Mathare slum's Kosovo wing, which police believe is Mungiki's haven, was turning into a ghost shanty as residents moved out afraid of another security mop-up.
The exodus from Kenya's 'Kosovo', so-called after Eastern Europe's brutal ethnic cleansing and horrific slaughter city bearing the name, progressed with the news three more suspected Mungiki followers were on Thursday night gunned down by police in Kahuro, Murang'a District.
A police officer was shot in the stomach and seriously injured during the shoot- out and was taken to a Nairobi hospital for specialised medical care.
The escape from Kenya's Kosovo painted the picture of desolation. Of traumatised families, with children and their mothers, walking away with pots and pans, and tattered mattresses and blankets, not knowing where they were headed. The most important decision of the day was to flee Kosovo, the epicentre of poverty, and from Thursday, another Baghdad where bullets flower by the minute.
At the head of the exiting groups were haggard and tired looking men, using each of their remaining calorie after a sleepless night to pull the handcart bearing what could be their earthly belongings. With each step out of Kosovo, the doorstep of hell, the hand of peace appear to beckon, and so they trudged on.
Nowhere to go
Police did not show up at the slum, only promising to do so at a time of their choosing. Those who stayed in the slum were in groups moving with journalists who visited the area. Their concern was to know when police would go there again so that they could go into hiding.
"You usually know when these people come. Please tell us the time they might come," asked one woman. She spoke pointing at her partially destroyed structure that is about five metres from where police recovered two of five guns.
Pictures that tell it as is: Desolate families form the beeline out of Mathare, scooping up the much they can, for the trip out of hell and to the unknown. Pictures by Boniface Mwangi and Robert Gicheru
Murang'a is the scene of last week's twin slaughter of two assistant chiefs, along with five other people, in President Kibaki's and Internal Security minister John Michuki's constituencies.
The death toll following Friday's reprisal by police in daylight, code-named 'Operation Kosovo', stood at 14, including the three bodies residents said they recovered after the guns fell silent on Friday.
Perhaps because of the quick-fire mode and the vengeful disposition of the security personnel, after losing nine of their colleagues in a month to Mungiki prowling killers, the toll still appeared uncertain.
"Don't ask (me) the number of those killed because it could be more than what you have reported. We are now flushing them from their hideouts," said police spokesman, Mr Eric Kiraithe.
He said the number of those killed over suspicion of links with the proscribed sect was growing by the day because police were now going for them.
Police holding cells were also swelling with the arrest of 400 Mungiki suspects in Nairobi and Central provinces alone. About 250 were arrested in Mathare, while 127 were held in Maragua and Thika districts.
In Mathare fear stood out on the faces of the residents, first struck by the macabre accounts of Mungiki killings, particularly the beheadings, skinning of dead men's heads, and slitting of throats, and now police indiscriminate attack and outright execution of suspects. Thirdly, this made their usual heart-wrenching existence more excruciating. But most of all, they feared the police who on Thursday staged a brutal siege on the slum, leaving behind hallmarks of terror in their search for Mungiki gang members.
Part of Kosovo was in ruins, with some daring residents attempting to rebuild the homes the police forced them to demolish.
Ms Njeri Maina, 50, took one last look at her rented mudwalled hut and heaved her belongings onto her back. She had moved a bed up the hill just outside the slum, from where she wondered where to go.
"I just want to be out of here. I don't know where I'm going," she said, explaining she had no relatives or money to rent another house in a safer area.
She had been paying a modest Sh700 for one room. If she had been paying protection fee to the Mungiki gangs as the rest of her neighbours were forced to do, she would not speak of it for fear of reprisal.
Excessive force
During the operation, police beat up women and men, accusing them of sheltering the killer gangs.
"How can you tell who is Mungiki? They don't wear uniforms," Njeri asked, rhetorically.
Hundreds of others joined the exodus from the slum, which has recently been the scene of savage attacks and bloodshed.
In the ensuing cat and mouse game with police, officers killed 36 people in less than a week.
Kosovo is built in a valley with Mathare River cutting across it. Residents lack toilets and have turned the river into their only toilet.
This is where on Thursday, tens of youth arrested by police spent most of the day knee-deep in the water scouring for guns in the river bed with bare hands. Police claimed some suspected Mungiki gunmen had thrown arms into the river.
Most of those who were shot by the police had their brains blown off at point- blank range after surrendering. Others were ordered to lie prostrate alongside hundreds of suspects, but were later taken away into the slum's dark alleys and shot.
One of those killed was John Wachira, 23, who used to eke a living selling sugarcane on the riverbank. His brother, Mr Muchoki Maina, 19, was shedding tears over his death. He said he had left him sleeping in their house. About 20 minutes later, he heard that his brother was dead.
"I called him many times on his cell phone. All I got was a message that he could not be reached," Muchoki said at the scene where his brother fell under a hail of bullets.
Their grieving mother spent most of yesterday at the City Mortuary struggling to identify her son's body. Their partly demolished house leaned desolately next to scores of others built on the riverbank.
Trails of blood were visible along the path where bodies wrapped in gunny bags were dragged by youths forced by police to carry them to waiting vehicles.
Residents were scared of talking about others who died, saying they feared repercussions. But some residents said although they wanted police to protect them from the gangs, officers used excessive force in the Thursday operation.
Suckling mothers were herded together under a blistering sun, where they spent most of the day. Officers taunted them with insults.
Among the group of women, one had three babies. One was suckling, and another was wrapped around her back. Another, barely old enough to stand on his feet, clung frightfully to mother.
A policeman, wielding a gun, gave her two packets of milk looted by officers from shops whose owners had fled.
"Give them milk," the officer barked. "Your work is just to give birth, eh?" Then, she began crying.
In another house, a child cried and called out for her mother in vain. Police broke down the door and removed her as she struggled to go back in fear.
The residents are a people under siege from Mungiki gangs, poverty, disease, crime and now, the police. The sting operation came three days after a lone gunman shot dead two police officers in a different estate.
Guns recovered
During the operation, police recovered five guns and a pair of worn out boots. Their owner, obviously one of the officers, was dead.
One woman said the slum had become synonymous with death. "Did you know that people are killed elsewhere and brought here at night? People know Mathare is a place of death," she said.
A police source said initially, it had been suggested that all the houses in the slum, which covers a radius of about two kilometres be razed to the ground. But the idea was shelved for political reasons.
The youth were forced to bring scores of houses down as police watched. Like slaves, they were made to walk in single file to the next house, each holding the other's back.
The young men were instructed to search for guns in the house. The police, making way for a looting spree that started as soon as they called off the operation, broke down scores of shops.
Police had earlier carted away crates of soft drinks and milk, which they gave to women subdued and forced to lie on bare earth. One shop owner said he lost goods worth Sh80, 000.
Part of the slum was virtually empty with the majority of the women who spent the night there busy looking for their beloved sons, husbands and relatives. It is usually a busy place with women making illegal brews and others going about their business.
There were also those who stood firm, vowing they were not moving house because they did not have an alternative bases.
"My mum left here early to look for my brother who is missing. Some say he was among those killed," said Mr William Maina.
After missing them at the mortuaries they visited at various police stations. Police said they recovered five guns, 40 rounds of ammunitions and two pairs of police boots together with several Mungiki paraphernalia.
At the police stations some claimed, police denied them a chance to check if those missing were locked up there.
Those arrested were taken in lorries to Buru Buru, Kamukunji and Central police stations.
Officers at the stations complained that their cells were full with suspects and they were experiencing problems handling them. "Our cells are full. We are experiencing a major crisis in controlling them," said an officer at the Buru Buru police station.
Nairobi Area deputy CID boss, Mr Joseph Limo, said they are questioning the suspects to get Mungiki remnants.
He said the police operations would continue in the slum and other estates.
After the operation, which was described as successful, police extended their patrols to Dandora where residents talked of terror during the exercise.
A combined force of regular, Administration Police and GSU moved in lorries calling on residents to stay indoors. One suspect was shot during the operation after he allegedly refused to stop as police conducted the operation.
In the neighbouring Huruma estate, residents too claimed police beat them up as they ordered them to go to bed as early as 9pm. There were few vehicles on the usually busy Juja Road as the majority of the operators withdrew in fear of being arrested.
Source : allafrica.com
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