The Northern Frontier District

Days after independence, the North-Eastern region of Kenya threatened to secede and join Somalia. The high Somali population in the area, marginalization during colonial times and the dream of an all-Somali republic fueled this agitation for secession. The Kenyan government under Jomo Kenyatta would go on to fight a prolonged war with the resident Cushite tribes punctuated by, war crimes, massacres and unprecedented amounts of sexual violence that have had effects on the region to this day.

With the spark of nationalism rising in colonial Kenya, the Somali Youth League (SYL) was formed in 1943. It agitated for equal rights, introduction of schools and hospitals and even the fostering of Islam. More radically however, SYL campaigned for the unification for all Somali tribes in the Horn of Africa. The objective at the time was dismissed as trivial but in time it would prove to be the reason for which the war was fought.

In the post-war agreements, Britain found herself in control of Italian Somaliland as well as other annexed German and Italian territories. Ernest Bevin, the war secretary, suggested the unification of all East African Somali territories as a single British dominion. The Bevin Plan was never implemented as there were preexisting territorial boundaries, not to mention independent Ethiopia would never give up the regions of Ogaden and Haud. Although it was shelved, the Bevin Plan ignited a Somali Nationalism that would eventually take hold 2 decades later.

In 1950, the increasingly political activities of the SYL led to its proscription. In its place, the Somalia-endorsed Northern Province People’s Progressive Party (NPPPP) was formed in the late 1950s. The territories of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland were merged as the new state of Somalia was granted independence in 1960. The Northern Frontier District as it was known then, had an overwhelming majority of Somalis who felt strongly a desire to be joined to the new state of Somalia.

Unfortunately for them, the incoming KANU administration was vehemently against this. Contrary to the seemingly unanimous sentiments for secession amongst the Somali residents (the Burji and Borana were against it) of the Northern Frontier District(NFD), the British seemingly ‘betrayed’ the residents by keeping the region within Kenya. However, by organizing the region as a Province, the largest in Kenya, the British felt as though the residents had been given an edge because they would be prioritised in development.

As the wave of hope and optimism washed over the country with independence approaching, the North Eastern residents were in a state of anxiety. KANU leaders remained unperturbed on the matter calling it ‘a domestic issue’ that they would soon resolve. Conflict was however made inevitable when the KPPPP, with support from Somalia, formed a military wing known as the Northern Frontier District Liberation Army (NFDLA). The army embarked on attacks on government installations in the district 2 months before independence. The first high-profile victims were two Borana leaders: The first African District Commissioner, Dabaso Wabera and tribal chief Haji Galma Dido, who were assassinated while enroute to Isiolo to urge locals not to back the secessionists. As a result, Kenyatta declared a state of emergency in the province just two weeks after independence and began to crackdown on the Shifta Insurgency.

There were two separate factions in the Shifta Insurgence. The first was active in a wide swath of territory north of Wajir and could count on the support from Ethiopian-based renegades. Membership of this faction was dominated by the Garre, Murulle, Ajuran and Degodia clans. The second faction operated South of Wajir up to Isiolo and it comprised of the Darood clan-groups.

This conflict was the first testing ground of the new Kenya Army. The 1st, 3rd and 5th Battalions of the Kenya Rifles (formerly Kings African Rifles) were no strangers to this region and were the first to be deployed.

Read all about the Shifta War here