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Opposition Officials Helped Plan Rift Valley Violence |
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Written by Human Rights Watch
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
Human Rights Watch investigations indicate that, after Kenya's disputed
elections, opposition party officials and local elders planned and
organized ethnic-based violence in the Rift Valley, Human Rights Watch
said today.
The attacks, targeting mostly Kikuyu and Kisii people in
and around the town of Eldoret, could continue unless the government
and opposition act to stop the violence, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch called on the opposition Orange Democratic Movement
(ODM) leadership to take immediate steps to stop its supporters from
committing further attacks. At the same time, Human Rights Watch said
the Kenyan police should urgently deploy extra officers to the region
to protect displaced people and resident Kikuyu communities.
"Opposition leaders are right to challenge Kenya's rigged
presidential poll, but they can't use it as an excuse for targeting
ethnic groups," said Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director at Human
Rights Watch. "We have evidence that ODM politicians and local leaders
actively fomented some post-election violence, and the authorities
should investigate and make sure it stops now."
Research by Human Rights Watch in and around the town of
Eldoret, which has borne the brunt of the Rift Valley violence,
indicates that attacks by several ethnic communities against others,
especially local Kikuyu populations, were planned soon after the
elections. In some cases, local elders and opposition politicians
appear to have incited and organized the violence. Since December 27,
2007, clashes between members of the Kalenjin and Luya communities and
their Kikuyu and Kisii neighbors in the Rift Valley have left more than
400 people dead and have displaced thousands more.
Human Rights Watch interviewed members of several pro-ODM
Kalenjin communities who described the ways in which local leaders and
ODM party agents actively fomented violence against Kikuyu communities.
A Kalenjin preacher in a village in Eldoret North constituency told
Human Rights Watch that on the morning of December 29, 2007, a local
ODM party mobilizer "called a meeting and said that war had broken in
Eldoret town, so the elders organized the youth into groups of not less
than 15, and they went to loot [Kikuyu] homes and burn them down."
The following day, the village held another meeting and
the youth marched to the nearby town of Turbo. They were turned away by
police. But they returned early the next morning, catching the police
off guard, "and burnt almost half of the Kikuyu shops in town,
including the petrol station," according to the preacher. Human Rights
Watch visited Turbo and found that most Kikuyu-owned buildings had been
laid to ruin by the attackers. Displaced Kikuyu seeking shelter at the
police station in Turbo confirmed to Human Rights Watch that their
homes and businesses were destroyed by groups of Kalenjin youth.
Human Rights Watch spoke to numerous members of Kalenjin
commmunities around Eldoret who provided similar accounts. In many
communities, local leaders and ODM mobilizers arranged frequent
meetings following the election to organize, direct and facilitate the
violence unleashed by gangs of local youth. In one case, an ODM
councillor candidate is said to have provided a lorry to ferry youth to
burn the homes of Kikuyu families in a neighboring community.
Many Kalenjin community leaders told Human Rights Watch
that if the area's ODM leadership or the local Kalenjin radio station
KASS FM told people unequivically to stop attacks on Kikuyu homes, then
they believe the violence would stop. "If the leaders say stop, it will
stop immediately," said one Kalenjin elder.
Human Rights Watch also collected accounts from several
Kalenjin men present at community meetings where local elders and ODM
mobilizers urged Kalenjin residents to contribute money toward the
purchase of automatic weapons. Some communities have reportedly managed
to obtain such weapons already. The same sources confirmed that plans
have already been made to attack camps of displaced Kikuyu and the two
remaining neighborhoods in Eldoret town where many Kikuyu homes remain
intact - Langas and Munyaka.
The Kenyan police are already investigating responsibility
for the violence in the Rift Valley, but its forces are overstretched
by the nationwide electoral crisis. In the light of apparent plans by
some groups to attack camps for internally displaced persons, Human
Rights Watch called on the Kenyan police to ensure that all locations
of displaced people are adequately protected against attack. Fourteen
displaced Kikuyu and Kisii people sheltering in a monastery in
Kipkelion were killed last week in an attack by Kalenjin warriors. The
sprawling tent camp in Eldoret is now home to more than 10,000
displaced persons, with only a light police presence to protect them.
Any attack on the camp would likely prove disastrous. Other equally
vulnerable camps have been set up in other areas.
"The murder of people sheltering at a monastery in
Kipkelion illustrates the need for better police protection of
displaced people," said Gagnon. "Protecting the thousands of vulnerable
people chased from their homes across the Rift Valley from further
attack should be a priority for the Kenyan police."
Background
Kenyans voted peacefully
and in record numbers in parliamentary and presidential elections on
December 27, 2007. In the parliamentary elections, 99 of the 210 seats
were won by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Incumbent
Vice-President Moody Awori and 14 of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki's
top ministers lost their seats.
According to independent observers, the presidential vote
count appeared to be tampered with to such an extent as to make it
impossible to determine who won the vote. Even the chairman of the
Electoral Commission of Kenya admitted that he did "not know whether
Mr. Kibaki won the elections." The European Union Electoral Mission
expressed grave doubts about the legitimacy of the presidential
results. The most significant fraud appears to have been committed by
the government camp in the final stages of tallying the votes.
The sudden announcement that Kibaki had won the vote
triggered protests throughout the country. The protests, along with
widespread post-election violence and the brutal police suppression of
opposition protests, has plunged the country into crisis. Talks between
the opposition ODM and the Kibaki government are proceeding under the
auspices of a panel of eminent African personalities led by Kofi Annan,
former United Nations secretary- general.
Violence erupted in the wake of the disputed elections
throughout the Rift Valley and the west of the country as angry
citizens burned and looted factories, shops and homes, and chased those
perceived to be supporters of Kibaki (mostly, but not exclusively,
members of his Kikuyu tribe) away. Kikuyu homes in the Rift Valley have
been selectively burned and Kikuyu residents killed. Thirty people were
burned to death in a church near Eldoret where they had been seeking
shelter.
The police confirmed the deaths of 526 people nationwide,
including 81 shot by police officers, but independent estimates suggest
that the total figure could be much higher. Thousands of Kikuyu and
members of other tribes have been displaced and are in the process of
leaving the region if they can.
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However, the question is whether the - only temporary - effect would be worth the high social cost (and evidently, "social cost" does here not here merely refer to a few dozens of gunned-down hooligans, rapists and murderers). The underlying problem will not be solved with counter-violence. And unfortunately, Kenyan authorities whatever they be very rarely tackle deeper problems, but mostly paint over symptoms, since the 1930s (Carter Land Commission).
But until revolution come, maybe a brief and blunt intervention (applying General Guderian's famous motto: "Klotzen, nicht kleckern!") might be required now. The many superfluous rust-collecting Panhards and FV-601 Saladins of the Kenyan Armed Forces, quick wheeled armored vehicles with their 75mm resp. 76mm turret cannons (forget the old Vickers tanks, most of them are not combatworthy anymore) would be able to clear up all existing roadblocks within 2-3 days. Lastingly.
Maybe it's time, before more innocents die. And then hand back over to police.
Alexander