National Post (National Edition)
I DREAMED OF AFRICA AUTHOR SHOT
KUKI GALLMANN STABLE AFTER SURGERY
WE REMAIN POSITIVE THAT THIS WAVE OF TERROR AND MAYHEM WILL PASS ONCE ELECTIONS AND THE RAINS HAVE COME AND THAT THE GOVERNMENT ARE DOING WHAT THEY CAN TO RESTORE LAW AND ORDER ONE STEP AT A TIME. — SVEVA MAKENA, GALLMAN’S DAUGHTER
In March, the bestselling author of I Dreamed of Africa — which became a movie by the same name starring Kim Basinger — narrowly escaped being shot by cattle herders who had burned down her luxury lodge.
On Saturday, Kuki Gallmann was not so lucky as she was shot in the stomach while patrolling her ranch in Kenya’s troubled Laikipia region.
The Italian-born conservationist, 73, had been with rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service, assessing other damage done to her property by arsonists, said Laikipia Farmers Association chairman Martin Evans.
After the attack, the rangers transported her to a location where she could be airlifted to Nanyuki town, Evans said. British Army medics attended to her before she was airlifted to the capital, Nairobi, where she underwent surgery, he said.
She was in a “stable condition” on Sunday evening, said her daughter, Sveva Makena.
Makena said earlier this month that the Laikipia region — where former British army officer and lodge owner Tristan Voorspuy, 61, was shot dead by herdsmen on March 5 — was under pressure from “noxious politics and drought.”
Twenty-six-year-old Makena was with her mother in March when both women were targeted by the cattle herders who had burned down their lodge, which was frequented mainly by European tourists, at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
“We remain positive that this wave of terror and mayhem will pass once elections and the rains have come and that the government are doing what they can to restore law and order one step at a time,” Makena said.
Nomadic cattle herders have been carrying out raids against Kenya’s wildlife conservancies and private farms in the drought-stricken region, which is near the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton in 2010.
The Laikipia region, which is spread over around 10,000 square kilometres, is a base for many of Kenya’s wealthiest landowners.
The Gallmann family, which owns the 400-squarekilometre Laikipia Nature Conservancy, employs around 250 Kenyans.
But the area has become increasingly dangerous in recent months due largely to a drought that is causing herders to look for new pastures.
The attack on Gallmann’s lodge was believed to be a reprisal after Kenya security forces shot dead cattle that belonged to the herders days before.
The Kenyan government sent forces into the area after the murder of Voorspuy, leading to skirmishes that have left dozens of herdsmen dead and thousands of locals displaced in the violence.
Hundreds of herders have been arrested this year, according to police.
Gallmann said in March that the attack on her property, which was now being guarded by Kenyan troops, had nothing to do with grazing land.
“We have grazing land for the community in our northeastern corner but they are coming from all over the place,” she said. The herders had been killing wild animals like elephant and giraffe indiscriminately, she said.
Landowners in the area blame the violence on local politicians who have been using racially charged language and inciting locals to herd their cattle onto privately owned land as a way of boosting their popularity ahead of an election scheduled for August.
Evans said the attacks were being propagated by a “handful of inciters.”
“For months, these criminals have been rampaging around with their illegal weapons, destroying lives and livelihoods,” he said.
“It is said that law-enforcement officers have been subjected to the same wanton attacks as civilians while attempting to carry out their duties.”
Earlier in March, the MP for Laikipia North, Matthew Lempurkel, was arrested in Nairobi for inciting the murder of Voorspuy, who was shot dead by herdsman after travelling by horse to inspect two of his cottages that had been set on fire.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta condemned the shooting of Gallmann, warning politicians in the area not to inflame temperatures through “reckless rhetoric.”
“Politicians encouraging invasions of privately owned property or attacks on individuals can expect strong deterrent action in terms of the law,” he said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
Many of the ranches, some of which double as wildlife conservancies, were acquired during the period of British colonial rule, some as early as 1900, according to a government report. Others were purchased after Kenya became independent in 1963.
Many of the farmers’ association members are in the tourism business, Evans said.
“Though times are very tough for those properties affected by the invasions, the extent of the troubles are restricted to parts of north and west Laikipia,” he said. “These events do not affect other parts of Kenya which remain safe to visit.”