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Human Rights’ officials
threatened
Published on January 28, 2008, 12:00 am
By Vincent Bartoo and Samuel Otieno
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.
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