Tag: GreatLakesNews

{A Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldier has narrated to a Mombasa court how they were attacked when a group of about 10 Al-Shabaab militants ambushed them in Kiunga in Lamu County two years ago.}

Sargent Andrew Nzomo said the attack happened after they left the Manda military base where they had gone to collect food for the Kenyan troops in the Ras Kamboni military camp in Somalia.

“We proceeded along Hindi-Kiunga road and about 50 kilometres from Hindi, our lorry got stuck in the mud due to heavy rains,” he told Principal Magistrate Francis Kyambia on Wednesday.

Sgt Nzomo, who was accompanied by seven other soldiers, said they tried to pull their lorry out of the mud but their efforts were futile.

“At about 5pm, we decided to prepare supper. We had, however, informed our colleagues what had transpired,” he said.

ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE

Mr Nzomo was testifying in a case in which a terror suspect, Mudhar Said Jumaa, is charged with robbery with violence and involvement in terrorism activities.

The suspect denied robbing Private Vincent Kibenzi and Corporal George Makhulo, who were killed during the terrorist attack, two loaded G3 rifles.

He also denied involvement in terrorism activities. He is accused of being member of Al-Shabaab.

The suspect is accused of committing the offence, jointly with others not before court, on May 25, 2014 at Mlimani along the Hindi-Kiunga road.

The soldier said at a round 11pm, he saw the light of moving vehicle approaching from the Hindi direction, about 50 metres away from where they had stopped.

“I tried to stop it by flashing my torch as it neared us but it failed to stop. While trying to pass, it got stuck in the mud beside our lorry,” he said.

ORDERED TO DISEMBARK

The soldier said they approached the suspects’ vehicle from behind and ordered the occupants to disembark and inquired why they did not respond despite the officers flagging them down.

The suspect (Mr Mudhar) and his three accomplices responded that they had not seen the light from the torch signalling them to stop.

He said after ordering them to show their identification documents, two of them positively responded but Mudhar said he had left his in the vehicle.

“Mudhar went back to the vehicle saying he was going to get his ID card. When I followed him, I realised he was signalling someone who was in the passenger seat,” Sgt Nzomo said.

He said immediately after the suspect disembarked for the second time, he shot the other two officers, killing them instantly.

“I took a cover beneath the lorry. The fierce battle continued for more than two hours. With the help of the light from the moon and that coming from the lorry, I could clearly see Mudhar, who was dressed in a white vest,” he told the court.

When asked by State Counsel Daniel Wamotsa how he identified the suspect, he said he could vividly recall his physical appearance.

“He had a round hat, wore a dark-blue short, [had] a bald head and [heavily built] body with overgrown beard.

“I could identify him because he talked to us while in front of the vehicle which had enough light,” he said.

The witness also said he was able to identify Mudhar since he was the driver of the terrorists’ vehicle and was the first to start shooting.

The hearing of the case continues on November 25, 2016.

{With Crisis Ongoing, Human Rights Council Should Support Commission of Inquiry.}

Burundi may have slipped off international news headlines, but killings, disappearances, and torture there continue unabated, and those responsible are getting away with it. That’s why it’s critical that Human Rights Council members meeting at the United Nations in Geneva this week adopt a strong resolution to address the deepening human rights crisis engulfing the country.

The proposed resolution builds on a powerful report by a UN independent investigation team which found that “gross human rights violations have and are taking place, committed primarily by State agents and those linked to them.” Describing the violations as “systematic and patterned,” the report acts as a wake-up call.

Yet the Burundian government is still flatly denying the gravity of the situation, despite abundant evidence from the UN, Human Rights Watch, and Burundian activists. At the Human Rights Council earlier this week, Burundi’s Human Rights Minister Martin Nivyabandi bluntly rejected the UN investigators’ report, and in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe said: “I stand before you today to reiterate Burundi’s unwavering commitment to human rights,” but then proceeded to “categorically reject the purposefully and politically exaggerated reports on alleged human rights violations in Burundi.”

The government’s refusal to acknowledge the human rights crisis is deeply disturbing. The more it tries to cover up mounting state abuses, the more skepticism deepens about its willingness to hold perpetrators to account.

It’s important to keep documenting abuses in Burundi, but the escalation since 2015 shows that something more is needed. The priority has to be to put an end to the impunity that lies at the heart of this crisis.

The UN investigation team has proposed that a commission of inquiry “should be mandated to ensure individual accountability.” Human Rights Watch fully supports this proposal, as the Burundian justice system has failed to deliver credible justice.

All states should support the Human Rights Council resolution for a commission of inquiry into crimes committed in Burundi since April 2015. Not only would this be an unequivocal show of solidarity with the many victims, but it will also offer them hope that, one day, justice will be done.

{The victim, identified as Ugandan refugee Alfred Olango, 30, was shot on Tuesday in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon after police received an emergency call about a man behaving erratically and walking in traffic.}

Protesters marched on Wednesday in a California town following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man said to be mentally ill, as local officials urged calm and pledged a full investigation.

The victim, identified as Ugandan refugee Alfred Olango, 30, was shot on Tuesday in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon after police received an emergency call about a man behaving erratically and walking in traffic.

El Cajon police chief Jeff Davis said Olango had ignored repeated calls by responding officers to remove his hand from his pocket and one officer used a Taser against him while another fired his weapon when he turned and confronted them.

“At one point, the subject rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together and extended them rapidly toward the officer taking up what appeared to be a shooting stance,” Davis said in a statement. “At this time, the officer with the electronic control device discharged his weapon.

“Simultaneously, the officer with the firearm discharged his weapon several times, striking the subject.”

The shooting took place as the United States reels from a string of police killings of black men that have raised racial tensions nationwide.

Dozens of angry demonstrators marched peacefully on Wednesday in El Cajon, a town with a large immigrant and refugee population, at one point blocking an intersection as they faced off with police in riot gear.

“These senseless killings have to stop — not just in El Cajon but in the entire country,” community activist Estela De Los Rios said.

A man claiming to be Alfred Olango’s cousin shouts at police during a rally in El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, California on September 28, 2016, in response to the police shooting of Olango the night before. AFP photo

More than 100 people had gathered Tuesday evening at the scene of the shooting insisting that it was unjustified and racially motivated. Several shouted “black lives matter” and “hands up, don’t shoot.”

– Police urge calm -Local officials have urged residents to remain calm, pledging that the incident would be fully investigated by police, the district attorney and the FBI.

“This will be transparent. This will be looked at by multiple sets of eyes, and not just ours,” Davis vowed at a news conference.

Police have also released a still photo lifted from a video taken at the scene that shows a man in a shooting stance.

Authorities did not identify what Olango was holding in his hands as he was shot but acknowledged it was not a weapon.

{The European Union is collaborating with Kenya for alternative methods that will have more women elected in the next elections.}

A set of proposals publicised Wednesday show the government is working with the European bloc to solve a problem that has defeated it three times already.

Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs CS Sicily Kariuki met with envoys from the European Union after which they tabled a set of suggestions that will bring in more women once the next elections are done.

Besides returning proposals to amend electoral laws in parliament, the two sides hope to encourage voters to elect women by demonstrating success stories of known women leaders, educating masses on importance of gender balance in politics, supporting female candidates as well as using the media to demonstrate legal requirements for elective posts.

“It is true that the first two attempts, we didn’t manage to get the two-thirds gender rule through parliament.

“Even for the third time, we didn’t manage because we didn’t get quorum,” Mrs Kariuki told reporters after the meeting at the EU Head of Delegation’s residence in Nairobi on Wednesday.

“It is true to note that between now and the next elections, there is still be time to salvage the situation. It is for this reason the government has written and moved the matter back again to both houses to be able to get a resolution between now and the time we are going to the General Election.”

{{Fourth attempt }}

The Gender CS said the other efforts will run parallel to a fourth attempt at changing laws to have more women elected in parliament.

The European Union envoys said they were ready to support the country’s bid to resolve the problem because it fits in the global agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) passed last year at the UN meeting in New York.

“We believe providing women with equal access to education, healthcare, decent work and political representation is vital, everywhere in the world, to the full development of inclusive societies as well as successful and sustainable economies,” said EU Head of Delegation to Kenya, Mr Stefano Dejak.

“Yet women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence and are largely underrepresented in decision making processes.”

Despite being a constitutional requirement that at least a third of all posts in appointive and elective posts be filled by a different gender, it has been problematic for Kenya to fill them.

This is largely because there is no formula to do that and the fact that the electorate are free to choose complicates it even more.

In 2012, the Supreme Court allowed the government up to August 27, 2015 to have passed all relevant laws.

That deadline was missed but the Parliament extended it to August 27 this year which was also missed.

In the new proposals, the government hopes to circumvent the legal hurdles involved in putting more women in elective posts by going directly to the electorate and asking them to choose women.

“The strategy aims at profiling women in leadership already and demonstrating their development achievements that they have made in the spaces in which they were elected,” Mrs Kariuki said.

Kenya has the lowest gender ration in the East African Community (EAC) despite having the biggest economy.

Of the 290 elected MPs in the National Assembly, only 16 are women and 5 nominated out of the 12 positions.

In addition, there and 47 County women representatives meaning there are 68 women overall or 19.5 per cent. The Senate has 18 women but none of them was elected.

{{Amend constitution }}

There had been proposals to handle this gap. One group proposed to amend the constitution so that gender rule is implemented progressively and remove the five-year limit. Activists disagreed with this.

Another group has proposed the elimination of county women MP seats, which was also opposed.

The latest compromise position includes allowing political parties to nominate additional women to fill up slots, but it is also yet to garner absolute support.

The EU will also support government programmes against gender violence, a factor that has scared most women contenders away from politics.

{27 September 2016 – At interactive dialogues on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Libya Ukraine, and Burundi, senior UN human rights officials and independent experts today urged the governments to take immediate steps to ensure protection of human rights in their respective countries.
}

During the dialogues, member countries of the Geneva–based Human Rights Council discuss the human rights situation with delegations from a particular country on the Council’s agenda, as well as other Council members, officials of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts.

The dialogue includes a presentation or a briefing by OHCHR officials followed by discussions.

{ {{Democratic Republic of the Congo}} }

On the human rights situation in DRC, Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights noted with concern that on 19 and 20 September, at least 53 people, including 49 civilians, had been killed in clashes in capital Kinshasa and said that it was particularly worrying that manifestly excessive and lethal force had been deployed by security forces against crowds.

She noted with further concern that the reports of journalists and photographers being rounded up prior to those incidents were deeply disturbing, and stressed that a large-scale crisis could be looming. As such, she urged all actors to pursue a resolution to the situation.

Ms. Gilmore also called on the Council to augment its scrutiny of the human rights situation in the country and to join the call for investigations into alleged human rights violations there.

{ {{Ukraine}} }

Presenting an oral update to the Council, Ms. Gilmore noted that during the reporting period, the conflict in Ukraine continued to impact densely populated civilian areas and that certain parties continued to deny access to external observers and that serious concerns of torture and gender-based violence were also reported.

Urging the Government of Ukraine to intensify efforts to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses accountable, the Deputy High Commissioner also called on the Government to protect the independence of the judiciary as well as the work of journalists and media.

Ms. Gilmore also noted that the escalation in hostilities and the increase in civilian casualties between 16 May and 15 August underlined the need to withdraw military personnel and fighters from the contact line and to ensure that schools, hospitals and medical centres are protect, as well as to comply with a full ceasefire, in line with the Minsk Agreements.

The report was initially released on 15 September.

In late February 2014, the situation in Ukraine transcended what was initially seen as an internal Ukrainian political crisis into violent clashes in parts of the country, later reaching full-scale conflict in the east. Nevertheless, despite a September 2014 ceasefire agreed in Minsk, the situation has since deteriorated, with serious consequences for the country’s unity, territorial integrity and stability.

{ {{Libya}} }

In her presentation of the human rights situation in Libya, Ms. Gilmore was joined by Martin Kobler, the head of the UN support Mission in the country, known as UNSMIL, who expressed support for the High Commissioner’s proposal to the Council to establish an independent expert, under the special procedures, to report on human rights and accountability in Libya.
Ms. Gilmore said situation in Libya is distressing with little hope of resolution in immediate sight. Perpetrators – not without foundation – believe there are no consequences for their actions. Victims believe for good reason that there are few prospects for justice. All Libyans suffer in this current impunity scenario.

She noted that investigation report described how all parties were committing widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and abuses of human rights, with impunity. Six months on, the situation has not improved. “Warring factions continue to show little regard for civilians –failing to take steps needed to avoid or minimise civilian casualties and protect civilian objects from damage, she said, adding that in residential areas across Libya, heavy weaponry has been deployed without ensuring sufficient precautions and this is true of all parties.

{ {{Burundi}} }

The Council also heard an oral presentation of the final report of the UN Independent Investigation in Burundi (UNIIB), was published Tuesday 20 September and describes “abundant evidence of gross human rights violations,” possibly amounting to crimes against humanity, by the Government of Burundi and people associated with it.

Given their findings which “suggest widespread and systemic patterns of violations,” the country’s history of inter-ethnic violence and impunity, and the danger of a spiral of mass violence, the experts urged the Government of Burundi, the African Union, the UN Human Rights Council, the Security Council and other international actors to take a series of robust actions to preserve the achievements made in the Arusha Accord and in the 2005 Constitution, which led to the longest period of peace Burundi has known since its independence.

These include the immediate setting up of an international Commission of Inquiry, the involvement of other independent international judicial processes, reconsideration of Burundi’s membership of the Human Rights Council and possible invocation of Chapter VII of the UN Charter if the violations continue and the Government continues to fail to comply with a 29 July 2016 Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of a UN police force.

Burundi was thrown into crisis more than a year ago when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term that he went on to win. To date, it has been reported that hundreds of people have been killed, more than 240,000 have fled the nation, and thousands more have been arrested and possibly subjected to human rights violations.

{In the Maasai heartland of southern Kenya, some young men have swapped their ancestral role as lion-hunters to instead protect the big cats under a conservation scheme that also aims to help their community.}

Among them is Leiyio Lengete, a “Moran” — or warrior — who wears a scarlet blanket over his shoulders, a blue one around his hips, and a multitude of fine multicoloured beaded bracelets on his forearms, ankles and neck.

Large half-moon shaped metal earrings and a beaded headband set off his long elaborately braided hair, but instead of a traditional spear, he clasps a GPS receiver.

The organisation behind the scheme Lengete works with, “Lion Guardians”, has set up camp in Selenkay Reserve, not far from Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain in neighbouring Tanzania which is hidden by clouds on this warm September day.

Today the Maasai “guardians” have headed off into the bush on foot in search of three lionesses that sneaked into the camp the previous evening.

Their tracks are hard to find in the dry, potholed savannah brush although the men eventually establish the cats have separated in three directions to hunt for food.

But two hours later, one of the four silently calls a halt — the three lionesses are less than 100 yards away.

– LOST LIVESTOCK, LOST CHILDREN –

In a previous life, the men would have killed the animals as part of a Maasai rite known as “olamayio” which is traditionally seen as the highest act of courage, winning prestige and praise for the hunter.

Lions also were hunted in reprisal for attacks on the community’s livestock herd.

But for Lengete and the other young Morans, those days are over: once the lionesses have been found and their GPS location sent to camp, a vehicle arrives carrying the scientific head and co-founder of the scheme, Stephanie Dolrenry.

Coupling age-old Maasai know-how with contemporary science, she inventories, photographs and studies the behaviour of the lions that are now returning to the 3,684 square kilometres (1,040 square miles) under surveillance by the project.

“The whole programme is not just based on lions. Everything we do is about the community,” Dolrenry told AFP.

“The guardians spend a lot of their time finding livestock, finding lost herders, even little children who got lost in the bush. The guardians are there, they are able to go tracking, they know the bush,” said the 37-year-old American.

Around a million dollars’ worth of lost livestock was returned by the guardians to their owners last year, she said.

The work boosted the Morans’ status within their community while their almost daily contact with the lions maintained their traditional aura.

When a cow is killed, for instance, they step in to dissuade cattle-owners from punitive raids against the lions, arguing that their own jobs recovering lost cattle are at stake as well as those of the Maasai community who make up almost all the staff of the two lodges in the wildlife reserve.

The project has been beneficial for local lion numbers, which have increased fourfold between 2007 and 2016 to around 150, Dolrenry said.

– FROM HUNTER TO GUARDIAN –

Other wildlife has also benefited, with buffaloes reappearing in the reserve recently after years of absence, elephants moving in herds and the presence in the area of animals hard to find elsewhere in Kenya — such as the Cape eland or the giraffe gazelle.

“Lion Guardians”, which also has programmes in Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, works with private funding, most of it from the US. The Selenkay project runs on less than $300,000 (269,000 euros) a year.

It kicked off with a mere five guardians but now employs more than 40, each of them paid the minimum monthly Kenyan wage of $120 (108 euros).

One of the most recent recruits is Mitiaki Kitasho, who asked for a job as a guardian a year ago after twice serving a month behind bars for illegally killing first an elephant, then a lion.

“There’s not a single species I haven’t killed to protect the community and to gain popularity and respect,” he said.

But courage no longer puts food on the table, and after being released from jail penniless, he went to Lion Guardians looking for a job.

Now, like the Maasai warriors, he can continue to do what he loves and does best — track the big cats.