|
|
Kenya: Rights Group Seeks Evidence On Killings
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
26 January 2008
Posted to the web 25 January 2008
Nairobi
Human rights groups are casting the eye on post-election violence with attention shifting to gathering evidence that could help nail its perpetrators.
Top on the priority will be determining if the violence was spontaneous or pre-planned.
There will also be attempts to unravel the mystery of whether it was ethnic cleansing or genocide and funding.
On Friday, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which was created through an Act of Parliament, said it is gathering evidence. The commission revealed it has enlisted the assistance of high-level investigators from an international body based in Italy. The organisation known as 'No Peace Without Justice' has provided similar expertise in the Sierra Leone and Kosovo conflicts.
Ms Winfred Lichuma, a commissioner with KNCHR, said the purpose of the investigation is to find out what happened and who is responsible for the human rights violations.
"The investigation will seek to establish where alleged 'ethnic cleansing' took place, who incited this, planned, funded and directed the actions. Where security agents used excessive force we shall seek to know under whose direct command they executed the instructions," Lichuma said.
Lichuma said core to the investigations is the need to create a database of evidence that will be used to prosecute those found guilty of human rights violations.
"The primary purpose of the documentation and investigation is to find out what happened, why the violations occurred, who is responsible and what can be done to deal with the persons responsible," she said.
The report from the investigations will be made public in two months.
The commission's vice-chairperson, Ms Florence Jaoko said information from the investigations would establish the basis for further interrogation and action by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The killings and displacement, now estimated at 700 and 350,000, have also caught the attention of the international press and rights groups.
The Human Rights Watch on Thursday posted on its website its findings on violence in Rift Valley in which the finger of culpability pointed at local elders, against whom it said it has gathered evidence.
"Some opposition leaders are right to challenge rigged presidential poll, but they cann't use it as an excuse for targeting ethnic groups," said Mr Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"We have evidence that politicians and local leaders fomented some post-election violence, and the authorities should investigate and make sure it stops now."
But on Friday Orange Democratic Movement leader Mr Raila Odinga, whose side is disputing Electoral Commission's declaration of President Kibaki as the winner, said ODM was clean.
"It is a misplacement and a misconception to blame the violence, which broke out in many parts of the country on an individual or one party. We have always preached peace," he said in reaction to a new report on the violence in the Rift Valley.
The Kenyan police are already investigating responsibility for the violence in the Rift Valley, but its forces are overstretched by the nationwide electoral crisis. In the light of apparent plans by some groups to attack camps for internally displaced persons, Human Rights Watch called on the police to ensure that all locations of displaced people are protected.
State and opposition blamed
The Monday issue of the New York Times ran a story that blamed the Government and the opposition for the violence.
"At first the violence seemed as spontaneous as it was shocking.... But a closer look at what has unfolded in the past three weeks, since a deeply flawed election plunged Kenya into chaos, shows that some of the bloodletting that has left more than 700 people dead may have been premeditated and organised.
"Leaflets calling for ethnic killings mysteriously appeared before the voting. Politicians with both the Government and opposition parties gave speeches that stoked long-standing hatred among ethnic groups. And local tribal chiefs held meetings to plot attacks on rivals, according to some of them and their followers," reported the American paper.
|
"What is not clear is if there were a systematic plan to start a nationwide ethnic war, and whether high-level political leaders played a role beyond possibly inciting violence through hate speech," concluded the writer.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
