Kenya Armed Forces pictures

The worsening crisis in Somalia, followed by reports of deployments of Kenyan troops along the Kenya – Somalia border has generated lots of interest in our armed forces.

Due to severe restrictions on information flow, it is not easy for ordinary members of the public to see what exactly our military and police forces do behind the scenes. Here below, the Nairobi Chronicle presents pictures of our national armed forces.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: These are NOT pictures of Operation Linda Mpaka that is ongoing at the Somali border.

Kenya Airforce F-5 fighter jet roaring over the skies. The F5 is Kenya's principal air superiority fighter jet.

Kenya Army soldiers manning a mortar during field operations.

Kenya Army soldiers marching during a field exercise.

Kenya Navy vessels in the high seas.

A paramilitary unit armed with G-3 rifles on the look-out.

Kenya Army soldiers attending a classroom session.

Any of you have similar pictures? Please send to nairobichronicle@live.com

Uganda Army a hardened battle force

Under estimating the enemy is the biggest mistake in war. As Kenyans push their failed government into retaking Migingo island from Uganda’s military, it is important to reflect on the strengths of the enemy.

Ready for combat: a Ugandan soldier

Kenyans still believe that today’s Ugandan military is the same rag-tag guerrilla force defeated by Administration Police in Western Kenya back in the 1980s. The reality is very different.

The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) is a battle-hardened outfit of at least 45,000 soldiers well armed with artillery, tanks and combat aircraft. The Kenyan military consists of roughly the same number of personnel spread out across the Army, Navy and Airforce but without combat experience.

Since its birth as the National Resistance Army, the UPDF has engaged in fierce warfare within and outside Uganda. UPDF has put down almost all the armed groups that roamed Uganda after the overthrow of Idi Amin in 1979. At the moment, war is raging against Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Army (LRA) but the bulk of the fighting is in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the UPDF chased Kony away from northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

The UPDF has fought in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where it vanquished rebels of the Allied Democratic Front (ADF). However, the UPDF was sucked into the Congo wars where the United Nations accuses them of looting Congo’s abundant minerals and timber. At the moment, the Congolese Army (FARDC) has joined the UPDF in a joint operation against the LRA. UPDF aircraft have fired explosives into suspected LRA camps though the rebels had already deserted the outposts.

UPDF is part of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) where, together with Burundian soldiers, they have helped sustain the Transitional Federal Government against the onslaught of insurgents. In Iraq, retired UPDF soldiers have gotten jobs as security officers in the US led coalition.

In contrast, the Kenyan military has not engaged in major combat operations since the Shifta Wars of the 1960s – 1970s. Shiftas were bandits fighting for the secession of the Somali-dominated North Eastern Province. Since then, there has not been any rebel activity in Kenya until the Sabaot Land Defence Force emerged in 2006.

Kenya Army trucks crossing a flooded river. Picture by the US Army.

Operations against the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) were the first counter-insurgency experience for Kenya’s military since the Shifta Wars. However, the conduct of the Army certainly did not win hearts and minds for the government. The operation was so ruthless that accusations of human rights abuses are rife. People were abducted from homes and tortured because of mere allegations of supporting SLDF.

The Kenya Army dubbed its successful anti-SLDF campaign “Operation Okoa Maisha” (Operation Save Lives) but locals have described it as “Operation Haribu Maisha Kabisa” (Operation Destroy Lives). It is said that so many men disappeared that Mount Elgon District is now dominated by women, who are either widows or caregivers to broken men.

Back in the 1980s, the Administration Police fought back several incursions by Ugandan soldiers. This time though, Kenya’s armed forces may not be up to the task. Infact, the annexation of Migingo Island and the growth of piracy on the Indian Ocean are proof that all is not well with our national defences.

Recruitment into the forces is marred by corruption and political interference, meaning that the calibre of recruits is very low. Qualified candidates are shunted aside in favour of those willing to pay hefty bribes to recruiting officers. Even after joining the forces, promotions in the hierarchy are heavily influenced by corruption and ethnicity.

The situation in the police and prisons services is reportedly worse than in the military. An investigation into Kenya Prisons found that female officers had to sleep with senior bosses in order to get promotions. In the Kenya Police, traffic police offices collect bribes from drivers in order to fulfill a daily quota imposed by their supervisors. Those who fail to deliver their targets are transferred to less lucrative postings in the rural areas.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has sent the UPDF to all of Uganda’s neighbours except Tanzania. Museveni is a calculating, former rebel leader who exploits weaknesses in his neighbours to expand Uganda’s influence. With Kenyans divided on ethnic lines and ruled by corrupt leaders, Museveni must have realized that this is the best time to strike.

By occupying the small island of Migingo, Museveni was testing Kenya’s political and military defences. Next time, the catch will be bigger and it will be too late for Kenya to defend itself.

Tanks on the move in weapons saga

The saga continues to unfold concerning the T-72 tanks that arrived in February after 4 months in the hands of Somali pirates.

With the whole world convinced that Kenya was helping the government of Southern Sudan bust a United Nations arms embargo, the Kenya Army laid claim to the weapons. Top military commanders said that the tanks were part of an arms acquisition programme and that Kenyan crews had even been trained in use of the tanks.

Most analysts knew that it was only a matter of time before the tanks began the journey to their real destination: Southern Sudan. The predictions seem to have come true, with reports that a column of tanks has been seen in the northern Rift Valley province in the past week. This is where the highway to Sudan passes through.

Defence spokesman Bogita Ongeri, however denies claims that the tanks were heading to Southern Sudan. Instead, Bogita said that the tanks were being transported to participate in “military exercises” in the northern Rift Valley districts.

What makes the events interesting is a visit to Kenya by a top official of the Southern Sudan administration at around the same time. Rumours indicate that the Sudanese official had arrived to “inspect” the tanks. The Kenyan government, of course, denied the claims.

Despite repeated statements by the government, most people in Kenya are convinced that the tanks belong to Southern Sudan. Kenya traditionally sources its weapons from Western countries and shifting to Russian weaponry would signify a major shift in military strategy.

A ship carrying the 33 tanks was hijacked by Somali pirates in September 2008. If it wasn’t for the pirates, its highly likely that the weapons would have been in Sudan by now. After all, it was not the first time that Russian built tanks had been delivered to Mombasa in preceding months. The previous consignments were secretly shipped to Southern Sudan.

The ship, the MV Faina, was finally released in February 2009 after its owners paid millions of dollars as ransom to the Somali pirates holding it. The ship’s captain died during the 4 month captivity.

Army Major defends T-72 tanks purchase

A Kenya Army Major has defended the ongoing acquisition of T-72 tanks, saying two years of training have adequately prepared Kenya’s military for the Russian built weaponry.

The Russian built T-72 tank can run on three types of fuel: diesel, benzene or kerosene.

“Kenya Armoured Corps has the capacity in skills to fully utilise these T-72,” explains Major Tom ole Nkarei. “The purchase of these tanks now gives our Armed Forces the capacity to ensure the exploitation of our vast natural resources without fear of armed conflict with covetous neighbours.”

Major Nkarei was responding to a Nairobi Chronicle article which said that the Kenyan government would force its Army to use the tanks so as to prove that they were not being smuggled into Southern Sudan.

The tanks were on their way to the port of Mombasa from Ukraine when the ship carrying them, the MV Faina, was captured by Somali pirates in September 2008. At the time, it was widely believed that Kenya was helping the government of South Sudan to break a United Nations arms embargo.

The claims were embarrassing because it was Kenya that helped broker an end to the civil war between South Sudan and the government in Khartoum in 2005.

MV Faina was released from captivity on February 5th 2009, and the whole world waited to see the final destination of the ship’s cargo. Now, the Kenyan military has stated that the tanks were part of its strategic arms acquisition.

According to Major Nkarei, the Kenya Armoured Corps used the expected legal processes of identification, sampling, comparative analysis, tendering and purchasing to acquire the 33 tanks and others already in service.

“Army command and control structures were thoroughly trained in the usage of these ordnance in India and Ukraine over the past two years. Subsequently, a selected group of senior NCO (non-commissioned officers) who normally run the Corps also underwent the same rigourous training on these ordnance in India and Ukraine,” explains the Major.

“Training of the rest of the Corps has continued here at home in our very adequately equipped tank schools,” Nkarei adds.

On claims that the Kenya Army may not adapt to Russian weapons because of training in NATO equipment and tactics, Major Nkarei says: “the use of different ordnance is not a complicated matter, just as it is not space-rocket science to drive a left-hand vehicle while trained to use a right-hand vehicle.”

Nkarei has worked with the Kenya Armoured Corps for 13 years. He has also worked with the 20 Para Battalion where he saw action in Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Southern Sudan and Rwanda.

Nkarei has further disclosed that there is no resistance within the rank and file to weapons purchased from China, Korea and Russia. He describes such assertions as, “utterly without any facts and full of unsubstantiated conjecture.”

Arms vessel reaches port after 4 month drama

33 Russian made tanks finally arrived at the Kenyan port of Mombasa after a dramatic voyage marred by 4 months of captivity as the world waits to see the final destination of the weapons.

As predicted here at the Nairobi Chronicle, the Kenyan government has only been too willing to grant access to the media, in order to prove that the weapons really were meant for its army. For months, the Kenyan government has denied that it was helping the government of Southern Sudan break a United Nations arms embargo.

The MV Faina was met at Mombasa by Kenyan and Ukrainian officials amidst heavy security (there are no pirates in Mombasa). The sailors seemed exhausted from the ordeal, though they were cleared as healthy by US Navy doctors who examined them following their release from captivity on February 5.

The Faina and its crew were released after the ship’s Ukrainian owner paid the Somali pirates a ransom of US $3.2 million. The Faina was captured in September 2008. Many other ships remain in captivity off the Somali coast, some for much longer than the Faina.

According to the Itar-Tass news agency, all the crew of the Faina vowed to fly back home immediately they got to Mombasa. The ship’s captain died of a stroke in captivity and the acting captain has promised to accompany the body to the captain’s home town of St Petersburg.

The saga has been extremely scandalous for Kenya, which played a key role in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that brought peace between the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army and the Khartoum government. It may appear that Kenya is arming the south, who are preparing for possible secession from the Arab dominated north.

After its release last week, the Faina got fresh supplies of food, fresh water and fuel from the US Navy. The ship took a week to reach Mombasa due to faulty engines.

Kenya stuck with Russian tanks

With Somali pirates releasing the MV Faina last Thursday, the Kenyan military is effectively stuck with 33 Russian made tanks widely believed to have been ordered by the government of Southern Sudan.

The U.S. Navy ocean tug, "Catawba" (left), provides fuel and fresh water to "MV Faina" following its release by Somali pirates Feb. 5. Picture by the US Navy.

With the international spotlight shining rather too brightly on Kenyan authorities, it is unlikely that the shipment of T-72 tanks will proceed to Sudan.

The Kenyan government would be highly embarrassed to be found supplying arms to South Sudan, analysts say. It was Kenya that helped broker an end to the civil war between South Sudan and the government in Khartoum in 2005.

The MV Faina is a Ukrainian ship hired to carry the 33 tanks to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Until it was captured by Somali pirates last September, few knew that the Faina had actually made similar trips in previous months. Apparently, the government of Southern Sudan is secretly amassing weapons with the help of the Kenyan government.

MV Faina was released on February 5th after a ransom of $3.2 million was paid by its owners. The ship is currently sailing towards Mombasa under the escort of the US Navy, which does not want the weapons hijacked by other pirate gangs. The arrival of the MV Faina in Mombasa any time from today will be the moment of truth for the Kenyan government and its South Sudan allies.

Since Kenya insists that it owns the weapons, it will have to take possession of the tanks for the time being. Infact, there are likely to be press photo releases of Kenyan soldiers happily training with the tanks. However, this presents technical challenges for Kenya’s military.

Kenya’s military uses NATO standards in its training and weaponry. From independence in 1963 until the 1990s, Kenya bought military hardware from the United States, Britain, Germany, South Africa and Israel. Kenya’s army is one of the few in the region that does not use the Russian made AK-47 rifle, but uses a 1960s European model.

It will be very difficult for the Kenya Army to integrate T-72 tanks into their operations structure. They would have to ensure that the tanks work with NATO ammunition and other military systems developed over the years.

Alternatively, the military may have to adapt its existing systems to the capabilities of the T-72. This is likely to arouse great resentment from military rank and file, majority of whom were trained under western military tactics and who remain loyal to NATO standard equipment.

Indeed, a government decision to purchase military aircraft and trucks from China is still facing widespread resistance. Majority of the old Army hands believe that anything coming from outside the West and NATO is “inferior.” With the unexpected Russian tanks bonanza, this resentment is expected to grow.

Apart from tanks, the weapons aboard the MV Faina include rocket propelled grenades, artillery shells, tank shells and millions of rounds of ammunition. Kenya has its own bullet factory in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret and it remains to be seen what will happen to the ammunition delivered by the MV Faina.

Torture in Mt Elgon confirmed by newspaper photo

As the Kenya Army denies torturing civilians in Mt Elgon, a photo published in the Standard daily is one of the first documents proving that the allegations are true.

An army officer stands guard as a group of people swim in the mud in Mt Elgon. They do not appear like they are doing it willingly though. Picture by the Standard newspaper.

Mandera people flee Army torture

In an ironical tragedy, residents of the Kenyan border town of Mandera are seeking safety in war-ravaged Somalia as a military operation by Kenya’s government is marred by rape, torture and looting.

An army officer told the Mandera chief, “Your authority is now under my feet.”

Discontent is brewing in Mandera as hospitals over-flow with victims of torture. Matters became worse last week when the government arrested former Mandera Central Member of Parliament, Billow Kerrow, for criticizing the security operation. Mr Kerrow was released today as protests grew.

Government civil servants have not been spared in the operation, which the Army says is meant to mop up illegal firearms. Citizen Television reports that five chiefs are in hospital with severe injuries inflicted during interrogation.

One of the chiefs on television says that he was stripped of his uniform by a military officer who then stomped on it on the sand. According to the middle-aged chief, his tormentor laughed at him and said, “Sasa mamlaka ya chief iko chini ya miguu yangu,” which means, “Now, the authority of the chief is under my feet.” As a result, the Kenyan government risks weakening its own structures in a region notorious for lawlessness.

The latest conflict in Mandera began a few weeks ago when rival Somali clans began fighting over land and politics. The area is inhabited by the Somali ethnic group, most of whom have relatives in the Republic of Somalia just across the border.

As fighting worsened, militias from Somalia intervened on behalf of their kinsfolk. Concerns arose within Kenya’s security forces that some of those Somali militias have links to Islamist insurgents in Somalia, currently doing battle with Ethiopian troops. These worries pushed the military to launch an operation in Mandera but its highly possible that the Somali militias had long left the area, leaving civilians to bear the brunt of the operation.

The Mandera operation is the second time this year Kenya’s Army is facing claims of brutality. At the opposite side of the country, in Mount Elgon, the Army has been implicated in the disappearances of hundreds and the torture of thousands in a campaign against the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF). Some people were brutalized so badly that they will be maimed for life.

However, unlike Mandera, the residents of Mount Elgon have defended the military’s actions. For two years, the SLDF had inflicted terrible torture on its victims.

Because of the Mount Elgon operation, international and local human rights organizations asked the United Nations to bar Kenya’s military from peace keeping operations. At the time, the United Nations did not make a statement regarding the Kenya Army.

If the Mandera operation continues for much longer and with clear evidence of human rights violations, the United Nations may no longer continue turning a blind eye.

Kenyan tanks captured by Somali pirates

In the latest embarrassment for Kenya’s government, 33 newly-ordered tanks have been captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Kenya Army soldiers with a US Army instructor. Picture by the US Army.

According to the Daily Nation, Somali pirates on Thursday afternoon seized a ship carrying more than 30 military tanks in a dramatic hijacking that sent ripples in the maritime industry.

The BBC reports Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua as confirming that the tanks were heading to Kenya. “The cargo in the ship includes military hardware such as tanks and an assortment of spare parts for use by different branches of the Kenyan military,” he said.

A Russian Navy vessel is heading to the region and the US says it is monitoring developments in the area.

The crisis in Somalia is back in the limelight as Somali pirates hijack dozens of ships, thereby threatening shipping routes in the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, Islamic insurgents have intensified attacks against a US backed government and now control Somalia’s port city of Kismayu. It is feared that renewed fighting will disrupt food supplies to millions of Somalis currently living in camps and ravaged by natural disasters.

Incidentally, most of the pirate gangs are based in the region of Puntland, controlled by militiamen loyal to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf. Recently, though, pirate activities have spread to the south of the country as violence rages.

Problems in Somalia worsened in December 2006, when the United States decided to overthrow the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). By mid 2006, the UIC had succeeded in creating a functional government in Somalia for the first time since clan warfare wrecked the country in 1991.

During the short-lived reign of the UIC, piracy in the Indian Ocean almost ceased but with its overthrow, piracy has grown faster than before.

Mt Elgon MP got SLDF backing

A report on human rights abuses in Mt Elgon reveals that area Member of Parliament, Fred Kapondi, won the seat after rivals were threatened with death by the Sabaot Land Defence Force. However, Mr Kapondi’s electoral tactics were not unique. The report adds that in the past 15 years, all legislators from the constituency have used armed militias to get to parliament.

Mt Elgon. Its slopes have been witness to horrific torture and killings. Picture by BMS-Travellers

The report, released this week by Human Rights Watch graphically describes acts of torture committed by the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) and Kenya’s security forces. In a sense, the people of Mt Elgon are under attack from the two protagonists.

Virtually all males over the age of 10 have been targetted, either for recruitment by the SLDF or for interrogation by the Kenya Army and Police. “Mt. Elgon is a mountain of women, all the men have gone,” lamented a widow who found her husband’s body at the Webuye mortuary, two weeks after he was abducted by the army.

Here are excerpts of the report by Human Rights watch, with damning evidence against Mr Kapondi:

Wilberforce Kisiero, the MP for the former ruling party KANU between 1982 and 1997 was widely cited as one of the proponents of violence in the district. He was implicated in the state sponsored clashes of 1991-93, and named in the Akiwumi report, the parliamentary investigation into the political violence of the 1990s.

John Serut, the MP from 2002 to 2007, and Fred Kapondi, the current MP elected in 2007, were accused by local residents and human rights organizations of working to recruit, train, and finance militia who intimidated opponents in the 1997, 2002, and 2007 elections.

Having initially worked together (Kapondi was formerly KANU party chairman in the district), by the time of the 2007 General Elections, Serut and Kapondi had fallen out, according to residents. After that, the SLDF began to target supporters of Serut, including Serut himself. An area chief explained that because Serut supported the Chepyuk III settlement scheme against the wishes of most within the SLDF, Kapondi got a chance to run the boys, and this gave him the political powerbase he needed to win the election.

A neighbor of Kapondi told how he was repeatedly harassed by SLDF ‘boys’ who had a training camp on Kapondi’s land. Another chief described Kapondi leading a recruitment drive in his area for young men to join the SLDF in 2006. Kapondi was arrested in April 2007 and charged with robbery with violence in Webuye court, a non-bailable offense. He was nominated as the ODM candidate while in custody and acquitted on December 13, 2007, just days before the election.

Court officials told Human Rights Watch that the prosecution case collapsed when witnesses started disappearing and others changed their stories. Human rights activists described seeing the court packed with known SLDF militia during hearings.

Kapondi and others were also named in parliament by the then MP, John Serut, who accused them of fueling the clashes. But Serut himself, along with Kisiero and another former MP, Joseph Kimkung, were named by the government spokesman in a report seeking to identify the backers of the violence. Local residents say they have all been involved at various stages.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: It should be noted that former MP, John Serut, was implicated in a sexual harassment case at Parliament Buildings involving a female parliamentary staffer. This was just days after he was sworn into office early 2003.

More excerpts from Human Rights Watch:

Origins of the Mt Elgon land dispute:
Land disputes between two clans of the Sabaot tribe began in the 1920s. Colonial authorities forced these groups out of the Trans Nzoia area in order to pave way for white settlers. The Sabaot clans resettled in Mt Elgon forest at two locations: Chebyuk and Chepkitale.

In 1968, Chepkitale was declared a game reserve and its inhabitants forced out. Inhabitants evicted from Chepkitale complained, and in 1971 the government initiated a resettlement program for the displaced at the other location, Chepyuk. In effect, the government was trying to force the inhabitants of two villages into the area occupied by one. Moreover, the resettlement exercise was placed in the hands of area chiefs, local land officials, provincial administrators, councillors and members of parliament, many of whom were accused of corrupt practices in the allocation of land.

The Kenyan government evicted people originating from both areas from various locations that had been designated parts of the settlement scheme, and made a second attempt to allocate the land, known as Chepyuk II in 1989. This was equally controversial.

In 1993 the government of President Daniel arap Moi annulled the Chepyuk settlement scheme completely and ordered the creation of a third scheme, Chepyuk III. By now the population had increased even further. Because of controversy and complications, Phase three was never fully implemented and remained an apparently dormant issue throughout the 1990s.

After the 2005 referendum, the third phase was finally implemented but the exercise was marred by massive irregularities. This was a feature of the broader political conflict between the then sitting member of parliament for Mt. Elgon, John Serut, and his then protégé the future MP, Fred Kapondi.

What is the Sabaot Land Defence Force?

The SLDF is an armed group organized and funded by local politicians, although the actual politicians in control have changed over time. The SLDF is very similar in its activities to the majimboist groups that were armed by the state in 1991-92 and 1996-97 to drive out non-Kalenjin groups (mostly Luhya in Mt. Elgon) who were unlikely to vote for the ruling KANU party. This happened in Mt. Elgon, as well as across the Rift Valley and coastal provinces in the elections of 1992 and 1997.

The political objectives of the SLDF become clear when one looks at the pattern of attacks, the ethnicity and political affiliation of the victims, and the relationship between the timing of violence and the electoral cycle. Basically, the SLDF, as with many other armed groups in Kenya, has twin purposes, on the one hand land-related objectives, and on the other to further the political aims of certain local leaders.

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More of this report on the Human Rights Watch website.