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Text File | 1994-06-01 | 42KB | 770 lines

<text> <title> Human Rights Watch World Report 1992: Kenya </title> <article> <hdr> Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 Africa Watch: Kenya </hdr> <body> Human Rights Developments Nineteen ninety-one was marked by the growing number of voices in Kenya challenging the long-term denial of human rights. Late in the year, after persistent resistance, the government of President Daniel Arap Moi yielded ground to internal and external demands for greater political freedom. Immediately after international donors decided in late November to suspend new assistance for six months pending economic and political reforms, President Moi in December announced the legalization of multiparty politics. Other welcome developments included the release of the three political detainees whose detention had been officially acknowledged by the government and the decision not to carry out certain threats to the freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary. However, the basic institutional structure of authoritarian and repressive rule remained intact. The pressure for a multiparty political system remained the central human rights issue in 1991. The year began on a promising note with the announcement of reforms such as the end of the queue-voting system for elections, in which electors were left open to intimidation by the requirement that they stand behind a photograph of the candidate of their choice, and the promise to cease expelling government critics from the Kenyan African National Union (KANU), the single ruling party. In September, President Moi reneged on his earlier promise and began to expel dissidents from KANU. Among those expelled were opposition leaders Martin Shikuku, Masinde Muliro, Philip Gachoka, George Nthenge and Salim Ahmed. On December 3, in a major shift, the president announced the repeal of Section 2a of the Constitution, introduced in 1982 to ban opposition groups. Until then, President Moi repeatedly had denounced supporters of the democracy movement, often by name, as "traitors" and "anarchists," and accused them of receiving foreign financing with the intention of destabilizing Kenya. Earlier attempts to challenge KANU's monopoly of political organization were promptly suppressed. The attempts of a prominent government critic, former Vice President Oginga Odinga, to register his National Democratic Party in March were frustrated, and Oginga was briefly detained while his house was searched in May. Later, Oginga tried to register the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), but was also prevented from doing so. The president banned efforts to observe the first anniversary of the July 7, 1990 pro-democracy riots that left over a hundred people dead. He also issued a statement banning a public rally scheduled for October 5. The organizers had sought legal permission and the matter was pending in court at the time. The president's actions led them to withdraw their request, stating that executive interference in the judiciary had made a mockery of the judicial process. Oginga's bodyguard and over twenty others were detained on suspicions of supporting FORD. Oginga's son, Raila, who had spent most of the 1980s detained without charge or trial, was subjected to regular intimidation and, in October, fled the country. On October 29, the Moral Alliance for Peace was established by, among others, Reverend Timothy Njoya of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa; lawyers Martha Njoka and Beatrice Nduta; the editor of the proscribed magazine Beyond, Bedan Mbugua; and Professor Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt Movement. The Mombasa KANU Branch chairman, Shariff Nassir, promptly declared the Alliance to be an illegal political party. On November 3, George Nthenge, a founding member of FORD, was arrested and, two days later, charged along with three others for holding an illegal meeting in Machakos; he was released on bail after pleading not guilty. On November 1, President Moi banned a public rally called by FORD for November 16. The action was the government's most serious effort to deny the right to political participation. In a show of force, police arrested opposition leaders and broke up the pro-democracy rally. The crackdown began on the night of November 14-15, when police began arresting FORD members and their supporters in Kisumu and Nairobi. Oginga Odinga, a FORD founder, was arrested together with Gitobu Imanyara, editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly; Dennis Akumu, a former secretary general of the Accra-based Organization of African Trade Union Unity; George Nthenge, a FORD member and former member of Parliament; Luke Obok, also a former member of Parliament; Philip Gachoka, a businessman and FORD member; Salim Ndamwe, secretary general of Oginga Odinga's unregistered National Democratic Party; John Kamangara, a businessman; and at least five others, including Oginga Odinga's bodyguards. Some of those arrested were taken to Nairobi's Wilson airport and put on board a police aircraft and a helicopter with cardboard covering the windows to hide them. At least eleven people were arrested in Kisumu. The November 16 rally site--the Kamukunji grounds in Nairobi--was cordoned off by armed police and the paramilitary General Service Unit. Security forces were put on alert with paratroopers manning roadblocks around Nairobi and checking identities. Journalists were turned back. Another eight people were arrested on the day of the rally, including Paul Muite, a government critic and chair of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK); Masinde Muliro, a former Cabinet minister and a FORD member; Martin Shikuku and Philip Gachoka, both FORD members; and two Nairobi lawyers, James Orengo and Japheth Shamalla. They faced charges of violating the Public Order Act. Oginga Odinga and Masinde Muliro were released on bail and the others appeared in court on November 18-19 and were remanded. Between one and two dozen foreign and local journalists were harassed and arrested at the Kamukunji grounds on November 16, but were later released without charge. Miles Bredin, bureau chief of United Press International, was hit on the head with a police truncheon but avoided serious injury. Scores of FORD supporters and demonstrators were also arrested. Hundreds of demonstrators showed up outside the police cordon at the rally site. Helicopters circled overhead as tension mounted. Security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges to disperse thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets after opposition leaders seeking to hold the rally were arrested. Police beat demonstrators, fired shots in the air, and lobbed canisters of tear gas to break up the generally peaceful demonstrators. American and German diplomats trying to observe the rally were turned back by the police and later accused of having "masterminded" the rally. The ensuing unrest in the area surrounding the Kamukunji grounds was easily contained, but not without bloodshed among the protestors. Stones were thrown at the police and motorists, and security forces retaliated with rubber bullets and volleys of tear gas. One person was reported to have died in the clashes when he was trampled to death by a crowd being chased by the riot police, and at least seven others, one of whom later died, received gunshot wounds from both live ammunition and rubber bullets. Later in the day, buses were stoned by protestors and barricades of burning tires were erected in the nearby suburb of Eastleigh as security forces patrolled the streets. There were also disturbances in Pumwani and Mathare after the arrest of the FORD members. In Pumwani, a KANU office was burned down. The center of Nairobi was virtually deserted. By November 19, at least eighty-six people had appeared in court and been arraigned or charged in connection with the banned rally. Some of the charges were dropped in late November. However, some