The question of just what happened at Wagalla Airstrip between 10 and 14 February 1984 was partially answered by the late Justus Ole Tipis in a ministerial statement about the military operation, read on the floor of parliament on the night of 12 April 1984, and reported in the Nation of April 13 1985. Ole Tipis revealed that the security situation in Wajir was politically motivated, and that leaders were involved in divisive strategies planned along ethnic considerations. He claimed that the government decided to carry out its operations against the Degodia community in order to provide security to a neighbouring clan. Ole Tipis gave an accurate account of the operations but avoided mention of the resulting genocide.
As the country debates on which way to go with regards to the 2007/2008 post-election violence, there is a strong need to consider past atrocities committed against communities that are Kenyan. A. H. Xudayi the author of Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984 takes us back to things that we need to reconsider in his article The Wagalla Massacre: what really happened
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