Security operation in Eastleigh after spate of killings makes residents jittery

An ongoing security operation in Eastleigh, Nairobi, that has seen the neighbourhood record a few days of a lull in criminal activity, is now raising concerns among residents.

The operation confirmed by officers who requested not to be named has been ongoing for the last two weeks, during which idle persons and suspected criminals have been arrested in swoops meant to tame runaway crime in the area.

This follows the recent killing of a mother, her daughter and niece. Hashim Dagane Muhumed, an Ethiopian suspected to be behind the killings, had been hiding in the neighbourhood for weeks before his arrest three weeks ago by homicide detectives.

"The reason for these raids is that in light of the femicide of three Somali women in Eastleigh in October this year, men gathering together at night, chewing khat (miraa) or otherwise occupying public spaces, are being detained. This is for the safety of women," a police source told The Eastleigh Voice.

The three murdered women, Waris Dahabo Daud, Amina Abdirashid and Nuseiba Abdi Mohamed were abducted in Eastleigh, killed and their bodies dumped elsewhere.

The incident angered the community which called for action and arrest of the perpetrator.

Early this month, Hashim was arrested in his hideout in Kamukunji and linked to yet another murder of an Eastleigh woman whose badly mutilated remains he dumped at the Lang'ata Cemetery.

Scores arrested

Police say the four murders and several other assault cases, some of which are yet to be reported to the police, are behind the ongoing operation that, according to sources has led to the arrests of scores of locals and foreigners who were found to be in the area without proper documents.

While security officials have declined requests to provide the numbers of those arrested and detained in addition to those deported, residents of Eastleigh’s Second Street and California, mainly members of the Oromo and Somali refugee communities, have reported that night-time raids have been taking place since Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

However, the operation began earlier.

On November 14, several young men were arrested in the swoops that locals claimed were discriminative in that they seemed to target anyone going about their business in the neighbourhood.

The source who spoke to The Eastleigh Voice, an officer stationed in Eastleigh, insisted that the rationale for these raids is in light of the killing of the three Somali women in October this year.

Ordinarily, business activities in the bustling neighbourhood do not pause in the evening, multiple shops remain open till after midnight, with some extending to morning to cater to persons coming in from different counties and attend to deliveries as hotels cater to locals winding down after a long day in their businesses.

Lately, however, men gathering together at night, chewing miraa or occupying public spaces say they are being detained.

Some members of the community around Second Street revealed that the local mosque had passed information about the raids to the community, asking people to stay off the streets after nightfall.

A boda boda rider stationed along the same street said police have been raiding the area and detaining those they arrest at Pangani Police Station where some were allegedly released after paying bribes.

Some community leaders feel that the tactic deployed by the police is that of collective punishment, similar to what was faced by the boda boda community after the Forest Road incident in March of 2022 when some boda riders assaulted a woman after a road accident involving her car and a motorbike.

Others argue that the ongoing raids seem to target communities that already face huge vulnerabilities in the country, being refugees and asylum seekers, who already are grappling with routine arbitrary arrests owing to their inability to access necessary documentation.