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Use of violent tactics splits
police in Kenya
Officers say they were told to
burn slum shacks, shoot live rounds in a bid to suppress protests
Jan 22, 2008 04:30 AM
Katharine Houreld
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAIROBI–The police commander poured gasoline down the walls of
three slum shacks and set them alight. At each home, his officers
waited until his back was turned, then doused the flames.
The small rebellion is symptomatic of rifts within Kenya's police
force over harsh tactics ordered to suppress opposition protests,
some officers say – a new fracture in ethnic and political
conflicts tearing at the country since a disputed presidential
election
Several police officers sought out The Associated Press to express
concern over the tough measures they have been ordered to use
against opposition supporters protesting what they say was
President Mwai Kibaki's theft of the Dec. 27 ballot.
"People are separating into tribes," said one Muslim police
officer in Nairobi, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear
of losing his job. "What is outside is being reflected in the
force.''
Human rights groups say more than 650 people have died in an
election dispute that has sparked three overlapping conflicts –
between ruling party loyalists and the opposition, between ethnic
groups with long-held land grievances or connections to rival
politicians, and between police and the residents of Nairobi's
restive shantytowns.
Clashes have been particularly severe between Kibaki's Kikuyu
people, the largest ethnic group, and the Luo of opposition
presidential candidate Raila Odinga.
But rights groups say many deaths have been caused by police, who
have fired tear gas and live rounds at protesters. Several police
officers said they had been given ``shoot-to-kill" orders, and one
described "a general rebellion which has been compounded by that
kind of orders.''
The divisions further weaken a force already undermined by low pay
and a reputation for corruption. Meanwhile, police spokesperson
Eric Kiraithe has denied there are any splits within the force.
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