Kenneth Ogosia
29 June 2009
Nairobi — An international human rights organisation has stepped up demands for the resignation and dismissal of top security officials who sanctioned military operations in Kenya's North Eastern Province last year.
The demands for the implementation of UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston's report and a further dismissal of a Provincial Commissioner, Provincial Police Officer and an army Major based in NEP was on Monday made by the US based Human Rights Watch for what it termed as bringing to book those committing crimes against humanity.
In a report released in Nairobi by the HRW Executive Director Mr Kenneth Roth before local and international press, Kenyan security forces were accused of beating and torturing hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya's northeastern Mandera districts.
The report comes in the wake of similar demands and accusations by UN special rapporteur on extra judicial killings.
The HRW particularly added on the list of those to be sacked as North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Mr Josephat Maingi, Provincial Police Officer Stephen Chelimo and the commanding officer of the seven Kenya Rifles regiment a Major Wambua.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, visited Kenya in February and found that the police "kill often and with impunity."
Both reports made extensive recommendations for police reform and accountability, including replacing the police commissioner and the Attorney General.
The special rapporteur also called for the dismissal of the police commissioner and attorney general on the grounds that both officials are directly responsible for the climate of impunity that surrounds these serious abuses.
In May, President Mwai Kibaki announced a national task force to put police reforms on a fast track, and the government agreed on the need for such reforms at the UN Human Rights Council in June.
HRW called on Kibaki to make it an urgent priority to carry out recommendations of the Waki Commission and the UN special rapporteur, and to prosecute police and military commanders responsible for serious crimes in Mandera, Mount Elgon, and elsewhere.
"Kenya needs to make absolutely clear to security forces that they will be held accountable for serious abuses," said Roth.
"Some men had their genitals pulled with pliers, tied with wire or beaten senselessly as a method of torture designed to make them confess and turn over guns," the report said in part.
Families organised themselves, recovered some weapons from the bush and purchased others from Somalia in order to hand them over to the police and army to reclaim their identity cards.
The 51-page report titled "'Bring the Gun or You'll Die': Torture, Rape, and Other Serious Human Rights Violations by Kenyan Security Forces in the Mandera Triangle, it gives details of the rampant abuses during the operation and provides accounts of the events in four of the 10 communities that were targeted.
Human Rights Watch indicates that security forces tortured scores of men, wounded at least 1,200 people, including one man who died from his injuries, and raped at least a dozen women over the course of the three-day operation.
"Instead of protecting Mandera's residents, the military and police systematically beat and tortured them," said Mr Roth.
"The right way to start is to conduct independent inquiries into these brutal operations in Mandera and elsewhere, and to remove the police commissioner and attorney general."
HRW called on the Kenyan government to establish an independent inquiry without further delay to investigate and then prosecute those responsible.
He added: "Unless the behaviour of the security forces changes, and perpetrators and especially commanders are held to account, all the government talk about police reform is meaningless."
The security operation by a joint force of military and police personnel, ostensibly to disarm local militias, took place from October 25 to 28, 2008, in towns and villages in Mandera East and Central districts.
The operation followed deadly clashes between the local Garre and Murulle clans, which had killed 21 people in July and August.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
