Shoot to Kill: VICE Investigates the Kenya Wildlife Service

Lokhande last year check $1 for two an avenue Kyoko Pooja it is not belief we can demonstrate that the government is actively suppressing information that will lead to the capture of government office acid do you think that there is a culture of impunity that exists within the Kenya Wildlife Service I'm not answering your question I'm asking if the Kenya watch out where this will investigate I've had enough of use of piss off [Music] [Music] we're never be nice to bug we're bout to see what a hundred bucks of ivory looks like this is history's largest over ivory burn organized by the Kenya Wildlife Service to usher in an end to the lucrative global trade it's the work of Kenyan born conservationist dr. Richard Leakey who's done more than anyone to preserve the nation's wildlife ivory traded legally will encourage the illegal trade his return to chair the kws after a 20-year hiatus and his global influence has attracted the attention of the world celebrities including Liz Hurley are here along with US ambassador Bob Kodak and the former Deputy Secretary of State had the Higginbottom this is a pretty insane spectacle for an environmental organization 105 tons of ivory up in flames and that smell is accurate it's a powerful statement to the watching media the century with hundreds of press in attendance this is the public face of the kws which patrols Kenya's national parks to protect its elephants and rhinos and does so with the support of the West but none of those invited to attend to possibly know the hundreds of miles away beyond the spectacle innocent people are allegedly being killed by the Kenya Wildlife Service [Music] I was born in conservation we could see 500 or 400 alphas just roaming close by [Music] around races for air because I've been wet shall win this war [Music] we're on patrol with Kenya Wildlife Service Rangers and we're hoping to catch a small glimpse of what it means to be in a war on poaching it's a difficult and dangerous job between two or three ranges are killed by poachers each year and if they see a suspect they're authorized to use lethal force in cases whereby you come across indicators that is poaching of likely poaching or sampled with a gun and we don't know your business I think you will be in for it you'll be killed I'd say we can get more customers [Music] since 1989 the Kenya Wildlife Service has had a shoot-to-kill policy Rangers trained by the British and US military are authorized to kill armed poachers who set foot inside its national parks it's controversial but it's been effective and they're backed by dozens of Western NGOs and partners but the kws sometimes strays outside of the parks and into neighboring roads and villages they claim these communities are harboring poachers they have no powers to kill here but the villagers believe they're behind dozens of mysterious abductions and disappearances and many of the victims they say are completely innocent dr. Leakey implemented the shoot-to-kill policy in 1989 dr. Richard Leakey doesn't mind being called the ranbir the conservationist as long as it scares off the poachers and with his return the community's hoped he would bring the Rangers under control why have you decided to return I came back with an intent to clean house and I was brought back to do just that the president of Kenya asked me to serve as chairman for three years and to use my influence and experience and connections to try and put the thing back on his feet and I think it's rapidly getting on to its feet what qualities do you think are necessary to be the leader of the organization I think you need strong leadership you need impeccable integrity you cannot have a skeleton in your cupboard in terms of mismanagement or financial impunity but two weeks after Leakey's appointment in May 2015 eyewitnesses accused kws Rangers of picking up three men traveling on a road outside marine National Park they were never seen again and for the communities this was the last straw they decided to stage a protest to draw a leak his attention to the disappearances but it didn't end peacefully a local official told us what happened next look when you last year tearing of cumin a nanny Razia tan who know a vagina will tune election gradually could you hypo or let her Mali happen long bamboo see now Cano a vagina about you can Amanda manually coup de Vaca half oh I love what Jack a devil is for Q and a blue key worker Kuja I was shoot a bigger a vagina never look quirky Jana Maria now could even vagina community they will even be limited some work a Kasai upon our vision and behold upon this link he was short and he was lying on bed and his lady this one salad was shortened in the right leg yeah and also a dizzy man was shot here good shot here was there any warning before they started they didn't give us any warning they start shooting up afterward and the aeroplane came down it's like giving them orders then they fired at us we ran but they are firing still people from the West from America from England think that the kws is a good organization it protects the animals well call a policing by Haji Ali Ali Messiah on H attack coordination I'm a communication from the Leakey the kws said it was present at the demo but denied shooting into the crowd making the situation unclear but we found a police officer who is called to the scene and he backed up the claims of the protesters he didn't want to be identified for fear of reprisals 5270 so that suggests that they were just spraying automatically it was it was you see it was late from the look of the things they were it was just like it was amended this internet you see over the side can you think of any operational reason why the Kenya Wildlife Service would fire an automatic assault rifle obviously did you find any spent cartridges on the other side did you find any signs at all that they were armed on the other side and so if it was the Kenya Wildlife Service firing into an unarmed crowd as as they've told us that would not be a proportionate response the 18 year old who was killed was Mohammad Abdu bird uber a cattle herder and one of several bystanders caught in the shooting along with three of his animals we spoke to his father Yana now I can only join the bank is going to say Lauren Armand Assante ofany a convenience a collaborative revenue [Music] the longer we stayed in kenner the more people came forward with their stories of injury and abduction they want compensation so they can pay their hospital bills but the kws has consistently denied involvement and to date no ranger who stood trial for the protest shooting [Music] a few weeks after the protest one of the organizers Mohammed Sheikh Abdullah he became the next man to be allegedly abducted we're in SEO lo to meet died yusuf a local kenyan journalist who's been investigating disappearances in the region hey dad could you give us a little background about Mohammed's disappearance according to the family who were traveling from middle heading seno then when they were followed by a vehicle they suspected and then Mohammed conferred with the system with his wife and brother that we're being followed I stopped the mother the wife said yes he stopped and then he was taken out of their car bundled into another vehicle but before then he told his wife that if I disappear the puzzles were taking me a kws since then the family have tried to go to cut find justice in different levels of the government but that has not been a guess why do you think it was the Kenya Wildlife Service who took Muhammad why Minister sekiya if one was thinking what if this yeah she was only forty station you it was a lonely okay that leaves come do you believe he may still be alive somewhere is not a project to just a businessman Muhammad's family took the kws to court over his disappearance but the kws denied all involvement and the case stalled we quickly realized that despite dozens of accusations disappearance cases rarely made it to court and convictions were unheard of we wanted to know why so we went to meet the family's lawyer police initially cooperated fully with the family we had information from Criminal Investigations Department in Moroni zero that Mohammed was last seen with known kws officers the last telephone contacts twist them together that information was undisputed so you have evidence obtained from the police that clearly shows that the Kenya Wildlife Service was responsible for the scepter beyond out including the neighborhood kws officer when we provided that information in court this Safari the court order Safaricom to come and bring that information following that is the point at which now Caleb Lewis denied you believe the government is actively obstructing the production of crucial data that would link the kws believe it is not belief we can demonstrate that the government is actively suppressing provision of information that will lead to the capture of government offices involved in murderous activities and why do you believe in the government want to suppress this information it will expose the extent of the disappearances we do not wish to provide that information because it will open a Pandora's box [Music] frustrated by the lack of justice Muhammad's brother Arden and his wife Mulkey decided to show us the spot where Mohammed was abducted there were several kilometers outside the National Park when it happened and they wanted us to understand what they've been through [Music] they'll talk us to do you talk I sell open water that's a Muhammad Ali ungalik was said miracle on the Kuna Gary Nanak Ibiza sonica ma become okuno Godinho cooking business with Zimmerman bassy Muhammad Ali prophet a man a non-work as mama shaker have to happen the kike initial millon de la escena born at the Agora heap in the corner Muhammad when as a Quaker bingo Nicole is emoticon in una chica a mutant Erica be more vocal Amanda to Netaji come above the satin aluminum gets eaten in patio Canada to Kentucky to attack a la main work of pocket wah-wah logicoma Wallen [Music] when we saku-dono can become a c-collar Kenya and at what aluminum sanandana in boyega remember to deny the katana nyla Halima Liam it what happened and evocative music epic ammo hula Mikasa Atika moonship wanna you too Pelican Mahalo stay in a circle echo rajapalayam due to an attacker what were chastity para para security Calvo War era want me to coach achromatic a Latina me what embossing was riveted a metal not to join Mohammed [Music] as word of our investigation spread we were soon receiving calls from all over Kenya alleging more crimes committed by the kws with crazy situation we're finding ourselves in we're getting phone calls from MPs from senior officials in the communities around Mero National Park around SEO low who are all saying that it's not just Kenner it's it's many communities all over the place that many people are being disappeared they're being maimed are being tortured and they're all saying the same thing to us that the Kenya Wildlife Service is committing these crimes and it's not being brought to both it's a last day in Nairobi and we're heading back to Richard Leakey's office to ask him about the abuses allegedly committed by the kws we travelled to some of the communities around Mary National Park that are alleged to have been involved in poaching what we found were people who said that they had been intimidated in some cases tortured and disappeared by the Kenya Wildlife Service are you familiar with those accusations well yes I've heard their stories and I think a number of people on the Calvinist side were picked up and indicted for that and I certainly as chairman would not allow that to happen the Kenya Wildlife Service has always denied the accusations do you mean to say that you believe that they have been involved in disappearances fact is that men with weapons who are feeling very frustrated because they can't get caught convictions and they can't get this and they can't you then sometimes foolishly immorally wrongly take the law into their own hands and that should never happen but it has happened and I'm sure it will happen again but we want to make sure it happens less and less as we go forward some of the incidents have happened while you've been challenged some of them as recent as May and June last year don't you feel accountable for well I feel I feel accountable of the Kenya Wildlife Service but I think there has already been an investigation I don't think the results were sufficiently conclusive I don't think it was handled properly last me the director who was in the office at that time did go on me to talk a lot of people and I understand that the conclusion was not satisfactory that directors never works Russell but you have the power and the authority to reinstate a new director-general so you have the authority to ensure that these investigations are properly conducted no I don't have the power I'm not an executive chairman I'm chairman of the board the executive function lies solely with the director general and his staff and ministry Chairman's of boards don't have hands on responsibility for incidents of that kind and the only thing you could do they make absolutely certain a the training is improved to the vigilance is sustained and three if you find incidents of this kind you jump on it pretty hard and and you make it absolutely clear that sort of behavior is unacceptable is this a priority for the Director General and stuff well I think it's one of many priorities my friend how long have you known about the alleged human rights violations oh ah has he been in my mind every day since I became chairman no but as soon as I learned about it I insisted the director up and deal with it but I was not given a report that was satisfactory in terms of being a conclusion it was confirmed that there had been these allegations it was confirmed that people had acted inappropriately but more than that I have no personal knowledge do you think it's hypocritical to stage an event that glorifies the work of the kws when you know what's going on behind closed doors I think that's a typically um sensational media question if you were suggesting that we shouldn't have tried to stop the ivory trade where people do get killed and violations do occur because we're still worrying about an incident that happened before my watch you know about chopping cheese I don't agree with your point that it's sensational because in kenner alone we've heard from testimony that suggests that a pair as many as 14 disappearances from surrounding communities the message is the same do you think that there is a culture of impunity that exists within the Kenya Wildlife Service no no I don't think there's a culture of impunity whatsoever has there been in the past further than what's changed I've come back as chairman and I have a new director general who you say has no special provision stop the discussion now I've had enough of use of piss off you told us that mr. Leakey you told us when we lost came here that you were a man of integrity I'm not - you told us that the leader of AWS needs to be a man of integrity here for sensational you know I'm not answering your question I'm asking if the Kenya Wildlife Service will investigate is over is there a human price to pay for animal conservation across the history is that an acceptable price to pay do you believe that's an acceptable price to pay miss bleakness [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: VICE

Views: 483,754

Rating: 4.624558 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, interview, interviews, culture, wild, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, funny, vice guide, vice presents, vice news, vbs.tv, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, reports, VICE REPORTS, BEN BRYANT, KWS, Ivory, ivory trade, Kenya, shoot on sight, Conservation, richard leakey, kinna, Meru, meru national park, Elephant, rhino, kenya wildlife service, poaching, poachers, ivory burn, africa, south africa

Id: HtPEhvkYKRk

Length: 21min 59sec (1319 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 10 2017