the accusations are fuelled by remnants of SLDF and NGOs bent on confusing the public.

"The operation in Mt Elgon was the most successful in Kenya’s history. That is why we are building a military base there to ensure peace remains," he says.

He challenged those claiming to know the graves to take him to the areas and pursue the matter legally.