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Kenya: Rights Activist Pushes for UN Action
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INTERVIEW
12 February 2008
Posted to the web 12 February 2008
Katy Gabel, Brian Kennedy and Katie Wyly
The chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Maina Kiai, has been one of the country's leading independent voices since the beginning of the crisis sparked by Kenya's disputed presidential election of December 27.
Last week, Kiai was in Washington, DC, where he appeared before the Africa subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives. In a wide-ranging interview with Katy Gabel, Brian Kennedy and intern Katie Wyly of AllAfrica's Washington office, he discussed the human rights situation, the connection between violence and negotiations, and the need for a long-term solution. Excerpts:
The international media has largely described the current crisis as an ethnic conflict. Is this accurate?
What's going on in Kenya is a political crisis with ethnic expression. It's not an ethnic crisis. It's triggered by political issues. It's important in analyzing and reporting this that we get it right, because there is a sense oftentimes in Africa that our conflicts are ethnic, that they are raw, atavistic, primal things that happen. That people wake up and say, "I don't like that community – let me go and kill them."
The reasons for them [conflicts] are political. The reasons for them are that peaceful means for resolving our differences have been closed down, so people become violent and express that violence in an ethnic way because our politics is ethnic. That's very important to emphasize.
How important is it to find a solution quickly?
This issue will not go away quickly. It's a serious issue. It's a big crisis for Kenya. I need to emphasize that calm is not peace. To the international community especially: do not be fooled if there is calm. If we don't deal with this now, we will have it far worse when it blows up again, because it will blow up.
This crisis was not unforeseeable. In a meeting three years ago, we discussed this. There was a project in Kenya in 2000 by leading NGO thinkers and civil society that came up with a group of scenarios [for the elections] and this scenario was part of it – exactly what happened. If you don't deal with political crises, economic issues – we will come back to it.
We need to appreciate that the longer we delay, the worse it gets. In the one month of this crisis, we've had 1,000 people dead. Between 1992 and 1998, during the politically-instigated clashes, we had 3,000 dead. In that six-year period, we had 250,000 people internally displaced. That's the number we have now after one month.
If we keep things calm and we think it's gone without dealing with them, this thing will come back to haunt us in a real, serious way, and it will be worse than what we have seen now.
Recent reports indicate that that negotiations are making progress. What is your evaluation so far and what do you think is needed for them to succeed?
Now it seems like some progress was made - to get people to sit down was a good sign - but I think the denial of, or rejection if you wish of Cyril Ramaphosa [a South African constitutional negotiator], was not a good sign… [The] analysis so far is that the government wants to delay and delay the process as much as they can. The more time it takes, the worse it will be for us at the end of it all.
What is the relationship between the violence and the negotiations for a political settlement?
Well the violence seems to have cooled off generally speaking and that is my view a reaction to… giving the negotiations a chance to succeed. What we have seen through the process of the last month is the violence very much seems to be linked up to the negotiations. If there is progress or [people] think there's progress, [if there are] perceptions that maybe it is moving somewhere, you see a dying-down of violence.
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Describe the violence, especially in the Rift Valley, since the election.
We have documented in a sense four different types of violence. One was the spontaneous violence following the result, which was anarchical - lots of deaths, lots of looting, rapes, and burning. That's gone, in a sense. But the second form is the militia activity, on both sides. First of all in the Rift Valley in Eldoret, and clearly linked to political reasons, and you are seeing that cooling off because there is a sense, let's give a chance to the mediation and the talks. And then there is the violence that came from the pro-government side, which had militias, and that is linked again to the government so we'll wait and see whether that is going to blow over. And the last one is self-defense units. So I think the violence seems [to have cooled], but we shouldn't assume that it has petered out or calmed down, [or] that calm is the same as peace. I think a lot will depend on the negotiations.
The images coming out of the Rift Valley in recent days remind a lot people of the 1990s, when the area experienced some terrible violence. How important are the clashes of the 1990s to the situation today?
My comment is going to be short. I do not know Mr M. Kiai and and I do not know his background. However when I read this interview, I can see that Mr Kiai is more a politician than a human rights activist. It is understandable that human rights activists need to understand political arrangements and the balance of power in place so that they can make sure these two are not hindering citizens from exercising their rights.
However Mr. Kiai is more a political player on the side of the opposition. I can not... [Read Full Text]
Well now, don’t be shy, say it as it is.. Any critique of the Government and you are immediately a member of the opposition. NO, this interview clearly states there are actually more than 2 sides to this so don’t try to make it into something it isn’t.-----Quote.. “The reasons for them [conflicts] are political. The reasons for them are that peaceful means for resolving our differences have been closed down, so people become violent and express that violence in an ethnic way because our politics is ethnic. That's very important to emphasize.”------ I just appreciate that there are... [Read Full Text]
Mr. Kiai does not care about human right, he is more interested in being interviewd by foreign journalist to promote his politicak angle. When people were being killed in the Rift Valley, he could not resist daily in runnung in the front of TV to talk about stolen election without advocating peace or discussing the plight of people being massacred. As a Canadian who was in Kenya during the election, I was ashamed of Mr. Kiai to be a representaitve of human right.
Tina, Vancouver, Canada
Maina Kiai is very right, this is a political problem. When someone says he/she does not know maina kiai then i think he/she has no knowledge of what has been happening in kenya. As a kenya am suprised at politicians like Martha Karua and all who said they were fighting for freedom for Kenyans. To them as long as they are in goverment these freedoms do not matter. There are still few good people like Prof. wangare Maathai who despite their ethnic affiliations have remained nationalists. Maina Kiai who despite being from kikuyu tribe has also remained neutral and... [Read Full Text]
Musinga, please pray to God to open your eyes to the reality, do not be like an ostrich (like Kibaki and his cronies are) who buries his head in the sand with a hope that the body is not being seen. First of all you said you were going to be short, but you were too long. That is lying to yourself and us, and from that you kind of mixed up your issues. Maina Kiai is like a prohet rejected by his own people. This man is telling the truth the way it should be told. I have not... [Read Full Text]
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