Taliban (gang)
{{Short description|Criminal group in Kenya}}
The Taliban is a Kenyan criminal organization that has no connection to the Afghan Taliban other than its name. They belong to the Luo tribe{{Cite web |last=Opala |first=Ken |date=2020-11-01 |title=The Politics of Crime: Kenya's gang phenomenon |url=https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-politics-of-crime-Kenyas-Gang-Phenomenon_GITOCESAObs.pdf |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=globalinitiative.net}} and feel allegiance to Luo leader and multiple Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga.{{Cite web |last=Houreld |first=Katharine |date=2008-02-01 |title=Desperate Kenyans turn to gangs for protection from ethnic violence |url=https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/nation-world/2008/02/01/desperate-kenyans-turn-to-gangs/52646284007/ |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=New Bedford Standard-Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Van Stapele |first=Naomi |title=MAISHA BORA, KWA NANI? A COOL LIFE, FOR WHOM? MEDIATIONS OF MASCULINITY, ETHNICITY, AND VIOLENCE IN A NAIROBI SLUMS in e: Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies |publisher=Koninklijke Brill N.V. |date=July 2010 |isbn=978-90-04-18541-8 |location=Leiden |pages=107 |language=en}} Their leader is Joash Oluande, a born-again Christian.{{Cite web |last=Aarhus |first=Paige |date=2012-01-09 |title=The Mungiki, the Taliban, and Me |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/4wqwzb/the-mungiki-the-taliban-and-me-0000107-v19n1 |website=Vice}} They recruit primarily from Mathare, Huruma, Baba Dogo, Kariobangi North and Kariobangi South quarters, slums of Nairobi. Their main opponents are the Mungiki of the Kikuyu tribe.
History
The Taliban emerged as an offshoot of the Baghdad Boys, the original grouping that was the Luo tribe's response to the Mungiki. The Baghdad Boys of Kisumu emerged in the early 1990s around the time of the Gulf War, which gives inference to the choice of name. They were frequently used as a militia in Kenya's first general elections after the introduction of the multiparty system, in 1992 and 1997.{{Cite web |date=2002-03-14 |title=Police target illegal gangs after Kariobangi |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/30729/kenya-police-target-illegal-gangs-after-kariobangi |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=The New Humanitarian |language=en}} The group, most recently active in the Nairobi slums of Mathare and Ruaraka,{{Cite web |title=Gangs take over Nairobi leaving trails of fear and death |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001234412/gangs-take-over-nairobi-leaving-trails-of-fear-and-death |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=The Standard}} later broke up into several factions, with Taliban being the largest and most influential. Other splinter groups include ChinaSquadNyalenda Base, Chief Squad, Nyamasaria Massive, Kenda Kenda, Kondele Baghdad for Peace, Karamojong Boys, Saba Saba, Artur Margaryan, Kebago, and American Marines.{{Cite web |last=owaahh |date=2013-05-14 |title=7 Most Dangerous Militia in Kenya's History |url=https://owaahh.com/7-most-dangerous-militia-in-kenyas-history/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Owaahh |language=en-US}}
The Taliban split from the Baghdad Boys in about 2001 in the Eastlands slums in Nairobi because Luos felt increasingly exploited and threatened by the Mungiki.{{Cite web |last=Ngunyi |first=Mutahi |date=2014 |title=From Monopoly to Oligopoly of Violence: Exploration of a Four-Point Hypothesis Regarding Organised and Organic Militia in Kenya |url=https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/ke/From-Monopoly-to-Oligopoly-Exploration-of-a-Four-Point-Hypothesis-regarding-organized-and-organic-militia-in-Kenya.pdf |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=undp.org}} The name Taliban is a Luo allusion to the way people in Afghanistan resisted American occupation by throwing stones. This is a commonality, as Luo men like to fight using stones as weapons.{{Cite journal |last=Van Stapele |first=Naomi |date=2023-09-06 |title='We are not Kenyans': extra-judicial killings, manhood and citizenship in Mathare, a Nairobi ghetto |journal=Conflict, Security & Development |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=320}}
The Taliban began as kamjeshi. In the Kenyan Sheng slang, this term refers to groups of young men who provide security at bus stops and public transportation for a fee. The Taliban had political affiliations from the beginning, but their political ties and ethnic profile became more apparent in their dispute with Mungiki over control of transportation routes.{{Cite web |last=Van Stapele |first=Naomi |date=2015 |title=Respectable 'illegality': Gangs, masculinities and belonging in a Nairobi ghetto |url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/2483042/166647_00_Introduction.pdf |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=uva.nl}}
As early as 2002, the Taliban, along with the Mungiki, were banned by the police after a battle for supremacy over public transport protection fees (Matatus), by 300 members of both gangs, in the Nairobi slum of Kariobangi, left 21 youths from both sides dead by axes and machetes.
In 2006, massive conflict between the Mungiki and Taliban erupted again when the Mungiki tried to collect a higher levy on Changaa in a slum,{{Cite web |last=Mühlbauer |first=Peter |date=2007-07-06 |title=Neuheidnische Moslems gegen christliche Taliban |url=https://www.telepolis.de/features/Neuheidnische-Moslems-gegen-christliche-Taliban-3414258.html |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Telepolis |language=de}} an area in which the Taliban are also active.{{Cite web |last1=Ehrenkranz |first1=Andrew |last2=Johnson |first2=Scott |date=2008-01-15 |title=Gangs of Nairobi |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-19242 |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=The Daily Star |language=en}} The brewers and distillers called on the Taliban for help, and excesses of violence ensued,{{Cite news |last=Gettleman |first=Jeffrey |date=2006-11-10 |title=Chased by Gang Violence, Residents Flee Kenyan Slum |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/world/africa/10kenya.html |access-date=2023-09-13 |issn=0362-4331}} in which the Taliban were also supported by the Baghdad Boys, Sakina youth, and Dallas youth.
In 2007, the confrontation between the two groups took on more political dimensions as the Taliban were allied with Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement and Mungiki were affiliated with Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity.
In the 2007 general election, the Taliban acted as a vigilante group against Kikuyu ethnic cleansing,{{Cite news |date=2007-06-08 |title=Bloody gang violence raises alarm in Kenya |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-mungiki-idUSL0872815820070608 |access-date=2023-09-13}} in which 1,500 people were murdered,{{Cite web |last=Opala |first=Ken |date=2023-03-30 |title=Criminal gangs and elections in Kenya |url=https://enactafrica.org/research/research-papers/criminal-gangs-and-elections-in-kenya |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=ENACT Africa |language=en}} including 20 people beheaded by the Mungiki. Ultimately, however, the goal for the Taliban was to take over Mungiki areas in Mathare. For example, they were able to take over illegal Changaa breweries in Bodeni, formerly Munigik territory.
Also in the 2017/2018 election period, clashes between supporters of the two camps and the police resulted in between 1,000 and 1,500 deaths.{{Cite news |date=2008-02-22 |title=Armed and dangerous |work=The New Humanitarian |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/76896/kenya-armed-and-dangerous |access-date=2023-09-06}}{{Cite web |date=2018-02-25 |title=Kenya: Fresh Evidence of Election-Period Abuses |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/26/kenya-fresh-evidence-election-period-abuses |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2017-10-26 |title=Election leaves western Kenya angry and bitter |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2017/10/26/election-leaves-western-kenya-angry-and-bitter |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=The New Humanitarian}} A similar, albeit weakened, picture emerged in the August 2022 presidential elections.{{Cite web |last=Opala |first=Ken |date=2023-04-24 |title=Muted violence in Kenya's 2022 elections masked seething dissent |url=https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/muted-violence-in-kenyas-2022-elections-masked-seething-dissent |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=ENACT Africa |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Growing number of political gangs in Kenya spark election concerns |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-in-the-news/growing-numbers-of-political-gangs-kenya-spark-election-concerns/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=ISD |language=en-GB}}
Sources of revenue
The Taliban's main sources of income are changaa trading, protection rackets, especially with public transport operators, specifically matatus, selling stolen electricity, mobilizing people to attend political rallies, settling disputes, providing water, armed robbery, drug trafficking, vehicle theft and trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, money laundering, theft of antiques, livestock theft, money collection for landlords,{{Cite web |last=Ombati |first=Cyrus |title=Ransom gangs hit Nairobi, says National Crime Research Centre report |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000092752/ransom-gangs-hit-nairobi-says-national-crime-research-centre-report |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=The Standard |language=en}} fees for toilet use,{{Cite web |last=Redaktionen |date=2006-11-08 |title=Bandekrig i Nairobi {{!}} Globalnyt |url=https://globalnyt.dk/bandekrig-i-nairobi/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=globalnyt.dk |language=da-DK}} control of municipal dumps,{{Cite web |last=Muindi |first=Kanyiva |date=2016-12-01 |title=Conflict and Crime in municipal solid waste management: evidence from Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya Working Paper #13 |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a02de12ed915d0adcdf467a/Conflict_and_Crime_in_municipal_solid_waste_management_Final_1_.pdf |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/}} and informal security services.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-14 |title=The city under siege? How criminal gangs have spread out in Nairobi as polls nears |url=https://shahidinews.co.ke/2021/04/14/the-city-under-siege-how-criminal-gangs-have-spread-out-in-nairobi-as-polls-nears/ |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=Shahidi News}} Women are employed for espionage and storage of stolen loot, drug trafficking, and sexual services.
Self-Image
The Taliban form alliances with gangs ( People's Liberation Army and the Group of 41) of the Kalendjin tribe, which includes President Wiliam Ruto, who was elected in 2022.
The Taliban see themselves as serving the Luo people, administering justice and protecting them in the event of Mungiki attacks. They are notorious for their public executions, in which the guilty is stoned until he can no longer walk and then burned alive.
Taliban weapons include slingshots and machetes.