Look no far; radicalism, economy tell the story of Rufiji killings

Rufiji/Kibiti. A series of killings targeting local government leaders and police in parts of the Coast Region has spawned many theories about the motive of those behind the cold-blooded murders, but investigation show it is likely that radicalization could be fueling the crisis in the region.

Area residents say it would be foolhardy to rule out religious extremism in the turn of events even as one local leader who is in hiding since his colleagues were targeted, also said politics was to blame.

The Citizen gathered in interviews with a cross section of residents that radical preachers rode on years of marginalisation and persistent harassment and injustice meted out on the population by local authorities to convert mainly young people into extremists.

Although the government has maintained what appears to be a coordinated silence on who and what could be the real motive behind the killings, investigations by this paper and the accounts of the residents and their leaders is now shading the light that can lead to the bottom of the crime that has shocked the nation.

Harassment and injustices

Majority of the people of the Rufiji, Mkuranga, Kibiti and Kilwa districts where the killings have taken place are largely poor, semi-illiterate and who mainly engage on harvesting abundant natural resources in their areas to earn a living.

Commercial charcoal production, harvesting of timber and selling of firewood and agricultural produce is their economic mainstay and employed the majority of the disadvantaged youth in the area.

And local government in these areas have put up many roadblocks manned by local militia or the police which they heavily depend on to collect levies and taxes from the forest produce.

For many years, these residents have accused the local militia, officers from the natural resources department in collaboration with the police of high-level injustices at the roadblocks by imposing unrealistic levies and confiscation of their charcoal and timber “The reason for what is going on here is these roadblocks and economic subterfuge. Nothing else. You buy your bed at say Sh80, 000 and when you get to the roadblocks they would ask for between Sh100,000 and Sh150,000 in levy and if you don’t have the money, they will retain your property and ask you to come to pay tomorrow. The next day you are told that the bed was taken to the regional office but when inquire there they will tell you they haven’t seen it or recived anything from the roadblocks,” narrated one of the residents who asked not to be named.

He continued: “We buy a 50kg bag of charcoal from the bush at between Sh2000 and Sh3000 but you cannot cross the road blocks without paying a minimum of Sh7000. That amount is unrealistic and if you don’t have cash that is the end of it.

“At these roadblock residents pay Sh25, 000 to secure a five-day permit to transport charcoal but officials of the natural resources department disown these permits at own roadblock.

“They will arrest you, seize you motorcycle and money and fine you to recover them. When you go to pay the fine and collect your properties you will find nothing,” explained the source who claimed to represent the views of the majority of the people in Rufiji and Kilwa districts.

He claimed anger and hate against the local government leaders was at unparalleled levels in recent years. “These killings have everything to do with these injustices people are subjected to and the government’s failure to stop them.

“When those affected lodge their complaints to village leaders they always find excuses and end up giving political answers,” said another source in Kibiti, adding that youth engaged in charcoal business, harvesting of timber, firewood and unhusked rice have had their livelihoods brought to its knees.

“Considering the fact that some of them have attended National Service or local militia training and they are in the village engaged in those businesses, I cannot hesitate to tell you that these killings are driven by anger for revenge against many years of the injustice.”

Asked where the suspects get the guns to kill, one of the sources quipped: “Everybody has his or her own way considering our borders are porous.”

“The youth have sold their land to start up charcoal business. With these injustices they are frustrated and they can easily be lured into ulterior motives,” he says.

Corroborative evidence

The killing, in February, of head of criminal investigations department for Kibiti District, Peter Kubezya and security guards Shani Ngamba and Peter Katundu at a check point for inspecting and collection of levies for forest produce, corroborates the accounts of the interviewed residents.

On the fateful day, three gunmen seized the check point and allowed people who were around the area to pick huge amounts of confiscated charcoal and timber before spraying bullets on the officials.

A witness said at the time the gunmen informed the people that they had come there for only one job –to let residents take a consignment of charcoal that had been confiscated to help easy life’s hardships.

It was reported that the residents cheered the gunmen as they scrambled for the charcoal. The gunmen left behind leaflets warning of more killings on claim that they were defending local people who had been marginalized in the provision of social services.

The gunmen cited that their land had been grabbed by “investors” while blocking ordinary people from benefiting from charcoal business. They reportedly left a list of local government leader on their target list. They labelled them “oppressors.”

Radicalisation?

There are signs and strong evidence to also link the insecurity and the murders to long radicalisation of the youth in the affected coastline.

Human rights institutions like the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) have recently come out to say the killings are motivated by religious extremism.

A good number of residents in the affected areas readily admitted teachings of hatred may have added impetus on the vengeful attacks on those perceived as associating with those in authority.

Abandoned mosque

At the heart of Ikwiriri, stands a small, dilapidated mosque built by waste wood where the first sparks of what was to become a massive radicalisation of the youth begun.

Radical preachers, both local and foreign, indoctrinated hundreds of local youths along the coast with extreme beliefs and instigated them against those they held different views and perspectives of the government.

Leaders of the mosque which has since been abandoned invited preachers outside the Kilwa District, from Dar es Salaam, Tanga and sometimes from outside the country.

Until January 2015 when the killings started to be reported, no one had seen the threat or danger posed by radicalisation of the younger people across the area.

The killings, thereafter, of nearly 30 people, mostly local government leaders elected on the predominant ruling CCM ticket and police officers, according to Rufiji residents, may complete the dotted lines.

At the Rufiji mosque which is only a stone’s throw away from the main police station, preachers reportedly placed powerful loud speakers to preach religious extremism and anti-government sentiments. They even claimed education is forbidden.

“They sent the radicalized youths to harass and threaten those who opposed their extreme ideologies,” said a CCM leader who spoke to The Citizen on condition of anonymity for fear of his own safety. He was in hiding during away from home.

The CCM names the deserted mosque at Ikwiriri as the source of hatred against local leaders. It is not clear why the police nearby allowed hate preaching to continue unabated