Prosecution 'way to go' in Kenya
2008-03-17 11:59
Nairobi - Those responsible for the violence following Kenya's disputed December elections should be prosecuted if the new coalition government is to earn people's trust, a leading rights watchdog said on Monday.
"Much of the ethnic-based violence was organised by local leaders, politicians, and businessmen from all sides," the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement accompanying a report on the violence.
Titled "Ballots to Bullets: Organised Political Violence and Kenya's Crisis of Governance," the 81-page report documents several cases of what the rights group claimed was planned violence across the country.
A wave of unrest broke out after the December 27 elections, which opposition leader Raila Odinga charged were rigged by incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.
Power-sharing deal reached
According to medical and security sources, at least 1 500 people were killed and more than 300 000 displaced by police raids, tribal clashes and an ongoing cycle of revenge killings across the country.
A power-sharing deal between Odinga and Kibaki was reached on February 28 after weeks of a mediation led by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.
"For the new government to function well and earn the people's trust, it needs to first heal the wounds by prosecuting those behind the violence," said HRW's Africa director Georgette Gagnon.
Commissions were set up under the deal, but the power-sharing arrangement had yet to be enshrined in the constitution and several key issues in the negotiations had not yet been tackled.
What began as protest against Kibaki's win in the closely-fought presidential vote quickly turned into ethnic reprisal killings fuelled by unresolved land disputes, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence.
'We're preparing for the war'
Many Kikuyus, originally from central Kenya, were ejected from the Rift Valley and other towns in western Kenya, sparking revenge attacks against non-Kikuyus in other towns and slums in the capital Nairobi.
"The elders said that if there is any sign Kibaki is winning, then war should break ... They were coaching the young people how to go to war," reported HRW, quoting one Kalenjin elder from the western town of Eldoret as saying.
In addition to the human suffering, the country's economy - East Africa's biggest - was severely disrupted with its top foreign currency earner, tourism, suffering heavy cancellations.
"The failure of successive Kenyan governments to address systemic problems of governance such as corruption, arbitrary land seizures and organised political violence was a direct cause of the recent crisis," the group said.
The agreement between Kibaki and Odinga created the post of prime minister and two deputies. Odinga, whose party had a parliamentary majority, was to become the premier once the pact was entrenched into law.
Kibaki had already named a team to probe electoral irregularities while government and opposition negotiators had agreed on a truth and reconciliation commission and were discussing solutions to the long-term problems.
"How well these initiatives succeed will be central to the coalition government's ability to improve the lives of Kenyans and stabilise the country," HRW said.