The Shifta War or Gaf Daba (1963–1967) was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis, Muslim Borana, Sakuye, Gabbra and Rendille in the then Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya attempted to join Somalia. The Kenyan government named the conflict "shifta", after the Swahili word for "bandit", as part of a propaganda effort. The Kenyan counter-insurgency General Service Units forced civilians into "protected villages" (essentially concentration camps) as well as killing livestock kept by the pastoralist Somalis.
The war ended in 1967 when Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, Prime Minister of the Somali Republic, signed a ceasefire with Kenya at the Arusha Conference on 23 October 1967. However, the violence in Kenya deteriorated into disorganised banditry, with occasional episodes for the next several decades.
The war and violent clampdowns by the Kenyan government caused large-scale disruption to the way of life in the district, resulting in a slight shift from pastoralist and transhumant lifestyles to sedentary, urban lifestyles.
Background
The Northern Frontier District (NFD) came into being in 1925. At the time under British colonial administration, the northern half of Jubaland was ceded to Italy as a reward for the Italians' support of the Allies during World War I. Britain retained control of the southern half of the territory, which remained in the Northern Frontier District, and is the current North Eastern province in Kenya. From 1926 to 1934, the NFD, comprising the current North Eastern Province and the districts of Marsabit, Moyale and Isiolo, was closed by British colonial authorities. Movement in and out of the district was possible only through the use of passes. Despite these restrictions, pastoralism was well-suited to the arid conditions and the non-Somali residents—who represented a minority of the region's population. According to colonial authorities in 1962, the region was also inhabited by substantial groups of Boran, Gabra Galla, Orma Galla, Pokomo, "half-Somali" (to which Ajuran and Garre were counted), Rendille, El-molo, and Turkana. These groups even formed a majority in some areas of the NFD.
In 1953, anthropologist John Baxter noted that:
The Boran and the Sakuye were well-nourished and well-clothed and, though a pastoral life is always physically demanding, people led dignified and satisfying life... They had clearly been prospering for some years. In 1940, the District Commissioner commented in his Handing Over Report: "The Ewaso Boran have degenerated through wealth and soft living into an idle and cowardly set"...
On 26 June 1960, four days before granting British Somaliland independence, the British government declared that all Somali areas should be unified in one administrative region. However, after the dissolution of the former British colonies in East Africa, Britain granted administration of the Northern Frontier District to Kenya despite an informal plebiscite demonstrating the overwhelming desire of the region's population to join the newly formed Somali Republic, especially among the Somali community. In 1962, Kenya African National Union (KANU) leader Jomo Kenyatta publicly declared that the NFD's future was "a domestic affair of Kenya", and dismissed fears about militant Somali irredentism by telling Somalis in Kenya to "pack up your camels and go to Somalia". At this point, KANU was confident that any Somali uprising could be easily crushed; the party's leaders were more concerned that the British might provide support to possible separatist groups to recreate a scenario similar to Congo-Kinshasa which had become independent in 1960, only to suffer from extensive, foreign-supported separatism. KANU believed the British colonial officials to be sympathetic toward the Somalis.
Led by the Northern Province People's Progressive Party (NPPPP), many Somali, Muslim Borana, Gabra and Rendille pastoralists in the NFD vigorously sought union with the Somali Republic to the north. This was due to a shared sense of identity by the Muslim connection, as well as the perception that it would be a less controlling regime, which was important to the pastoralist way of life. The NPPPP itself sidelined other separatist groups such as the Nairobi-based "Somali Independent Union". The proposal to unite the NFD with Somalia was widely supported in northern Kenya, even though there were substantial economic and cultural differences as well as tensions within the Somali community. In the 1961 Kenyan general election, the NPPPP gained the support of most Somalis in northern Kenya. However, anti-separatist groups also existed in the NFD, for example the "Northern Province United Association" (NPUA), mainly backed by urban Borana people. Other parties like the "United Ogaden Somali Association" (UOSA) had less clear-cut aims; UOSA repeatedly shifted its political position, at times even advocating the merger of several territories in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia into an independent Greater Ogaden. A minority of Somali pan-nationalists also believed that the NFD should stay part of Kenya, achieve separation through mediation, or become independent from both Kenya and Somalia; however, these viewpoints gradually faded as political camps became increasingly polarized and the discourse more toxic. Separatists and anti-separatists engaged in aggressive rhetoric, and there was occasional communal violence.
The British, while initially including NFD delegates in independence negotiations and appearing to entertain secession, eventually reached an agreement with Kenya's first ruling party, KANU, whereby the state's territorial status quo would be maintained. The judgement of the Northern Frontier Commission of 1962 –which was supposed to examine the possibility of the NFD's separation– was thus rejected by Somali nationalists before it was even announced, as they concluded that the commission would follow the views of the Kenyan nationalists. On 22 November 1963 the British government declared that there would be "no altering Kenya's frontier without the decision of the new Kenyan Government". As the colonial government had sided with the Kenyan nationalists, it began to move against the NPPPP. Between March and May 1963, security forces arrested three NPPPP leaders and exiled them to remote areas. Later on NPPPP secretary general Degho Maalim Stamboul was also detained. The latter's father, Chief Maalim Mohammed Stamboul, would consequently play a major role in the Shifta War.
Conflict
Start of the insurgency
The conflict began in the weeks leading up to Kenya's independence, as a few hundred Somalis in the NFD took up arms. Hoping to achieve unification with Somalia through a rebellion, NPPPP supporters formed the Northern Frontier Districts Liberation Movement (NFDLM). The NFDLM was divided into two separate groups, centered around the Hawiye and the Darod clans respectively. The former faction was active between Wajir, Moyale, and Mandera, whereas the latter was led by Maalim Mohammed Stamboul and operated near Garissa and Somalia's southwestern border. Non-Somalis such as Turkana would also join the insurgents; members of these ethnic groups were mostly motivated by the fear of restrictions on their movement and lifestyle imposed by the Kenyan government. Despite the insurgents' differing background and internal divisions, they were united by their opposition to the centralism associated with Kenya. Separatists believed that Somalia would interfere less with their affairs, keeping state control weak and thus maintain the local livelihoods which were adapted to a frontier zone with weak state presence.
The province thus entered a period of running skirmishes between the Kenya Army and Somali-backed NFDLM insurgents. 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 en route to Isiolo to urge locals not to back the secessionists. The two assassins were Somali residents of Kenya who later escaped across the Somali border. In November 1963 the security situation in the NFD rapidly declined as the shifta began directly attacking police and army personnel. Kenya was granted independence on 12 December, and in response NPPPP militants staged evening attacks on northern police stations and administrative posts. These attacks led the NPPPP leadership to publicly distance itself from the shiftas, and declare that it would work toward a union with Somalia through "constitutional means". This move effectively meant that the party contributed to the delegitimization the insurgents.
Heavy rains prevented security forces from countering the initial insurgency, especially as the guerrillas enjoyed a high level of support among the NFD's civilian population during the rebellion's first year. Despite this, the Kenyan central government under Kenyatta initially did not consider the fighting in the NFD a high priority issue. Kenyatta was far more concerned a possible army mutiny or a possible coup by his rivals within KANU, and feared that the military could be politically empowered by fighting the insurgents alone. As a result, he decided to turn around in regard to the British influence in the NFD, and request assistance from the United Kingdom to deal with the rebels. Kenyatta restricted the Kenya Army's size despite the threat posed by separatists and tensions with Somalia. He also relied on the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) to combat the insurgency. Consisting of about 1,000 "shock troopers", it was trained by the British Special Air Service, mainly consisted of Kikuyu (Kenyatta's ethnic group), and considered firmly loyal to the Kenyan government.
On 28 December 1963, the Kenyan government declared a state of emergency in the North Eastern Region. This consisted of allowing security forces to detain people up to 56 days without trial, confiscating the property of communities allegedly in retaliation for acts of violence, and restricting the right to assembly and movement. A 'prohibited zone' was created along the Somali border, and the death penalty was made mandatory for unauthorised possession of firearms. "Special courts" without guarantee of due process were also created. The northeast—declared a "special district"—was subject to nearly unfettered government control, including the authority to detain, arrest or forcibly move individuals or groups, as well as confiscate possessions and land. However, as part of its effort to reassure the public, the Voice of Kenya was warned not to refer to the conflict as a "border dispute", while a special government committee decided to refer to the rebels as "shiftas" to minimise the political nature of the war. Kenyatta reinforced this portrayal by describing the rebels as mere criminals and claiming that the entire conflict was organized by citizens of Somalia without involvement of Kenyan nationals. He further alleged that of about 2,000 shiftas, only 700 were actually operating in the NFD.
Stalemate
Despite their initial successes and substantial local support, the shiftas were too weak in numbers and equipment to defeat the security forces. As a result, a stalemate developed. While the shiftas sometimes traded livestock for firearms from civilians, they were generally reliant on weapons supplied by Somalia. From 1963, Somali state support became "vital" for the insurgency. Thus, in February 1964 rebel activity increased after Somalia had received an arms shipment from the Soviet Union but it declined in March as their supplies ran out. Backed by British troops, the Kenya Army also began a major offensive in that month, though this did not prevent the rebels from staging a major offensive of their own against the town of Marsabit. At this point, half of the Kenya Army was engaged in the NFD.
One immediate consequence of the Shifta insurgency was the signing in 1964 of a Mutual Defense Treaty between Jomo Kenyatta's administration and the government of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. The outbreak of war between Ethiopia and Somalia further limited the flow of weapons to the shifta, and thus in the latter part of the year the shiftas became more embroiled in local community conflicts and engaged in typical "criminal" activity. This new phase led Kenyan intelligence personnel to create three categories of shifta violence: hit and run attacks by small bands on soft targets, larger attacks on convoys, and cattle theft by "armed tribesmen". By 1965 cattle raids had become predominant in the recorded incidents, making it difficult for Kenyan authorities to distinguish violence from local "tribal" issues with attacks related to the secessionist conflict. This impacted the rebels' popularity which diminished as the rebellion dragged on and the shiftas stole food and other supplies from civilians to keep fighting. In general, the insurgents "eked out a desperate existence", as support from Somalia reached many groups only sporadically.