Kenya cops a 'major problem'
2009-06-03 19:01
Geneva - A UN human rights investigator said on Wednesday that Kenya's police were "a major stumbling block" for probes into post-election violence and "official killings" in the country.
Philip Alston, the UN's special reporter on extrajudicial executions, who probed killings of political and human rights activists in Kenya, praised the efforts of several ministers and moves for police and judicial reforms.
"This does not yet mean, however, that the crisis has been resolved. The police in particular remain a major stumbling block," Alston told a session of the UN Human Rights Council.
In March, Alston called for an independent probe into the assassination of two rights activists who had been at the forefront of a campaign against extrajudicial killings.
Campaign against extrajudicial killings
He also produced a highly critical report on the violence since 2007, which called for the sacking of Kenya's police chief and attorney general.
Alston said he had recently been called a "bigoted activist" by a Kenyan police spokesperson who dismissed the UN expert's findings as baseless, while reports by local human rights officials and activists were regularly dismissed as the product of bribery.
"Attacks on those who document abuses do not absolve a government of its obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for extrajudicial executions," Alston told the 47-member Council.
"This will not, however, be achieved while the current Police Commissioner is in charge of investigations and prosecutions."
"Instead, impunity for official killings will continue while the deck chairs are reshuffled and more character assassinations are launched," he added.
Alston also noted that while Prime Minister Raila Odinga had "roundly condemned" extrajudicial executions, President Mwai Kibaki "has yet to do so".
Odinga and Kibaki are political rivals who were pressured into a power-sharing deal last year by international mediators following violence which accompanied the December 2007 elections.
- SAPA