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Kenya: Post-Crisis Agendas
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Mar 20, 2008 (080320)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation between the
political parties provides Kenya's leaders with a historic
opportunity to step back from the brink and to reform and
establish institutions that can help build long-term stability. ...
However, challenges remain in ensuring that the institutions
created actually deliver accountability for recent and previous
violence, correct injustices ignored by previous administrations,
and tackle the systemic failure of governance that gave rise to
the recent crisis." - Human Rights Watch
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the press release and summary of
the new report on Kenya from Human Rights Watch: "Ballots to
Bullets: Organized Political Violence and Kenya's Crisis of
Governance." The full report is available on the Human Rights Watch
website (http://www.hrw.org).
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Kenya and related background
and links, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/kenya.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
Human Rights Watch
Kenya: Justice Vital to Stability
Prosecutions Key to Ending Violence, Police Abuses
(Nairobi, March 17, 2008) The new coalition government should bring
to justice individuals responsible for recent and past episodes of
political violence, Human Rights Watch said in a new report
released today. The new coalition government can help stabilize the
country by bringing to justice the organizers of violence on all
sides. The 81-page report, "Ballots to Bullets: Organized Political
Violence and Kenya's Crisis of Governance," documents how hundreds
of lives were lost due to organized political and ethnic violence
sparked by irregularities in the December 2007 presidential
elections. The report also describes unlawful killings by the
Kenyan police, who used excessive force in responding to
demonstrations, killing hundreds of people.
"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
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Inciting
violence along ethnic lines almost destroyed Kenya. The new
government now has a chance to repair those fractures."
The
election-related violence shocked Kenyans and the world, leaving
more than 1,000 people dead and 500,000 people displaced from their
homes. On February 28, 2008, an agreement between the ruling party
and the opposition paved the way for a coalition government, a
commission of inquiry into the violence and a Truth, Justice and
Reconciliation Commission looking at historical injustices. Human
Rights Watch researchers documented serious abuses in the
worst-affected areas of Kenya Nairobi, Nyanza, Western, and Rift
Valley provinces during the clashes in January and February 2008.
Residents of Rift Valley communities loyal to the opposition
attacked perceived pro-government supporters (of mostly Kikuyu
ethnicity) when victory was announced for incumbent President
Kibaki. Kikuyu militias later retaliated.
Much of the ethnic-based
violence was organized by local leaders, politicians, and
businessmen from all sides, according to eyewitnesses interviewed
by Human Rights Watch. In Eldoret, located in the Rift Valley,
attacks on Kikuyu homes were planned by local leaders. As one
Kalenjin elder present at organizing meetings explained to Human
Rights Watch, "[The elders] said that if there is any sign that
Kibaki is winning, then the war should break They were coaching the
young people how to go on the war [sic]." A young Kikuyu man who
participated in reprisal attacks on Luo in Naivasha also pointed to
the role of local leaders in organizing the violence. He told Human
Rights Watch, "This was not done by ordinary citizens, it was
arranged by people with money; they bought the jobless like me. We
need something to eat each day." H
Human Rights Watch also
investigated the use of excessive force by police that resulted in
the deaths of hundreds of protesters and innocent bystanders. In
one instance, police admitted using lethal force to control crowds
in Kisumu, resulting in the deaths of more than 30 people. A
15-year-old boy described to Human Rights Watch how police shot him
in the back of the leg as he was running away from a police car:
"They had put off the headlights of the car. I realized that I was
near because I heard a gunshot. I started running. Then I heard a
second one. When I tried to step forward, my leg had no power, I
fell down."
Although many observers were surprised by the speed and
scale of the recent violence in Kenya, the underlying causes of the
crisis are old and deep. The failure of successive Kenyan
governments to address systemic problems of governance such as
corruption, arbitrary land-seizure, and organized political
violence was a direct cause of the recent crisis. Human Rights
Watch called on the new coalition government to support the various
inquiries established under the February 2008 mediation process to
investigate abuses by state forces and those responsible for the
violence. How well these initiatives succeed will be central to the
coalition government's ability to improve the lives of Kenyans and
stabilize the country.
"Kenya's leaders, Kenyan civil society, and
international actors deserve praise for uniting and bringing the
country back from the brink," said Gagnon. "But the hard work
starts now. Confronting long-ignored human rights violations and
historical injustices means investigations and prosecutions."
Summary
The scale and speed of the violence that engulfed Kenya following
the controversial presidential election of December 27, 2007
shocked both Kenyans and the world at large. Two months of
bloodshed left over 1,000 dead and up to 500,000 internally
displaced persons in a country viewed as a bastion of economic and
political stability in a volatile region.
The ethnic divisions laid bare in the aftermath of the elections
have roots that run much deeper than the presidential poll. No
Kenyan government has yet made a good-faith effort to address long
simmering grievances over land that have persisted since
independence. High-ranking politicians who have been consistently
implicated in organizing political violence since the 1990s have
never been brought to book and continue to operate with impunity.
Widespread failures of governance are at the core of the explosive
anger exposed in the wake of the election fraud.
The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation between the
political parties provides Kenya's leaders with a historic
opportunity to step back from the brink and to reform and
establish institutions that can help build long-term stability. The
establishment of a Commission of Inquiry on political violence; an
Independent Review Committee on the elections; a Truth, Justice
and Reconciliation Commission; and the agreement on the general
parameters for a constitutional review process - all agreed in such
a short time frame - represent a serious and positive response to
the crisis.
However, challenges remain in ensuring that the institutions
created actually deliver accountability for recent and previous
violence, correct injustices ignored by previous administrations,
and tackle the systemic failure of governance that gave rise to
the recent crisis. A particular challenge will arise because some
of those individuals implicated in recent and previous episodes of
politically motivated violence currently hold public office.
This report describes the main patterns of violence that have
unfolded since Kenya's December 2007 general election, namely
police use of excessive force against protestors as well as
ethnic-based killings and reprisals by supporters aligned to both
the ruling and opposition parties. It also outlines the ways in
which this violence is the outcome of decades of political
manipulation of ethnic tensions, and of impunity intertwined with
longstanding grievances over land, corruption, inequality, and
other issues.
As the mediation process has recognized, a fresh start for Kenya
requires thorough reforms of the institutions designed to
safeguard and realize the full panoply of human rights, including
the judiciary, the police, land tribunals, and the electoral
commission. But unless the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission and the Commission of Inquiry lead to real
accountability for the perpetrators of current and previous
episodes of political violence, incitement will remain a strategy
for political leaders in Kenya. Human Rights Watch believes that
there is no alternative to criminal prosecutions of those who have
contributed to the violence, including for members of the police
found to have used excessive force.
Kenya's recent crisis was triggered by election fraud, but many of
the tensions that exploded in December 2007 were years or even
decades old. In the 2002 general elections, Kenyans voted
overwhelmingly for an end to dictatorial government, corruption,
inequality, political violence, and systemic abuse of office. The
National Rainbow Coalition (NaRC) headed by Mwai Kibaki promised
a new constitution, commissions to address large-scale corruption
and arbitrary land-grabbing by the elite, as well as measures to
tackle landlessness, unemployment and police reform. One by one
those promises were abandoned by the Kibaki regime as the NaRC
coalition fell apart while impunity and corruption became further
entrenched.
For many Kenyans, the rigging of the 2007 presidential election was
the final betrayal of that agenda for change. Voting on December
27 proceeded smoothly with record numbers of registered voters and
a record turnout. The parliamentary results were swiftly tallied
and announced on December 29, resulting in major losses for the
ruling Party of National Unity (PNU) party. The presidential vote,
however, soon took a different turn.
Reaction across the country was swift and violent. Protests erupted
even before the announcement of the presidential result on
December 30, as delays and irregularities in the count sparked
rumors of rigging. The government banned public gatherings and the
police confronted street protests with excessive force, killing and
wounding hundreds of peaceful demonstrators with live ammunition.
Meanwhile, some people took advantage of the lack of law and order
to loot, rape, and riot.
Mobilized opposition supporters especially in the Rift Valley and
the slums of Nairobi - attacked those whom they assumed had voted
for Kibaki, and his PNU, in large part the Kikuyu. This assigned
an ethnic dimension to the violence and angry Kikuyu then fought
back.
Politics in Kenya has become to a large extent about competition
between ethnic groups, and the 2007 election campaign had
emphasized the ethnicity of the candidates and the parties. The
opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) built a political
coalition based on the widespread perception that the Kibaki
government had entrenched tribalism and governed in the interests
of the Kikuyu community. The PNU, on the other hand, made Luo
cultural traditions a target, claiming that an uncircumcised man
could not rule Kenya. It was unsurprising therefore that the
violence following the rigging should take an ethnic form. Indeed,
pre-election violence in Kuresoi, Molo, and Mount Elgon throughout
2007 foreshadowed what was to come.
Irresponsible politics may have created fertile ground for violence
but the Rift Valley's post-election bloodshed did not arise
spontaneously. It emerged as a result of incitement before the
election and coordination and organization, at least at the local
level.
Around Eldoret local ODM mobilizers and other prominent individuals
called meetings during the election campaign to urge violence in
the event of a Kibaki victory, arguing that if Kibaki was
announced as the winner it must mean the polls had been rigged and
the reaction should be 'war' against local Kikuyu residents. In
the days that followed, attacks were often meticulously organized
by local leaders.
Nor were the reprisal attacks by Kikuyu militia in Naivasha and
Nakuru spontaneous. PNU mobilizers and local businessmen called
meetings, raised funds, and directed youth in their attacks on
non-Kikuyus and their homes.
Identifying those behind the attacks should be a focus of the
inquiries into the violence. In addition, further investigations
are required in order to determine the extent of links between the
national leaderships of the opposition and ruling parties and
those who carried out the violence. There is circumstantial
evidence that suggests leaders may well have been at least aware
of what was happening and did little to stop it. Some may have
been more directly involved.
Across the country, the police response to demonstrations against
the declared election results involved excessive use of force,
leading to hundreds of deaths in late December and early January.
As the country slid into inter-ethnic violence, there were
examples of the police intervening to protect lives, but in many
other situations the police appear to have had little will or
capacity to prevent violence. Although the scale of the demands on
the police in many parts of the Rift Valley and western Kenya
means that failure to make arrests as violence was ongoing is
possibly understandable, the limited extent and slow pace of
investigations and prosecutions in recent weeks leave much to be
desired.
Many Kenyans have little faith in the police to act in a
professional, impartial, and timely manner; this reality only
encourages vigilantes to take the law into their own hands. The
new coalition government should urgently address the issue of
police capacity by seeking assistance, including from the UN and
foreign governments.
In addition to addressing the urgent protection needs and to
ensuring accountability through the institutions established as a
result of the National Dialogue and Reconciliation process, the
priority for the coalition government must be what Kofi Annan has
called a "reform agenda." Indeed the parties themselves have
acknowledged as much. The roots of the crisis are old and deep. If
the power-sharing arrangement for coalition government is to pave
the way for a genuinely democratic Kenya, where the rule of law
and fundamental civil and political rights are fully respected, a
new culture of accountable governance is required.
International actors and civil society played a significant role in
the political settlement in Kenya. They now have a role in
ensuring that the coalition government seizes this chance to end
impunity, deliver reform, and address the underlying causes of
violence, many of which are long-standing human rights violations.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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