Kenyan Police on spot over abuse of refugees in Dadaab

Refugees in Dadaab Camp, Kenya. GUARDIAN

By Human Rights Watch

Police brutality in Dadaab in recent days suggests that the promises by senior police officials to investigate reports of mistreatment are nothing more than hot air. Despite many inquiries and promises of police reform, police in Dadaab respond to attacks by abusing anyone who happens to be nearby. Daniel Bekele, Africa director

(Nairobi) – Kenyan police arbitrarily arrested, detained, and beat refugees following the discovery of explosives and an attack on a police vehicle in the Dadaab refugee camps in mid-May 2012. Senior officials visiting the camps on May 23 should ensure a full and speedy investigation leading to the identification and disciplinary measures against any officer responsible for abuse and the compensation of victims.

“Police brutality in Dadaab in recent days suggests that the promises by senior police officials to investigate reports of mistreatment are nothing more than hot air,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite many inquiries and promises of police reform, police in Dadaab respond to attacks by abusing anyone who happens to be nearby.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed refugee leaders, aid agency staff, and nine victims of two attacks on the Hagadera and Dagahaley camps, two of the five in the Dadaab complex.

On May 11, two improvised explosive devices were discovered by police in Hagadera. That evening, police went house to house in blocks L and N of Hagadera camp indiscriminately beating residents while arresting others.

Six residents – four men and two women – told Human Rights Watch that police came to their homes asking for weapons, explosives, and the men of the house. But the police appeared to make no distinction between men, women, and children, beating and detaining anyone they found, and later requiring bribes of 10,000-15,000 Kenya shillings (US$115-175) in exchange for release.

A 17-year-old girl, who was at home when the police arrived, said: “They beat me with batons on my arms and back and legs. They lifted me outside the house and threw me into a big truck with so many people packed [in].” She was detained for 15 hours during which police, she said, “asked me to admit that I was the one who put the landmine in the road and I said that I have no idea.”

A 50-year-old man said: “They beat me with big sticks and a gun. They pulled me outside the house and threw me into a truck in which many other people were stacked like sacks of maize. They were beating and arresting people for six hours.”

Refugee leaders said at least 70 people were detained in Hagadera on the night of May 11, including three female minors. Aid agencies told Human Rights Watch that the figure was probably higher. The provincial police officer, Leo Nyongesa, contacted by Human Rights Watch on May 21, claimed no knowledge of the detentions and denied reports of police abuse.

One Hagadera refugee leader who requested anonymity said, “We are ready to cooperate with the police to improve the security but the police cannot be trusted since they beat everyone indiscriminately and unprofessionally.”

On May 15 an improvised explosive device went off under a police car near the market in Dagahaley camp, killing one police officer and injuring two others. According to four witnesses, police reacted by attacking residents in the market.

One man told Human Rights Watch: “I was closing my shop when three policemen stopped me and started slapping me with no question[s]. Theyentered the shop and searched inside. One of them was with me outside holding my hands crossed. I was horrified. People were running for their safety. They hit me with batons several times on the arms and shoulders.”

A female merchant in the market said that police beat her and destroyed her vegetables. Both witnesses said that police looted shops in Dagahaley market following the blast.

Abdifatah Ahmed Ismail, refugee chairman of Dagahaley camp, called the police reaction “deliberate robbery.” He said that “What the police did in Dagahaley was the same as what they did in Ifo [another camp in Dadaab] in December: looting the shops and business centers in the pretext of searching for explosives.”

Nyongesa told Human Rights Watch that a high-level delegation including the national police commissioner, Mathew Iteere, is scheduled to visit Dadaab on May 23 to assess the situation. He claimed to have no knowledge of recent police abuses, although he acknowledged that there had been problems in Dadaab in the past.

Human Rights Watch called on the Kenyan authorities to offer compensation to victims of abuse or looting.

In December 2011, following widespread police abuses against refugees, the police promised to investigate.

In response to earlier allegations about police misconduct in Dadaab in 2010, in October 2010, the Ministry of State for Internal Security established a team to investigate abuse. The team consisted of a representative of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims; two women representatives, one from the Dadaab area and one from a national women’s organization; a youth representative from Dadaab; and a representative of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya.

The team conducted an investigation and drafted a report, which was submitted to the Ministry of State for Internal Security, but never made public. The ministry did not respond to repeated requests from Human Rights Watch in 2011 for a copy. A member of the team told Human Rights Watch that the team found significant evidence of human rights abuses by members of the security forces, but that the ministry did not take any action to hold those responsible to account. Since then, no public statement has been made about any such investigation.

“Senior Kenyan officials should recognize that this abusive police behavior is counterproductive and order all police forces deployed in Dadaab to treat residents with restraint and respect,” Bekele said. “There is no excuse for this abuse.

Will Fundamental Islamists fill the void left by Arab Revolution?

Demonstrators at Tahrir Square, Egypt.

Last Friday after prayers from mosques Muslim Brotherhood lead demonstrators at Tahrir Square which was the largest after the 11^th February overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters led by salafist calling for a strict implementation of sharia laws are stoking fears and tension from secularist whose basis for democracy and freedom was core for the Arab revolution. The secularist who started the revolution boycotted the demonstrations last week and they risk being pushed away by Muslims.

With over 90% Muslim population and the Brotherhood being the longest opposition party and the one that suffered most under Mubarak this demonstration is an attempt in showing its muscle in the country’s politics.

The BBC reported death, violence and guns shots were heard especially in Sinai region bordering Israel by Islamists.

Arab dictators loathed by their citizens and backed by the West helped curb fundamentalists groups like Al-Qaeda through the iron rule. Ironically their control couldn’t reach the mosques making radicals to flourish through religion.

It was from the mosques that last week’s protests were organized as torture and indiscriminate jailing is controlled, will radicalism find a free opening?

Already Israel which abuts Arab countries is afraid of Islamist shifting the revolution away from it course which may aid the Hamas.

Though the revolution desire to outset a dictator by popular uprising is the main glue holding together disparate functions, tribes and religions, once the erstwhile figure is removed there is danger on internecine squabbles to start.

Consider the killing of Libya’s National Transitional Councils commander Abdel Fatah Younes who defected from the government to aid his tribe in Benghazi. Reports indicate he was killed by rebels from an opposing tribe.

Gaddafi has already gone on record taunting the West supporting the rebels that his 42 year iron rule checked tribal and religious strife in his country, which begs the picture after his demise.

Further in Yemen the upheaval has disintegrated into tribal functions and Al-Qaeda clawing each other and the government giving President Abdullah Saleh a life line.

The picture is grim in Syria where the 40 year of ASSAD dynasty is fraying at the edge with the West and neighbors fearing the void left behind. This void with over 200 sects and tribes and the country which abuts Middle East volatile areas has made a resort to soft diplomacy unlike open one in Libya.

“What makes Syria distinct is that the region and the system has a close structural link with every conflict or player in the region: Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, America, Iraq, Turkey.” Rami Khoun, a Middle East analyst from Lebanon is quoted by Reuters.

This Syrian empty space, reflecting other Arab revolutions, can cause sectarian  violence and satellite sates between Shi’ites and Sunnis, Arabs and Kurds/Tribes, and Christians and Muslims which Islamists like Al-qaeda can thrive in the turmoil.

Is muhadhara the best way for Christian-Muslim harmony in the world?

Kenyan US Embassy in rubbles during the 1998 terrorist attack.

Can the truculent debate on the Kenyan constitution concerning kadhi courts and the violence of Boko Haram in Nigeria be quelled by having muhadharas, a crusade involving both Christians and Christians?

Often arranged by Seventh Day Adventists and Muslims, the muhadhara have been gaining ground up country and especially in the capital. For the past two week one has been going on at Mother Teresa Road in Eastlands.

For readers new to this crusade here is a scene: in an open strategic space a Muslim cleric and a pastor seat in two opposing tables filled with religious books and a reader. Their debates aired by PAS are controlled by an agreed regulator by both sides.

Teachings from both religions are shared, questioned, argued and discussed with emotions checked by a blessing from the police, organizers and the regulator. Most common involves trinity, if Christ is the son of God or a prophet, is Mohammed god sent and the place of jihad amongst others.

An example is 1^st Samwel 13:1-2 in bibles major English versions, Kiswahili and Mother tongue which gives different years with omissions on the year at which King Saul reigned in ancient Israel.

Winning converts from across the fold is paramount without bloodshed but controlled arguments like the violence in Egypt recently between orthodox Christians and Muslims when a Christian girl was ‘held’  in a mosque against her wishes.

Though debates are heated, after a muhadhara the organizers mingle easily and even share a meal.

While still an undergrad in Maseno University Muslim and Adventists students organized a successful one week muhadhara to streamline and share on both religions.

Though it can aid to check extremism a look at it causes like poor government services, unemployment , unfair distribution of resources, tribalism and wide spread corruption can still be potent.

Considering that the high hand control of autocratic government on public life of its citizens by detention couldn’t touch religion.  Citizens looking for psychological satisfaction turned to mosques and ready hands of radical clerics.

Additionally the 1967 six day Arab-Israeli war killed the pan-Arab spirit and nationhood to terrorism, the same can be said of the 2007/08 PEV that killed nationhood and replaced it with tribalism.

This link may seem remote but a look at the 400 meters Mother Teresa Road with 3 muhadharas in past 2 months and joining four Eastlands ghetto is a replica of the country. There are 18 churches, 4 mosques and 123 witchdoctors as residents turn to religion amid raw sewages, muddy streets without title deed to their lands, clinic, council services and even a police post.

Scene on bombing scare at Kampala bus on December 2010

Tribal imaginary lines drawn by 2007/08 PEV are still evident coming to fore on tribal names on shops and music from stores. The police are yet to prosecute a single suspect to the death that claimed about 1,500 people with others still displaced.

Still not connecting the dots? Then roger this: Kenya, most failed state in East Africa with widest divide between poor and rich has produced and sheltered jihads to Somalia and its citizens arrested for the world cup Uganda bombings!

The 2009 Kenyan Census Results; the High number of Illegal Somali Immigrants in the Country Serious

The 2009 population and house census released at the end of August last year by hon. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya showed the extent to which Kenya is at risk from over decade unrest in Somalia.

During the official release of the results the Ministry for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 nullified about 2.4 million results of Kenyan of Somali descend due to massive inconsistency.

The 2,385, 572 figure of Kenyan Somalis which placed them as the sixth largest tribe in the country against the country’s 38,610,097 is nullified and awaits a further update after a recount.

“the ratio of increase in eight most affected districts was higher that the population dynamics like birth and death rates, age and sex too deviated from the norm while the household size was without significance to the number of household” the official release explained.

The affected districts included Lagdera, Wajir East, Mandera Central, Mandera East, Mandera West, Turkana Central, Turkana North and Turkana South.

The most affected are Lagdera and Wajir East with a total of 469,541.

This shows only a tip of the iceberg since the effect was not reflected in illegal immigrants inland.

The recount after the 24-25^th August 2009 census on the affected areas is expected to take longer. According to the official release, complexity of logistics like transport, insecurity concern and competition of other national interests like drought were the major challenges and will surely affect the count.

Additionally, the Ksh 8.4 billion budget allocation to the exercise has been allocated and new money will require a budgetary allocation before bureaucracy bottle neck starts.

The inconsistency is mostly caused by influx of Somali immigrants escaping the war in their country have had its effect not only in region, but all the way to Nairobi and Kampala.  

According to unpublished UN reports and leaked diplomatic cables in Wiki leaks, Kenyan government is heavily involved in the Somali crisis by pitting the weak transitional government against rebels Al-shabaab.

“Kenyan government have aided in training of police, armed forces and Kenyan Somali youths illegally for the Somali government” Michael Rennebeger is quoted in the latest Wiki leaks cables.

The leak goes further into blaming two Kenyan youths for carrying out suicide bombing in Mogadishu claiming 21 lives: 17 soldiers, 11 of which were Burundian, 4 civilians and injuring over 15 people.

The precursor to the effect portrayed by the census was the Somalia and Ethiopian forces fighting the Al-shabaab spilling over into Kenya at Mandera town, which was affected by the inconsistency, in the border region few weeks ago.

Kenyan government in Nairobi was caught flat footed as over 20 people were killed and other injured. It took a serious of denial before TV footage forced Kenya to act during the heavy shelling and gun fight.

Although Kenyan forces helped subdue the uprising and increased border patrol and crack down of Somali immigrants traveling inland, the mood with Al-shabaab is frosty.

The terrorist has vowed a suicide attack in Kenya akin to the one they carried out during the final of world cup in Kampala Uganda which claimed more than 70 lives and injured over 100.

Sadly, the attack was planned by Kenyan Somalis and planned in Kenya showing how vulnerable the country is.

Prof. George Saitoti Kenyan security minister is adamant that Kenya is not involved in Somalia crisis and wont sent its troop in volatile country although Kenyan security is suffering from the war.

“Kenya will sent security forces along its border with Somalia to beef up the security” the minster is quoted telling the parliament and Kenyans.

This has interception of illegal immigrants from North Eastern and Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate with high number of immigrants.

These antics may go down the drain with corruption in immigration ministry, sense of victimization of Somalis and Muslims curtailing the processes.

Police commissioner Mathews Iteere reacting to Al-shabaab threat in Kenya recently released 9 suspects wanted for aiding Al-shabaab in planning an attack. The police too aided in fouling a Kampala bomber in Nairobi trying to reach Uganda by bus.

A recount of the census in the affected regions should be speeded up and the reasons of inconsistency brought out and immigrants in the region known and registered as refugees.

Why is the recount important?

“Collecting demographic and socio-economic data is essential for decision making process in government and stake holders in policy formulation” Edward Sambili, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 is quoted talking to journalist in a workshop.

On the other hand, the citizens of these districts and other stakeholders like trader and NGOs have the right to the results as all other Kenyans.

The 2009 population and housing census have shown Kenya’s soft under belly, the sustainable recount should show the way forward.