Raila wants Wagalla deaths probed

By Standard Reporter
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said the Wagalla massacre was a crime against humanity and ordered the Attorney General Amos Wako to initiate investigation into the killings.
The PM said the massacre offered the country the resolve to work towards the rule law, where leaders are held responsible for actions they commit and directives that they give.
"There are many questions than answers and we want them answered. Let the AG have the case settled out of court and the victims be compensated," said he.

Survivors of Wagalla killings Monday took Premier Raila Odinga and other leaders through their ordeal 27 years ago. [PHOTO: COLLINS KWEYU/STANDARD]

Speaking at the commemoration to mark the killings, Raila said perpetrators hide under opaque laws saying the repealing of the Indemnity Act that protected Government officials from prosecution will be signed soon.
"We are yet to fully understand what exactly happened at Wagalla airstrip where thousands of people were killed. We are yet to know who gave the orders to the soldiers and who made the decision," added he.
At the function, residents relived how they were rounded up to the tiny Wagalla airstrip and forced to lie on their bellies and denied food and water for five days before they were sprayed with bullets.
Senseless tragedy
During the incident, security officers reportedly picked more than 5,000 men from the Degodia Clan and took them to the airstrip.
The Government accused them of fanning the Degodia-Ajuran clan wars, harbouring and financing freelance bandits.
Residents claim about 5,000 men were killed in the massacre. However, the Government said it could only account for 365 people who died.
And in Nairobi, two MPs asked the Government to take full responsibility of the massacre.
Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa and his Dujis counterpart Mohammed Dualle said what happened to the Somali community in 1984 was a crime against humanity, which should be fully investigated.
"The Government must investigate the massacre and render justice to the affected families of the senseless tragedy," said Mr Wamalwa.
In Wajir, the MPs also observed a five-minute silence in honour of the late Ahmed Khalif Mohammed who had been fighting for justice of the Wagalla victims before he died in 2003 in a plane crush in Busia, a month after he was elected the Wajir West MP.
Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, Cabinet ministers James Orengo and Mohamed Elmi as well as Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim, who are all members of ODM, accompanied Raila.