Kenya army accused...

 

Kenya army accused of torture

DANIEL WALLIS | NAIROBI, KENYA - Jun 17 2008 10:00

Kenyan troops fighting rebels in a remote area are killing and torturing civilians in a conflict that has worsened sharply this year but has barely been noticed by the outside world, a medical charity said on Tuesday.

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said an offensive against rebels in the remote Mount Elgon region that began in March had been accompanied by a steep rise in violence against civilians already traumatised by months of fighting.

"In particular, indiscriminate violence is being used against local men, including systematic torture and extra-judicial killings, which has reinforced their fear and terror," it said in a report.

"MSF's medical teams in Mount Elgon have witnessed and treated the injuries," it added.

Local activists have also accused soldiers of torturing thousands of people as they hunt the illegal Sabaot Defence Land Force (SDLF) in caves, forests and hamlets across the long-troubled area bordering Uganda.

The security forces have denied any wrongdoing. Last week, the defence minister and top military officials met a parliamentary committee to deny the allegations in private.

The violence predates the turmoil that followed December's disputed election, but shares many of its root causes -- land disputes, ethnic rivalries and the neglect of outlying areas.

About 600 people have died and 60 000 have been displaced since the SDLF took up arms in mid-2006 to fight for territory it says was stolen from the local Soy community.

Caught in the middle
During operations, MSF said, the army sealed off whole villages before taking men to screening camps, where many reported being humiliated and tortured.

 

"Most men tell how their testicles were pulled or beaten, and how they now fear infertility," the report said. "In some places, up to 50% say they can no longer have erections."

Women reported being gang-raped by soldiers.

But locals also accused the SDLF -- locally dubbed the Janjaweed after Darfur's rebels -- of widespread abuses.

One woman told MSF the militiamen began demanding taxes and extracting "fines" from her village in April 2006. "Gradually they were more brutal. They took five or more people a day and killed them in the mountains, even young children," she said.

"If they saw a man drunk in the street, that meant the man had money so he had to pay an immediate fine. If you didn't have the money, your ear was chopped off. If you resisted, it was your neck."

When her brother-in-law fought back, he was decapitated and his body dumped in a pit latrine, she said.

"Both Kenyan authorities and the international community remain in denial or have chosen to ignore the crisis," MSF said. "The sole response given by the Kenyan authorities up to now has been more violence." -- Reuters

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Enn af ástandinu í Kenya! Morðum haldið áfram!

Ákvað að birta hér bréf sem ég rakst á í gær.  Í Fréttablaðinu í dag er frétt um rannsókn sem gerð var í Kenya á dauða fólks.  Flóttamenn sem eru enn í Uganda frá Kenya eru um 12000.  Þau treysta sér ekki heim vegna ástandsins.  Enn er lögreglan að myrða fólk, einsog bréfið ber með sér.

 

Kenya: Executions By Police Must Stop Forthwith

 

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The Nation (Nairobi)

EDITORIAL
11 July 2008
Posted to the web 11 July 2008

Nairobi

Civilisation is built largely on a set of rules, which include the Constitution, statute law and the justice system.

Criminals who break the law are supposed to be punished in accordance with the methods spelt out in the laws.

 

When the State itself breaks those laws in the effort to punish criminals, then the State is itself guilty of criminal wrongdoing.

More than that, it is guilty of flouting the very basic tents of civilisation it is sworn to observe, uphold and protect. It is when the State itself starts to ignore and to break the law that the seeds are sown for the descent into anarchy.

It is in this context that the recent arrest and killing of an unknown young man, Peter Maina Wachira, must be viewed.

Wachira, alongside three others, was arrested by police on June 30. His arrest was recorded by newspaper and television cameras, which clearly showed him being handcuffed by uniformed officers.

Less than 24 hours after the arrest, his body and two others were delivered at the Nairobi City Mortuary by police officers. They were booked in as those of "unknown persons" found by a roadside in Ngong.

It has become routine for police to deny that they are carrying out extra-judicial executions, but there should be no escaping this one.

The Administration Police who made the arrest, and the regular police must own up immediately to murder most foul and ensure that the officers responsible are arrested and made to face the law.

There must also be an urgent review of operational procedures so that any policies which allow for such murders are removed.

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East Africa
Crime and Corruption
Human Rights
Kenya
Legal and Judicial Affairs

 

 

Mr Wachira may have been, as suspected, a member of Mungiki, a murderous criminal gang that respects no laws. He still deserved to be judged according to the law.

He may also have been an innocent and hard-working matatu driver, killed by the police on mere suspicion, or in a personal vendetta.

The Attorney-General must immediately take up this case and direct a thorough and impartial investigation, if necessary by an independent agency