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Amnesty International - Killings
continue in Kenya
28 January 2008
Reports from Kenya indicate that up to 70 people have been killed
in ethnic killings since Thursday last week. Ten people were
killed in Naivasha town west of Nairobi yesterday - six of them
were burnt and four were hacked to death.
The attacks came as armed members of the Kikuyu community targeted
members of the Luo and Kalenjin communities, who are seen as
having supported the opposition candidate. Up to 60 people have
been killed in similar attacks in Nakuru town, the capital of the
Rift Valley Province.
The latest attacks appear to be reprisal attacks aimed at
perceived supporters of the opposition candidate, in response to
earlier attacks against those perceived to be supporters of the
President.
On Friday, Amnesty International called on the Kenyan government
to take all appropriate steps to protect people from human rights
abuses caused by politically-motivated and ethnic attacks.
"The government has an obligation to protect its citizens from
politically-motivated and ethnic attacks – but in doing so must
only use force that is both necessary and proportional," said
Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa
Programme.
According to official government statistics, about 680 people have
been killed since 30 December in the aftermath of December’s
disputed presidential elections. Other sources indicate that the
figure could be much higher.
Those killed include dozens who were shot dead by the police, who
were deployed to quell the violence or break up mass protests
called by the opposition against the election results.
The UN estimates that over 255,000 people have become internally
displaced as a result of the violence and that more than 6,000
others have fled to Uganda as refugees.
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