By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JILIB, Somalia – Kenya’s efforts to find members of the hardline Islamic group Al-Shabab went slightly offline on Sunday.  During an air raid over Jilib, a coastal town in southern Somalia, a bomb fell on a refugee camp that is home to more than 7,500 people.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF or Doctors Without Borders), an aid organization that participates in the camp’s operations, five people, including three children, had died so far and another 45 had been hospitalized due to wounds sustained from shrapnel.  Due to the bombing activities, MSF has temporarily withdrawn its staff from the area.

“So today the nutrition clinic and cholera centre are closed,” explained mission leader Gautam Chatterjee.  “We will re-open as soon as things are a bit safer for our staff there.”

The strike was aimed at an Al-Shabab camp that was also located in Jilib.  Based on intelligence that a senior official was present, several aircraft flew overhead.  The refugee camp bombing was an accident due to an errant bomb.  Kenya confirmed the attack on the Shabab base, but denied harming the refugee camp.

Major Emmanuel Chirchir, a spokesman for the Kenyan military, said: “We bombed an al-Shabab camp, killed 10 and wounded 47. We are sure about this assessment, no collateral damage, no women, no children.”

Chirchir initially denied claims that the military had bombed the camp.

“MSF is being used by al-Shabab [for propaganda purposes],” he told the BBC program Focus on Africa.  The military later admitted that civilian casualties may have been incurred, but not due to the airstrike itself.  Instead, a vehicle filled with ammunition and high explosives caught fire during the raid.  In trying to escape, the driver brought it into the refugee camp, where it exploded.  The resulting blast was deemed the cause of civilian casualties from his perspective.

MSF’s departure is another setback for humanitarian aid in Somalia, a conflict-ravaged East African country that has not had a stable government for more than 20 years.  Six areas presently under Al-Shabab control are in a state of famine, as declared by the United Nations.  But while the present skirmishes continue, the prospects of delivering much-needed aid are slim.

“The new escalation in fighting and insecurity along the Kenya-Somalia border risks increasing the suffering for civilians already devastated by drought and conflict,” another aid organization, Oxfam, said in a statement it issued last month. “The situation in Somalia is increasingly alarming.”

Al-Shabab has promised reprisals against the invaders.

“Kenya has brutally massacred civilians already displaced by hardship … We will ensure that Kenya mourns more than we did,” said Sheikh Abukar Ali Ada, a regional Al Shabab official.  “They cowardly killed around 15 civilians. We will similarly target them and take revenge.”

Though it has some backing from the Somali government, Kenya has no timetable for withdrawal other than saying that it will leave when it feels safe again.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Somali ‘Civilians Killed’ in Kenyan Air Raids — 31 October 2011

BBC — Kenya Air Raid in Somalia Jilib Town ‘Kills Civilians’ — 31 October 2011

Daily Nation — Death Toll in Kenya Raid in Somalia Rises to Five — 31 October 2011

Daily Nation — Kenya, Somalia Seek Support for War on Al Shabaab — 31 October 2011

Garowe Online — Kenyan Air Strike in Somalia ‘Kills Five and Wounds Dozens’ — 31 October 2011

New York Times — Aid Group Says Refugee Camp in Somalia Was Hit by Airstrike — 31 October 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – Ten days ago, Kenya began a campaign to hunt down members of the radical Islamist militant group Al-Shebab, which occupies much of southern Somalia.  Its offensive has brought forces across the shared border between the two countries.  The new incursion has drawn scrutiny from Somalia and poses risks to both countries’ future security.

Kenya has been a relatively stable country since gaining independence in 1963, becoming a Western ally and a popular tourist destination.  But a series of abductions credited to Al-Shebab, including one of humanitarian workers at a Somali refugee camp, led Kenya to strike back, launching its current action.  Or at least this was the initial claim.  Wednesday, spokesman Alfred Matua changed the rationale by saying that the abductions acted as a “good launchpad.”

“An operation of this magnitude is not planned in a week,” he said. “It’s been in the pipeline for a while.”

Part of the reason for this move appears to be economic gain, rather than security.

“This isn’t about tourism,” said a senior Kenyan official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “This is about our long-term development plan. Kenya cannot achieve economically what it wants with the situation the way it is in Somalia, especially Kismayu,” referring to a planned port city 60 miles south of the border that is occupied by Al-Shebab.

“Just imagine you’re trying to swim,” he added. “If someone is holding your leg and your arm, how far can you swim?”

For years, the United States has been providing weapons and training to the Kenyan military to aid in protecting its borders from its anarchic neighbor.  But this may be the first time Kenya has actually taken military action into Somalia.  The U.S. denied involvement in the present campaign, but acknowledged Kenya’s right to defend itself.  The Pentagon is watching the affair, finding promising initial returns, but fearing the potential next step.

A man claiming to be a member of Al-Shebab pled guilty to carrying out a pair of grenade attacks in Nairobi, the capital, on Wednesday.  The attacks have put the city on high alert.  Al-Shebab has affiliated itself with Al Qaeda and has carried out numerous suicide attacks in Somalia.  One of its goals is to overthrow Somalia’s transitional government, whose forces succeeded in taking control of Qoqani, a border town in the Lower Juba Region.  Despite the setback, the organization vows to stand strong in the face of the Kenyan incursion.

“Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing,” said Sheikh Hassan Turki, a senior Al-Shebab leader.

Though Al-Shebab is an enemy to the interim government, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has stated his opposition to the incursion from the beginning, calling the action a potential breach of sovereignty and saying that an agreement with Kenya to run a cooperative security operation against Al-Shebab only allowed Kenya to train Somali troops.

His sentiments have not been echoed within his government.  Internal Security Minister George Saitoti sought an explanation of the president’s statements, which implied that he was turning away from the cooperative security agreement.

“In the light of this the Kenya Government is seeking clarification of the Somali government’s position as it is essential to have a unified approach in dealing with the destabilisation of Somalia by Al-Shebab, and its threats to peace and security to Kenya and the region,” Saitoti said.

One of the major questions that Kenya faces as the operation continues will be the ramifications of this action.  It is expected to have major implications on the delivery of humanitarian aid to the famine-ravaged Horn of Africa.  Mere days after the incursion started, several organizations with operations in Somalia had to suspend operations.  At best, the situation will be a temporary hiccup.  At worst, it will slow aid delivery to a halt.  An extended campaign may give Al-Shebab exactly the motivation it needs to make good on its promise to attack.

For more information, please see:

BBC — Kenya-Somali Border Attack: Al-Shabab Suspected — 27 October 2011

The Standard — Somalia Split over Hunt for Al Shabaab — 27 October 2011

Africa Review — Somali President Wants Kenya Troops Out — 26 October 2011

New York Times — Kenyan Motives in Somalia Predate Recent Abductions — 26 October 2011

Al Jazeera — Kenya Sends Troops to Attack Al-Shabab — 24 October 2011

IRIN — Kenya-Somalia: A Risky Intervention — 20 October 2011

By Tamara Alfred

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Earlier this month, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, won the 2011 Martin Ennas Award for Human Rights Defenders.  The award is given annually by 10 of the world’s leading human rights NGOs and has been referred to as the Nobel prize for human rights.  Nabagesera is the founder and executive director of the LGBT rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda.

The situation for Uganda’s LGBT community is extremely difficult, with numerous documented cases of discrimination, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture and other ill-treatment based solely on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Activists who work to expose such abuses are frequently targeted.

In late January, Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was murdered after the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone published a list of Uganda’s 100 “Top Homos” and called for the people named in the list to be hanged.  Nabagesera’s name also appeared on the list.

“I’ve lived my life fighting openly for gay rights in Uganda, and I’ve had to pay a price for that,” Nabagesera previously told Amnesty International.  “I’ve been evicted from house to house; my office has been evicted; I can no longer move on the streets openly; I’ve been attacked.”

Currently, homosexuality is a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.  On Tuesday, Parliament voted to reopen a debate over a bill that seeks to expand on the criminalization of homosexuality and make it punishable by the death penalty.

The legislation was first proposed in October 2009 by Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati.  The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee suggested that the penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” should be the same as for “defilement,” a crime that is punishable by death.  The bill could mandate the death penalty or life in prison for people who are identified as gay, or caught engaging in homosexual acts.

The bill had failed at the end of the previous legislative session after an international outcry directed at the nation.  Both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the bill, and more than 1.6 million people around the world signed a petition urging the Parliament to let the bill die.

However, the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga announced Tuesday that the legislature was interested in saving the bills from the previous parliament.

MP Barnabus Tinkasimire backed the bill, saying, “the anti-gays Bill is overdue because the spirit of my ancestors tell me that they lived without these practices [homosexuality]…We can’t afford to stay with such ills in our society and when it comes before the floor, we shall all pass it and support it.”

Bahati had previously said that the bill is aimed at stamping out western-imported immoral behaviors from society, protecting the moral fabric of the nation, saving the traditional family and buttressing legislation against ‘gayism.’

Uganda is not the only African nation currently dealing with gay rights.  Various other countries, including Ghana and Malawi, have passed laws making homosexuality illegal, while some in Zimbabwe are seeking to have gay rights included in the constitution.

For more information, please see:

Advocate.com – Ugandan Parliament Revisits Kill-The-Gays Bill – 25 October 2011

AllAfrica.com – Zimbabwe: Prime Minister Criticised for Supporting Gays – 25 October 2011

San Diego Gay & Lesbian News – “Kill the Gays Bill” returns, passage could be “imminent” – 25 October 2011

The New York Times – Uganda: Anti-Gay Bill Is Revived – 25 October 2011

Bikya Masr – Uganda gay activist wins human rights award – 15 October 2011

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – On Friday, 14 October, President Obama reported that he sent 100 U.S. troops to Uganda to hunt the leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (“LRA”).  President Obama said this notoriously violent group “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women and children in central Africa.”  The LRA has also forced boys to fight and used girls as sex slaves.

The troops act as advisers to support the regional forces striving to remove head of LRA, Joseph Kony, and his advisers from the battlefield.  President Obama deployed these troops to further U.S. national security interests and foreign policy along with countering LRA efforts in central Africa.

LRA has killed over 2,400 and abducted more than 3,400 people since 2008.  LRA activity has displaced over 380,000 people in the region.  Formed in the 1980s, LRA engaged in a twenty-year war in northern Uganda and its neighboring countries.

Although the U.S. has provided over $40 million along with logistical support, non-lethal equipment, and training and intelligences assistance to support regional efforts to remove the LRA since 2008, the effort has been unsuccessful.

On Wednesday, President Obama deployed the forces to “provide information, advice and assistance to select partner nations.”  The combat-equipped troops will only engage LRA forces as a self-defense necessity.  With each country’s approval, the troops, primarily comprised of Special Operations Forces, will deploy to Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

President Obama did not comment on the deployment duration, but a U.S. military spokesperson said, “Forces are prepared to stay as long as necessary to enable regional security forces to carry on independently”.

The International Criminal Court (“ICC”) issued arrest warrants for Kony and four close aides in 2005 for crimes against humanity and war crimes.  In 2008, Kony refused to sign a peace deal with the Ugandan government because the agreement would not guarantee withdrawal of the ICC arrest warrants.

Uganda’s acting foreign minister Henry Okello Oryem reported he welcomed the U.S. troops now, but the region has begged the Americans and Europeans to help fight these international terrorists for twenty years.

The 34 LRA-affected groups in northern Congo, Central African Republic, and Southern Sudan communicated their appreciation to President Obama’s commitment to address this problem in December through a letter.

Their letter stated, “Each day that goes by without a solution to the problem of the LRA is another day of terror and pain for those of us living under constant threat of renewed attacks . . . .  During these attacks, our family members were killed in unimaginably savage ways: their heads crushed with clubs or machetes; their faces disfigured; and their genitals, mouths, ears, legs and arms cut off, for no reason other than to terrorize.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Uganda: US Help Against Rebels Overdue – 15 Oct 2011

Xinhua – Obama Sends US Military to Help Fight Lord’s Resistance Army – 15 Oct 2011

BBC – US to Send Troops to Uganda to Help Fight LRA Rebels – 14 Oct 2011

CNN – Obama Orders U.S. Troops to help chase down African ‘Army’ Leader – 14 Oct 2011

 

By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Court (ICC) took a major step forward as Cape Verde became the latest Member State to accede to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC which prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes again humanity and war crimes.

The Statute will take effect for Cape Verde on 1 January 2012, bringing the total number of states party to the ICC to 119.

The ICC President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, welcomed Cape Verde into the tribunal system, saying: “As the first Lusophone country in Africa to ratify the Rome Statute, Cape Verde has not only demonstrated its commitment to international criminal justice but also taken us one step further towards a truly universal system of the Rome Statute, representative of all peoples, cultures and legal systems of the world.”

And yet, the ICC suffered a blow when Malawi rejected calls to arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes in Darfur.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika ignored the outcry at his hosting of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir as he opened a regional trade summit Friday.

Bashir is the first sitting president indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued a warrant in 2008 for his arrest on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Bashir was among six heads of state at the meeting of the 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), despite calls from the European Union and international rights groups for Malawi to arrest him.

The trade talks, however, have been overshadowed by the uproar over Bashir’s visit.

Malawi is a signatory to the ICC, but senior officials told the media that Bashir would not be arrested.  Malawi’s Information Minister Patricia Kaliati told the BBC it was not her government’s “business” to arrest Bashir.

President Mutharika made no mention of Bashir as he opened the summit.  Recently, Mutharika has become a staunch critic of the ICC, according to the BBC’s Joel Nkhoma.  Mutharika accuses the court of unfairly targeting African leaders and believes that Africa should set up its own court to try alleged war criminals.  Several other African countries have also refused to arrest Bashir and the African Union has urged the UN to suspend the arrest warrant.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Malawi to arrest Bashir, noting the country’s “obligations under international law to comply with the International Criminal Court.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Omar al-Bashir arrest request rejected by Malawi – 14 October 2011

AFP – Malawi ignores outcry at Bashir visit for trade summit – 13 October 2011

UN News Centre – Cape Verde ratifies treaty setting up International Criminal Court – 13 October 2011