Tag: GreatLakesNews

{{The Kenyan government is being sued for police brutality in the violence following the 2007 election.}}

The lawsuit comes as Kenya prepares for a new election on March 4 amid warnings from international human rights groups that the police are not ready to prevent electoral violence while refraining from human rights violations.

The families of seven people shot dead five years ago and eight wounded survivors this week filed a lawsuit to sue the Kenyan government claiming the shots were fired by police during a dispute over who won Kenya’s 2007 presidential election.

Five human rights groups are also part of the suit against the government.

Government records show police shot dead 405 of the more than 1,100 people who died in the post-election violence following a dispute in the presidential race in 2007 general elections.

Many of them were shot in the back, according to documents filed Wednesday by law firm Nderitu Partners and Advocates on behalf of the group late Wednesday.

According to the suit unlawful orders were given to the police and the government failed to train police on lawful methods of how to deal with civil unrest. And the government did not investigate the abuses.

Those suing the government are from western Kenya. In the 2007 elections, the majority of the people in western Kenya supported the main presidential challenger Raila Odinga — who polls had consistently put as the front runner — and took to the streets in violent protests after the electoral authority announced President Mwai Kibaki had been re-elected.

The violence ended after former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan brokered a peace deal in which Odinga became prime minister in a coalition government. As part of the peace arrangement the coalition government promised to adopt a new constitution, reform the judiciary and police force.

A 2008 government investigation into what caused the violence found that mistrust of the judiciary, which was tainted by allegations of corruption, fueled the violence as politicians chose to protest instead of going to the courts to seek justice.

The police force was seen to have taken sides in the chaos fuelling the conflict, the report said.

Efforts to improve the police system have been criticized as ineffectual but ongoing reforms on the judiciary have received praise and have led to recommendations that the government should fire 13 out of the country’s 53 high court judges.

For decades Kenya’s police have been criticized by advocacy groups for ineffectiveness, endemic corruption, human rights violations and impunity.

A bribe-taking culture exists in the force and officers live in deplorable conditions, are poorly paid, under-equipped and understaffed, outgoing police spokesman Eric Kiraithe admitted last year. “Corruption in the police force is deep and wide,” he said.

Human Rights Watch, in a report titled “High Stakes: Political Violence and the 2013 Elections in Kenya,” released earlier this month, says police shortcomings are highlighted by the continuing rural violence that in 2012 and early 2013 that has claimed more than 477 lives and displaced about 118,000 people.

“Many of these incidents have been linked to pre-election maneuvering as local politicians mobilize support. The police and other authorities have repeatedly failed to prevent the violence or hold those responsible to account,” the rights groups said.

During violent clashes in 2012 and early 2013 the police frequently failed to intervene and when they did, they often used excessive and indiscriminate force, Human Rights Watch said.

Amnesty International at the end of January criticized the pace of reforms in the police force and cast doubt on its preparedness to handle possible violence during the or after the elections.

“The laws guiding the police reform have not been put into practice in time for the general elections. As a result, the very same policing structures blamed by many for serious human rights violations during the 2007-2008 post-election violence remain in place for the 2013 elections,” Amnesty International said in the report titled “Police Reform in Kenya: A Drop in the Ocean.”

The National Police Service Inspector General David Kimaiyo said Wednesday that the police are ready to tackle any challenges that may be presented by the elections.

AP

{{The African Union says Congo has sent 500 troops to join a Uganda-led military effort to hunt down Joseph Kony, the fugitive head of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group.}}

The troops were handed over in a ceremony Wednesday, the African Union said in a statement received Friday, bringing to 3,350 the number of African soldiers deployed against the LRA.

Uganda, South Sudan and the Central African Republic have already contributed troops to an African Union military program conceived last year to eliminate the LRA from the vast jungles of central Africa.

They are assisted by about 100 U.S. military advisers.

The LRA watchdog group Enough Project says the military mission against the LRA, a brutal group that recruits children, needs more boots on the ground.

wirestory

{{Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta now wants to be allowed to take part in his trial at the International Criminal Court through video link “on a regular basis.”}}

Kenyatta, who took part in Thursday’s status conference via video link from Nairobi, has now been asked to make a written submission of his request and state the legal basis by February 28.

“The defence team of Kenyatta has raised the possibility of the accused to be permitted to participate via video link on a regular basis.

Should the team wish to pursue this issue, the chamber requests for written submission in that regard including the legal basis and practical modalities of this request,” Presiding Judge Kuniko Ozaki told Kenyatta’s lawyers who were at The Hague.

Former Eldoret North MP William Ruto was also allowed to participate during Thursday’s status conference via a video link.

However, ICC Outreach Programme in Kenya Maria Kamara last Friday indicated that the status conference was different from the trials and it was not obvious that the same can be extended to the trials.

It will however depend on the decision of the trial judges once it receives Kenyatta’s submissions.

During the status conference that lasted for about two hours, Ozaki said the court would not be able to allocate separate chambers to hear the two Kenyan cases.

She explained that they had suggested to the presidency to use Courtroom I for both cases, which they want heard over a period of four hours each every day.

“The most favourable way was to constitute two chambers to hear the cases in parallel. We have been in communication with the presidency recommending in particular that additional judges be assigned to compose two separate chambers.

As all parties are aware, this court faces logistical challenges including availability of courtrooms. Use of Courtroom I is the only option,” she asserted.

They will however await a decision of the presidency.

Meanwhile, the judge also announced to the court that the conditions given to Kenyatta, Ruto, former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang will remain the same.

She said the court had not changed summonses to appear and that they will continue to be in effect for purposes of trial.

In 2011, the Court Registrar Silvana Arbia said as long as the suspects comply with the conditions set by the court, their liberty would not be curtailed by arresting or detaining them.

The court had set four conditions which include lack of contact with a victim or a witness. They were also expected to refrain from obstructing or interfering with the attendance or testimony of a witness, or interfering with the prosecution’s investigation.

They are also barred from committing crimes and to attend all required hearings at the court. So far, the four have complied with the court and appeared whenever they were required to do so.

capitalFM

{{A Somali journalist was freed after being detained without charges for more than a week for speaking out against the imprisonment of a fellow reporter.}}

Daud Abdi Daud was released but he said Wednesday that the Somali government wants to charge him in court with “offending the president’s wife.” Government officials declined to comment on Daud’s claim that he will be charged.

Daud, a Radio Kulmiye reporter, said he was released Tuesday after more than a week in custody, though authorities treated him well.

He said his arrest stemmed from an incident last week when a Mogadishu court handed down one-year prison sentences to a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a reporter who interviewed her.

Daud said he spoke at the court saying that a journalist can interview any woman at her home, even if she is the president’s wife, and that prompted his arrest.

Journalists’ rights groups expressed outrage over Daud’s arrest. Human Rights Watch asked Somali authorities to immediately charge or release Daud.

“They should not be shutting down free expression by jailing journalists and throwing away the key,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Somali authorities declined to comment on Daud’s arrest.

Reporters Without Borders said the arrest is an obvious act of intimidation, one that casts doubt on the sincerity of the Somali authorities.

“The police and courts must not become an additional threat to Somali journalists, who are already exposed to enormous dangers,” the group said.

Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon on Tuesday said that due process must be observed in the administration of justice.

Shirdon said that the Independent Task Force on Human Rights, which was launched earlier this month, will be looking at human rights abuses committed over the past 12 months.

“I reiterate my government’s commitment to a free press and freedom of speech. Journalists should feel that they are not alone. It is essential that they are able to work freely and effectively without facing additional difficulties,” Shirdon said.

Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous countries in which to practice journalism, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Last year 18 Somali journalists were killed yet no one was arrested.

So far this year one reporter has been killed making it 45 journalists killed since 2007.

The alleged rape victim in the case Daud attended was charged with insulting a government body, inducing false evidence, simulating a criminal offense and making a false accusation.

Freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur was charged with insulting a government body and inducing the woman to give false evidence.

Three others charged in the case, including the woman’s husband, were acquitted. All the defendants denied the charges in court.

Rights groups said the handling of the rape case is politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault.

Rape is reported to be rampant in Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.

Agencies

{{The International Criminal Court (ICC) has admitted prosecuting the post election violence cases facing four Kenyans is “difficult”.}}

ICC President Sang-Hyun Song cited the imminent elections and logistics as a cause for worry.

Two of the suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, are contesting the elections on a joint presidential ticket in the March 4 vote.

South Korean judge Song said the trials are meant to start in April, but “since there are so many variables here, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“At the moment, I must admit that the logistics aspect of the Kenya case, for example, is not necessarily easy,” Justice Song said in a speech at Columbia University in New York Tuesday.

He said the suspects are free and the court has to rely on their word to cooperate with it.

“These four suspects are under summons to appear. They are not arrested people. They kept on saying they will comply with the ICC procedures and so on and so forth.

“How they will come all the way to The Hague to attend the trial and for how long?”

On Thursday, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto will attend a status conference through video link but other accused former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang will travel to The Hague.

On Tuesday, the government and ICC officials in the country were working to agree on a venue — either a hotel or institution — where Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto will link with the sitting at the Hague led by ICC Trial Chamber presiding judge Kuniko Ozaki.

The video conference will bring together judges Christine Van den Wyngaert and Chile Eboe-Osuji, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, registrar Silvia Arbia, defence legal teams, lawyers for victims and friends of the court.

“The court, in cooperation with Kenyan authorities, would work on the modalities to ensure the possibility of the accused participating in the hearing via video link.

The location of the video link is made confidential for security reasons,” said ICC Outreach coordinator for Kenya and Uganda Maria Kamara.

The ICC Trial Chamber had ordered the four suspects to either appear in person or attend through a video link.

“The main purpose of the status conference is to discuss the conditions of the summonses to appear issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber/ as well as to address any practical, financial and/or legal matters related to the attendance of the accused at trial, including the modalities of the accused’s stay on the territory of the Host State during the trial,” they said in their communication.

“Given that these issues impact directly on the accused, the Chamber considers this to be a hearing requiring the accused’s attendance and the accused are ordered to attend the status conference, either in person or via video link.”

On Friday, the High Court will rule on a case challenging the eligibility of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to contest the General Election.

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{{Uganda has submitted to the African Union (AU) its candidature for the post of President of the UN General Assembly, a position if acquired will allow it greater influence on the international scene.}}

In submitting her bid Uganda will have to fend off a similar bid by Cameroon which has also expressed interest in the seat for the 69th session that will run from 2014-2015.

However, the AU has deferred its decision on the matter and Uganda’s other bids to host the AU center for post conflict reconstruction and development till further notice, ostensibly to allow for further consultations.

Addressing the press Tuesday on the outcome of the recent AU summit held in Addis Ababa, foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa reiterated that it was Africa’s turn to hold the seat, more so East Africa.

“The continents have held the seat including other parts of Africa, with the exception of East Africa which held the seat in 1979. This is East Africa’s turn,” he said.

If Uganda’s bid sails through, he said, Uganda would use her position to push for the inclusion of an African country on the UN Security council. Africa has never been represented on the council.

“We will lobby for the representation of Africa on the Security Council and that country should enjoy that same veto powers like any other country on the Council,” Kutesa said.

Uganda has in the past held stints at the UN but as a non-permanent representative to the Security Council, the most recent being in 2009-2011.

{{The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) is considering taking legal action against the Ugandan representatives in the regional Parliament over truancy.}}

The House was on January 31, 2013, the last day of the Eala sitting in Bujumbura, Burundi, seriously disrupted.

Eala Speaker Margaret Zziwa, also Ugandan, had to adjourn proceedings of the House for 15 minutes over lack of quorum.

An inside source told the Political Platform that Ms Zziwa suspended the proceedings following an Eala member from Rwanda Patricia Hajabakiga pleading with the House to look for the absent lawmakers.

Rule 13 stipulates that the quorum of House or a committee of the whole assembly shall be 12 elected members, provided it is composed of at least three of the elected members from each partner state.

“If at any time of sitting, or when the House is in committee, any member objects that there is no quorum present, the Speaker or the Chairman shall, on ascertaining it to be true, suspend the proceedings of the House for an interval of 15 minutes during which a bell shall be rung,” reads the rule.

It further says that if on resumption of proceedings after the expiry of the 15 minutes, the number of members present is still less than 12, the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, shall adjourn the House or the committee of the whole House.

After efforts to trace the Eala members proved futile, sergeant at arm Ezekiel Migosi conducted a roll call, which confirmed that almost all Ugandan representatives were absent.

The Eala Speaker announced the attendance of the regional members from each country. All eight members from Burundian were present, as one was out on permission.

The attendance of the Eala members from Kenya was four. Two of them though had asked for permission, three others were nowhere to be seen.

While all nine lawmakers from Rwanda were present, seven Eala members from Tanzanian were present. One of them was on an excuse duty and another one was outside of Parliament hall.

On the Ugandan side, only two representatives had asked for permission, while seven others had snubbed the sitting for unknown reasons.

Adjourning the Eala session until April 2013 due to the dearth of quorum, Ms Zziwa said she would consult the counsel to the EAC in order to advise the apt action to be taken against the absent MPs.

Efforts to get word from counsel to the EAC Wilbert Kahwa and the Eala Senior Public Relations officer Bobi Odiko proved futile as both were out of the country on official duties.

But lawyers privy to the Eala rules told the Political Platform, however, that there was nothing in the Rules of Procedure of the House enabling the Speaker to punish errant members at the moment.

To an extent, nonetheless, rule 52 allows for suspension of members if they are grossly disorderly, but in this case, a motion must be moved.

However, one of the Eala members told the Political Platform that Eala is set to amend the procedures at a later date to ‘tighten them’.

Anna Mghwira, a Tanzanian political commentator, has voiced her support for the first female Eala Speaker to punish members of the august House for absenteeism in a bid to curb the challenge of poor attendance among lawmakers in the region.

“In addition to punishing the absentees at the Eala level, the Ugandan national Parliament should also consider questioning its representatives at the regional assembly,” she explained.

{{A man who says he is the son of former DR Congo President Laurent Kabila has been charged in South Africa with plotting to overthrow the government of Joseph Kabila.}}

Etienne Taratibu Kabila is alleged to be the leader of 19 other people who were charged last week.

Etienne Kabila says President Kabila is not the true son of Laurent Kabila.

His claims about the president and to be the former leader’s son have been dismissed by DR Congo’s government.

Etienne Kabila handed himself in to police at the weekend.

He was not asked to enter a plea and the case was postponed until Thursday, when his case will be joined to that of the other 19.

Prosecutors said they belonged to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Union of Nationalists for Renewal (UNR) rebel group.

South Africa’s counter-terrorism forces arrested them last week in the northern Limpopo province under the country’s Foreign Military Assistance Act, which is intended to crack down on mercenary operations in the country.

DR Congo has been hit by numerous rebellions throughout Joseph Kabila’s rule.

He took power in 2001, after the assassination of Laurent Kabila and has since won two elections.

BBC

{{Members of FROLINA party in Burundi were attacked by unknown assailants while they were attending a meeting at Gatete near Rumonge region.}}

According to media reports, the meeting was to explain the reasons that pushed them to replace the former party president Joseph Kalumba.

The same reports say that the attack was sponsored by Joseph Kalumba allegations he categorically denied.

The Burundian police says they are investigating the matter .