Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has challenged the government to make public the findings of a judicial commission that investigated the Tana Delta killings in Tana River County.}

KNCHR chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori and Vice-chairman George Morara observed that the recommendations of the Judge Grace Nzioka-led commission will help locals to address perennial land problems facing them and fully reconcile.

“We would urge for the release of findings of that commission which can be of assistance to the people of this volatile area. A number of complaints showed trends of continued conflicts.

“There is rising conflict between farmers and herders. We feel this is unnecessary and it is something that can be guided and controlled. We feel the conflicts between farming and pastoralist communities of Tana Delta can and should be prevented,” Ms Mbogori said.

And Mr Morara added: “The commission will push for the publication of the report and one of the recommendation we shall indicate to the State is to avoid trigger points to the violence.”

The two KNCHR officials were addressing a press conference after concluding a week-long public inquiry into insecurity and its impact on enjoyment of human rights in Tana River County.

Ms Mbogori said it was unfortunate that finding of the judicial inquiry into the 2012/2013 bloody clashes had not be published yet families of 112 people killed during the clashes are still waiting for justice.

{{Investigated clashes }}

She said her commission too investigated the clashes and prepared a report titled ‘21 Days of Terror in Tana Delta’ and shared findings with Judge Nzioka’s commission.

“It is very unfortunately that the Nzioka commission findings were not made public and since we are one month and few days to the New Year, which is an election year, we feel Tana River should remain a peaceful zone so that residents continue enjoying their rights,” she said.

Three years ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta received the report and pledged that his government will take action on the suspected perpetrators of the violence who include two MPs, a former minister, ambassador and a religious leader accused of masterminding the clashes.

Ms Mbogori said with one year and few months left before the 2017 general elections, there is need for stringent measures to be put in place to ensure peace and security prevails across Tana River and enable residents participate in the polls without the occurrence of such conflicts.

She also called for the prosecution of war mongers and perpetrators of hate speech across the country and urged county and national government officials to take their responsibilities seriously.

She said it is evident that complaints made to State officers in Tana River County are casually handled leading to locals resorting to taking the law into the hands.

“We call upon county and national government officials to act on the complaints made to their officers seriously so that Kenyans have confidence with public institutions,” she added.

Unresolved land conflicts pitting farmers and livestock keepers dominated the four days of public sittings in Hola and Garsen towns which speakers described as serious threats to peaceful co-existence among local communities.

Police and local administrators were accused of poorly handling land-related disputes hence worsening conflicts.

Politicians were also accused of inciting and dividing communities along ethnic, religious and clan lines for their own political gain.

However, representatives of communities, members of civil societies, politicians, local administrators and police chiefs in Tana River who testified before KNCHR stated that alternative dispute resolution would form a concrete basis of resolving some of the underlying issues.

“There is a common trend in this area [when even] when a bicycle knocks down a pedestrian, it is turned to be a dispute between communities and such are issues causing unnecessary hostilities,” said Tana Delta OCPD Robison Thuku who had served in the county for the last seven years.

Mr Thuku, who previously served as Tana River Deputy OCPD said police work in the area came with unique challenges which require courage to deal with.

{The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has won its appeal, challenging payments of over 5.7bn/- to Tango Transport Company Limited over a dispute relating to tax liabilities.}

A panel comprising Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman and Justices Sauda Mjasiri and Ibrahim Juma ruled in favour of TRA after declaring nullity on the entire proceedings conducted by the High Court on the matter.

They took into consideration one ground of appeal TRA had advanced to the effect that the High Court had erred in law in entertaining the suit based on the tax liability without satisfying itself as to whether the company had exhausted the legal remedies available under the Tax laws and regulations.

According to the justices, the High Court erroneously crowned itself with jurisdiction that it had not possessed in entertaining and determining the suit, which was fundamentally a tax dispute.

“Accordingly, we are constrained to and hereby invoke our revisional powers under section 4 (2) of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act to declare a nullity, quash and set aside the entire proceedings, judgment and decree of the High Court,” they declared.

The justices noted that the primary case spelt out by the substance of the pleadings was fundamentally a tax dispute founded on the warrant of distress, an instrument or order issued under the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax (Distrait) Rules to cover a tax liability from the company.

“It was to say the least, fully dependent on a prior determination of the respondent’s correct taxable income, assessment and liability for the periods 1989,1996 and 1997, including TRA’s entitlement to the collection of and recovery of any due and unpaid tax,” they said.

The justices pointed out further that the High Court eclipsed its authority by entertaining and determining chief issues on tax assessment and liability that were legally outside its competence was also plainly corroborated by the issues framed. Among the issues at stake are whether the company had an existing tax liability payable to TRA at the time of the distress and how much and whether the company’s vehicles were lawfully distrained.

“With respect, these live issue were plainly and manifestly taxation in nature,” they stated. Before the High Court, Tango Transport Company Limited, which operated a transport business in Arusha, sued the TRA and two others for general damages, restoration on the value of its properties, a Scania lorry and trailer, interest and costs arising out of the sale at a public auction on August 18, 2000.

In its judgment, the High Court held that the company had no existing tax liability payable to TRA at the time of effecting warrant of distress and its vehicles were not lawfully distrained and sold. The court awarded the company 110m/- as replacement value of the vehicles.

Furthermore, TRA was ordered to pay to the company 2,704,000 US dollars as loss of business and 200m/- others as general damages, interest and costs of the suit. It was at that point in time when TRA decided to take the matter to the Court of Appeal for further adjudication.

{An anti-government rally in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday was short-lived when police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters seeking to defy a ban on public protests and rally against plans by President Joseph Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his mandate this year.}

In support of the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), Ettiene Tshisekedi, several of his party supporters were still seen outside his house after security officers in riot gear and armoured trucks earlier dispersed several of them. But they’ve sworn to devise other means to get the message across.

“Now that it (the demonstration) has been banned we are just waiting for orders from our president (Tshisekedi). If he tells us to go home.we will go Its all going to come to an end on December 19. We are really determined,” said party member, Jonathan Mutanda.

“You know we face no choice with this situation. The government has decided to come out in force, it is using weapons and the police and the army and now we have to think about what we do. Because we face a regime that is determined to muscle the opposition, to scare and terrorize the Congolese people,” added Jean Marc Kabund, Secretary General of the party.

The ban was imposed in September amid public discontent over a delayed presidential elections, which resulted into a series of often violent demonstrations.

A group of United Nations human rights experts described the ban as “unjustified” calling on Congolese authorities to revoke the prohibition.

In a release issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights, the experts added that “the protest ban and the restrictive tone of the National Dialogue agreement are both disturbing signs that democratic space is rapidly dissipating in the DRC, with human rights organizations and opposition parties bearing the brunt of the repression.”

{Kenyan forces in Somalia are receiving fees for allowing illicit exports of charcoal from a port under their control, a United Nations monitoring group said in a report published Friday.}

Kenyan troops assigned to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) receive $2 (Sh202) per bag of charcoal loaded at the port of Kismayu, the UN group says, citing “charcoal industry and non-governmental organisations sources”.

The report estimates that up to six million bags of charcoal have been exported annually from Kismayu and Buur Gaabo, another port that is adjacent to a Kenyan base.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) units may thus have reaped as much as $12 million (Sh1.2bn) a year from charcoal exports banned by the UN Security Council in 2012 in an effort to cut off funding for Al-Shabaab.

“The Kenyan contingent of Amisom continues to play a substantial role in the illicit export of charcoal from Somalia,” the UN monitoring group declares in its 247-page report.

Amisom has not replied to a request that the UN group made nine months ago for information on steps to prevent charcoal exports and ensure compliance by countries contributing troops to the AU mission.

Al-Shabaab has recently become less reliant on the charcoal trade, however, due in part to “improved enforcement of the charcoal ban by importing countries”, the report points out.

It says the charcoal export economy in Somalia is now based on an alliance between the Interim Juba Administration and business interests in Kismayu.

Shabaab has actually begun attacking or detaining charcoal burners and traders in territory where it wields influence, the report adds.

The group’s shift is said to result from the breakdown of a profit-sharing deal with Ahmed Mohamed Islam, the president of Jubaland State who is also known as “Madobe.”

“Once ‘Madobe’ cut Al-Shabaab out of a share of the proceeds from charcoal exports, the group retaliated, using coercion with the apparent motive of diminishing the revenue being accrued to the Interim Juba Administration from the continuing charcoal trade,” the report states.

{{KDF’S RETALIATION
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To offset losses of revenue from charcoal smuggling, Shabaab is increasing its illicit export of sugar to Kenya, the UN experts say.

Shabaab previously taxed the transport of sugar from Kismayu into Kenya at $1,000 per truck, the report notes.

“New information suggests that Al-Shabaab has since increased its tax on large civilian trucks in Lower Juba to $1,500 per truck,” the monitors add.

It is estimated that Shabaab could be accruing as much as $18 million a year from the sugar trade, the report says.

The monitoring group also states in its report on developments this year that about 150 Kenyan soldiers were killed in Shabaab’s attack in January on a KDF base El Adde, a town in southern Somalia.

That toll constitutes “the largest military defeat in Kenyan history”, the UN experts note.

They add that at least 11 Kenyan soldiers were captured in the attack and subsequently held hostage by Al-Shabaab in two separate groups in Middle Juba.

“Since their abduction,” the report states, “the group has received information concerning the changing whereabouts and status of the captives, which it has shared with the Kenyan authorities through an intermediary”.

Kenyan troops occupying the El Adde base had “failed to implement basic defensive measures, such as constructing fortified barriers at the entrance to the camp and neglecting to man machine gun and mortar emplacements”, the report adds.

“An intense aerial campaign in Gedo” carried out by the Kenyan military in retaliation for the El Adde attack resulted in the killings of at least 12 civilians, the monitors say.

“The bombing campaign triggered displacement of at least 8,600 people who fled El Adde, Likooley and nearby villages in the two weeks following the attack, some displaced multiple times as the bombing continued.”

{{BEST CONDUCT}}

In its efforts to obtain information about KDF activities in Somalia, “the group received limited cooperation from the government of Kenya and its security services”, the report states.

The monitors note that Kenya did transmit a communique to the monitoring group last April in which the government addressed an allegation by the group that the KDF had bombed and launched ground attacks on places where displaced persons had gathered for shelter.

Kenya called that allegation “erroneous”.

The government further told the monitors that the KDF “in the discharge of its obligations to international peace and security efforts adheres to comprehensive best practice, standard operating procedures and a strict code of conduct and discipline”.

The monitoring report also notes that in its April communique Kenya had asserted that its forces were “guided by Amisom rules of engagement including international humanitarian law and the African Union Peace Support Operations Code of Conduct.”

{A Tanzanian Professor, Chris Maina Peter, was on Thursday voted member of the United Nations’ International Law Commission (ILC) by the UN General Assembly.}

Prof Maina, who is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), was among 13 candidates from Africa who had vied for a seat in the UN’s legal body.

The newly elected members will serve a five-year term of office with the Geneva-based body beginning January 2017. The members have been elected from five geographical groupings of Africa (eight members), Asia-Pacific (seven members), Eastern Europe (four members), Latin America and Caribbean (seven members) and Western European states with eight members.

Prof Maina was born on April 14, 1954 and holds a PhD in Law from the University of Konstanz in Germany. He once served as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of the Racial Discrimination (CERD), United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland. He has also published widely in the area of human rights, humanitarian law, public international law and good governance.

Other members from African countries included Ahmed Laraba (Algeria), TacoubaCissé (Ivory Coast), Dire D. Tladi (South Africa), Hussein A. Hassouna (Egypt), Amos Wako (Kenya), Charles C. Jalloh (Sierra Leone) and Hassan Ouazzani Chahdi (Morocco).

From Asia-Pacific the members are Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri (Qatar), Mahmoud DaifallahHmoud (Jordan), Huikang Huang (China), Shinya Murase (Japan), Hong Thao Nguyen (Vietnam), Ki Gab Park (Korea ) and Aniruddha Rajput (India).

From Latin American and Caribbean was Carlos Argüello Gómez (Nicaragua), Juan Manuel Gómez-Robledo (Mexico), Claudio Grossman Guiloff (Chile), Juan Jose RudaSantolaria, (Peru), Gilberto VergneSaboia (Brazil), Eduardo Valencia -Ospina (Columbia) and Marcelo Vázquez- Bermúdez (Ecuador). Members from Eastern Europe elected were Bogdan Aurescu (Romania), Kirumi Anatolyevitch Kolodkin, (Russian Confederation), Ernest Petric (Slovenia) and Pavel Šturma (Czech Republic).

In the case of Western Europe and other countries who voted were, Concepción Escobar Hernández (Spain), PatríciaGalvãoTeles (Portugal), MarjaLehto (Finland), Sean David Murphy (United States), Georg Nolte (Germany), Nilufer Oral (Turkey), AgostiReinisch (Austria) and Michael Wood (United Kingdom).

The ILC was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 for the promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification. It holds an annual session at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

{Last week, Gambia became the third African nation to leave the ICC, joining the exit of South Africa and Burundi.}

Political parties in the Republic of Congo led protests and a petition to the government on Thursday to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC). The court has been heavily criticized as having a bias against African states, resulting in a number of them including influential South Africa announcing they will leave the body.

The two parties in the Congo Republic’s ruling coalition, the Patriotic Front and the 2020 Awakening Movement, say that membership with the ICC is incompatible with the country’s constitution, specifically an article outlining extradition procedures.

“This measure in our constitution contradicts the operational mode of the ICC, which aims to ask signatory countries to hand over their citizens for whatever reason,” Patriotic Front spokesman, Paolo Benaza, said according to Reuters.

Along with hundreds of protesters, both the parties marched in the capital Brazzaville to petition the government to withdraw from the court. The protesters and parties marched for around two kilometers to the Ministry of Justice to present the petition to Justice Minister Pierre Mabiala, who said he would look at the proposal before consulting the government.

Critics of the petition argue the ruling parties want to leave the Hague court in order to guarantee impunity from crimes. But historically, the court has been criticized for requiring states to cooperate in bringing individuals to trial.

“States can withdraw from the ICC, but that does not exempt them from prosecution under the Convention against Torture, for example. We can start with the ICC, but justice will always catch up,” Roch Euloge Nzobo from the Centre for Rights and Development told AFP.

Last week, Gambia became the third African nation to leave the ICC, joining the exit of South Africa and Burundi who have cited similar concerns to those contained in the Republic of Congo petition. Kenya, Namibia and Uganda are also expected to announce their intention to leave the court.

Gambia’s Information Minister Sheriff Bojang labelled the ICC an “International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of color, especially Africans.”

The 124-state court was established in 2002 as the first of its kind to investigate and prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. So far, nine out of 10 major investigations have been focused on Africa, neglecting serious crimes in other parts of the world.

{Kampala- Three people are being held at the Central Police Station in connection with the theft of five vehicles belonging to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and South Sudan government.}

Mr Herbert Muhangi, the Flying Squad Unit (FSU) commandant said the vehicles were stolen from South Sudan in the months of September and October.

He said the hunt for the suspects was launched after the South Sudan government alerted Uganda police that the vehicles were being hidden in Uganda.

“We launched our search for the criminals in the districts close to South Sudan border. We recovered the vehicles from garages in Arua and Koboko districts,” Mr Muhangi told Daily Monitor.

Mr Muhangi said two of the suspects are South Sudan nationals whileone is a Ugandan. He said the suspects are part of the racket that steals and smuggles vehicles from South Sudan into Uganda and vice versa.

“Cases of stolen vehicles from South Sudan and brought to Uganda are on rise. I think criminals are taking advantage of the political unrest,” he said.

The impounded vehicles are parked at Kampala Central Police Station.