Human Rights’ officials threatened
Human rights’ officials fear for their lives following a report released by an international group on post-election violence. The Human Rights Watch report accuses opposition leaders in the Rift Valley of planning skirmishes in the province. Eldoret human rights organisations said the report was being linked to them yet they did not participate in its preparation. Led by the Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (CHRD), Mr Ken Wafula, the officials said their lives were in now danger. “We are accused of feeding Human Rights Watch with information that led to the compilation of the report,” Wafula told the Press in Eldoret.
The document, Kenya: Opposition Officials Helped Plan Rift Valley Violence, says in part: “Human Rights Watch investigations indicate that, after Kenya’s disputed elections, opposition party officials and local elders planned and organised ethnic-based violence in the Rift Valley.”
The Eldoret Centre Against Torture Programme Officer, Mr David Koros, described the report as “biased, lopsided and against one community”.
“The report is dangerous. It singled out one community as perpetrators of the violence and overlooked where other communities were aggressors,” he said.
International human rights institutions have called on the Government to ensure the safety of activists threatened by militant groups. The Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions expressed concern over information that relates to threats against the Chairperson of the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights , Mr Maina Kiai, and his colleagues.
East African Standard
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