Kenya clashes - minister fired

2012-09-13 18:07

Nairobi - Kenyan authorities should expand investigations into the alleged roles of four politicians in clashes in the country's southeast which killed 110 people in three weeks, an international human rights group said on Thursday

President Mwai Kibaki late on Wednesday sacked assistant Livestock Development Minister Dhado Godhana after he was charged in court with inciting the violence.

Human Rights watch said their investigations show that three more politicians could be involved in the violence between the semi-nomadic Orma tribe of herders and the Pokomo who are mostly farmers in the Tana River Delta.

The UN and Red Cross say that on the surface the violence appears to be a historical feud over land and water resources, but there are additional factors including the redrawing of political boundaries and next year's general elections that are contributing.

The violence in August and September was the culmination of smaller-scale attacks, cattle raids and counterattacks since January between the ethnic Pokomo and Orma communities, the Human Rights Watch statement said

Both communities have lost lives and livestock, but police either failed to respond to the attacks or arrested people and then released them without investigations, it said.

"Several politicians or political hopefuls have been linked to the violence in Tana River," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Ending the political violence in Tana River requires bringing to book those behind the clashes on both sides."

Lefkow said for decades the Kenya police have failed to investigate politicians who may be implicated in serious crimes and if they are ready to do so now, the authorities must be even handed and investigate all sides.

200 dead

The Kenya Red Cross says that more than 200 people have died in Kenya this year in clashes which fit a pattern of violence before elections in three out of four of Kenya's elections since 1992.

The recent violence in the Tana River Delta as well as intertribal clashes in northern Kenya, which have left 12 dead so far, have raised fears that there would be an explosion of violence as the March 2013 elections draw closer.

Kenya's parliament Wednesday passed a motion urging the government to deploy the military to pacify the two tribes, after nine police officers were killed.

Dunson Mungatana, the Member of Parliament for Garsen, the constituency for Tana River, said that police were overwhelmed by the fighting.

Another legislator opposed the measure, saying the army is not trained to deal with such domestic disputes and can be brutal to civilians.

The United States has called on all parties throughout Kenya to address grievances and assert their rights through peaceful means, as provided for in the new constitution,

"So that all Kenyans may participate in fair and credible elections in March 2013," the statement issued by the US Department of State said on Thursday.

- AP