Post-election killings in Kenya must stop
7 January 2008, 11:58AM
© AFP
The increasing number of politically-motivated killings of civilians, by groups of armed youths in different parts of Kenya, is something we strongly condemn. We are also particularly worried about the developing ethnic-related nature of the violence.
We are calling on the Kenyan government and political party leaders to take all possible measures to ensure an immediate halt to the violence and to commit themselves publicly to the respect and protection of the human rights of all citizens.
"Political leaders must not explicitly or implicitly condone violence against supposed supporters of their rivals," says Erwin van der Borght, director of our Africa program.
We are also concerned at continuing reports of killings by police. One person was reportedly shot dead today during skirmishes between police and demonstrators in Mombasa. Earlier on 31 December, we criticised killings of anti-government demonstrators as a result of excessive use of force by police.
To date, over 300 people are reported to have been killed in the violence prompted by the disputed presidential election result, including over 30 people - mostly women and children fleeing from armed youths - who were deliberately burned to death after they sought refuge in a church in Eldoret town in the Rift Valley on 1 January.
Medical staff at the Women's Hospital in Nairobi have also reported a sharp increase in the number of rapes of women and girls being committed by gangs and individuals as part of the post-election violence.
Some of the more recent violence in some areas with a history of ethnic conflict appears to have been perpetrated by anti-government mobs against members of President Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, in apparent retaliation for suspected election rigging.
More than 75,000 people have been internally displaced in the country as a result of the violence.
"The Kenyan government must arrange rapid humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced and to provide all necessary security for humanitarian relief workers," says Erwin van der Borght.
Informal roadblocks have been set up across the country by violent youth gangs, some of them armed with machetes, sticks and stones. Some of the displaced people have been evacuated by the Kenyan government under military escort or by airplanes to safer locations, including from Eldoret to Nairobi and to other parts of Kenya. Thousands are reported to be fleeing to neighbouring countries, particularly Uganda.
Background information
On 27 December presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Kenya. On 30 December the official Electoral Commission of Kenya announced that President Mwai Kibaki had won the presidential election over opposition candidate Raila Odinga. Raila Odingas Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) won a large majority of parliamentary seats over Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) and other parties, but disputed the announced loss of the presidential election.
Mwai Kibaki was quickly sworn in as the new president on 30 December. Election observers have questioned the credibility of the counting and tallying of the presidential vote, about which even the Chair of the Electoral Commission of Kenya has lately expressed doubts. As political tension mounted, the government banned live broadcasting by the Kenyan media about the election results, but this ban is in practice widely ignored by the media. The government has deployed security forces to many areas. Police and troops began to protect people from violent mobs in some areas and dispersed violent protesters in others. The government banned a major ODM demonstration planned for 3 January in Nairobi and other towns, preventing demonstrators from gathering, using tear-gas and water-cannon.
Diplomatic efforts at the international and regional level - including by the African Union and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu - and initiatives by Kenyan NGOs, are seeking a solution for the political impasse and to try to stem the violence.
For the latest developments in the situation see BBC News.
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Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
Maureen
11 January 2008, 06:29PM
There will never be peace without true justice and equality. If oppression and suppression continue; if the human rights of people are not upheld; if governments and moneyed interests can get away with anything...peace will continue to elude us all.
There needs to be an international arbitrator which immediately implements a formal dispute process in cases like this. Without it, the people will rise up because they know that without action the injustice will prevail. If there are no avenues available for peaceful resolution of conflict and to ensure that equal rights, respect and treatment are given to all parties, people will take matters into their own hands, as they have done in Kenya. May justice be done. May peace be restored.
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