By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

KIGALI, Rwanda – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited a memorial for the victims of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide on Tuesday and said the Rwandan genocide “will haunt the United Nations and the international community for generations.”

Ki-moon observed a long moment of silence for the 800,000 people who died in the genocide, mainly members of President Paul Kagame’s Tutsi minority.   Ki-moon’s visit was the first for a UN secretary general since Kofi Annan visited in 2001.   There is still outstanding resentment towards the UN for failing to prevent the genocide, and Annan had on several occasions admitted to the body’s failure to take action. 

During his visit Ban Ki-moon pledged $10,000 from his personal resources to a fund set up by the Government to assist the survivors of the genocide and to educate hundreds of orphans.   

Ki-moon also stated that he supports Rwanda’s bid to receive and try genocide suspects from the Arusha based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).  The ICTR’s mandate expires at the end of this year and Rwanda has requested to take over any remaining cases at that point.  The tribunal was created in 1995 and has completed 35 case, with five of them ending in acquittal.  Six suspects are currently awaiting trial and 27 are currently undergoing trial. 

Meanwhile, President Paul Kigame told Reuters today that military intervention may be the only way to halt the escalating ethnic violence in Kenya.  Civil unrest and violence in Kenya since the re-election of President Mwai Kibaki last month has killed an estimated 850 people.   Kagame warned that Kenya should learn from Rwanda’s bloody history.   “It starts with five deaths, then 10, then 50, shortly it grows to 100, then it goes to thousands … By the time you realise, it has a dimension that is wiping out life in villages and communities and is getting out of control and the whole political situation is a mess,” he said.  “It is not too late for Kenyans to look back and see how our country went down the drain in the past and I don’t think we would wish a similar thing for any country.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Rwanda genocide will haunt world for generations: UN Chief – 29 January 2008

AllAfrica.com – Ban Ki-moon Says World Must Protect Civilians From Genocide – 29 January 2008

AllAfrica.com – Ki-Moon Backs Bid to Try ICTR Suspects – 30 January 2008

Reuters – Rwanda suggests military option for Kenya crisis – 30 January 2008

BBC News – Could Kenya become Rwanda? – 30 January 2008

By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

After 18 years spent in exile in Senegal, more than 100 black Mauritanian refugees will return home. These citizens were expelled from Mauritania after racial riots that took place in 1989. These race riots erupted in Mauritania and Senegal after a border dispute. Hundreds of people were killed, and others became the targets of attacks and land seizures. 35,000 black Mauritanians went into exile after ethnic purges were conducted by the Arab dominated government.

In November of last year, Mauritania and Senegal, signed a deal that allowed for a repatriation process monitored by the United Nations refugee agency. The deal will allow 12,000 refugees to return to Mauritania. The UN program will run until December 2008.

Francis Kpatinde, a representative of the UNHCR, reported the BBC that the repatriation process is voluntary, giving those who want to go home, the opportunity to do so. More than 24,000 people have expressed interest in returning home

The first volunteers were mostly women, children, and the elderly. The UNHCR will provide all refugees with assistance consisting of three months of food supply. Moreover, the UN will help the refugees reintegrate into society.

Refugees who have returned have received a mixed welcome. Khadi, a young man from Zouérat, the largest town in northern Mauritania stated “People are suffering and we lack everything. We don’t have water, electricity or work. And we have to accommodate thousands more people! That’s completely stupid.” Many are critical that these refugees will not be able to find food, land, and jobs.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Mauritanian refugees return home – 29 January 2008

BBC- Mauritania Country Profile   – 12 January 2008

Allafrica- Mauritania: First Refugees Returning From Senegal Get Mixed Welcome – 29 January 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya – The murder of an opposition leader today has triggered an on-set of violence again in Kenya. Mugabe Were, a lawmaker who won a seat in parliament, was shot to death as he drove home. Odinga claims the murder was a planned assassination given that Were had bullet wounds in both eyes. The police are treating his murder as a homicide but have not ruled out political motives. President Kibaki has condemned the killing and appeals for calm.

With the news of Were’s death, hundreds of men armed with machetes and clubs inset with nails gathered in Nairobi slums. One witness claimed the group dragged a Kikuyu doctor from his clinic and attacked him with machetes until “his head was off”. In the Mathare slum, volunteer aid worker Fospeter Oumaa witnessed a man dragged from his car and attacked with machetes. In the Kibera slum, homes dividing members of the Kikuyu and Luos tribes were set on fire.

Police have failed to control the violence throughout Kenya. Police on the ground and in helicopters fired at a mob of Kikuyus chasing hundreds of Luos outside the Naivasha Country Club. More deaths have been the results of police shooting than ethnic attacks. With the death rate at over 800, the Human Rights Groups have accused police officers of using excessive force.

Meanwhile, former UN chief Kofi Annan has begun formal talks of mediation. Annan says he hopes to resolve the immediate political issues within four weeks and the underlying ethnic crisis within a year.  Western donors have urged both sides to resolve the crisis, and consider a power-sharing solution or risk losing aid.

On Nairobi’s Capital FM radio station, U.S Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, whose father is Kenyan, appealed for “Kenyan leaders to rise above party affiliations and past ambitions for the sake of peace.”

For more information please see:

Yahoo News- Opposition Lawmaker Killed in Kenya – 29 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Annan Launches Kenya Mediation, Violence Spreads – 29 January 2008

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Eastern and Southern Africa

NAIVASHA, Kenya – Violence erupts once again in Kenya, one month after the disputed December 27 presidential election. Hundreds of people in rival tribes wielding machetes, clubs, and hammers clashed in the streets of Naivasha, Nikura, and Kisumu earlier today. According to Baraka Karama, a journalist for independent Kenya Television in Kisumu, the streets were literally covered in blood.

For several weeks angry Lous supporter of Raila Odinga have blocked roads, set buses, homes and cars on fire and attacked members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

According to witnesses, a gang of youths killed four Kikuyus with machetes and stoned to death two others in the villages around Eldoret. Other witnesses claim another person was burned alive in a minibus. “We wish to find one, a Kikuyu. … We will butcher them like a cow,” exclaimed David Babgy, 24.

In Naivasha this past weekend, thousands of armed Kikuyus confronted Luos, wanting revenge. At least 22 people were killed, nineteen of them Lous, after they were chased through a slum by a gang of Kikuyus and trapped in a shanty that they set on fire. According to a mortuary worker, 64 bodies laid in the morgue after this weekend’s clash.

The death toll has now passed the 800 mark.

The post election dispute has gone beyond the disputed presidential election, exposing a deep seated ethnic resentment. The bloodshed has been largely centered on the Rift Valley towns of Naivasha and Nakuru. After Kenya’s 1963 Independence from Great Britain, President Jomo Kenyatta proclaimed the Rift Valley for his Kiyuyu people. Since then Kiyuyus have dominated politics and the economy through a patronage system and corruption. The December 27 presidential election has unearthed years of concealed resentment; pitting neighbors against one another.

Mediation efforts have failed and there appears to be no sign of relief. Kibaki claims the door of communication is open but that his presidency is not negotiable. Odinga has rejected a power-sharing strategy and remains adamant that Kibaka must step down from his position. Thus the dispute remains at a deadlock.

On Sunday, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a proposal to both sides, asking each to choose a team of three negotiators and a liason officer who will work to reach a solution that is agreeable to both sides. Annan, who organized the first meeting between Kibaki and Odinga last week, is urging both sides to be prepared to make hard decision in order to restore the country’s stability.

Meanwhile, about 250,000 people are homeless. Schools have been closed for several weeks and used as shelters. Navisha, Kenya’s flower capital, and Nakuru, known for its wild-life filled lakes, has become war zones. The once picturesque tourist towns of Rift Valley are now no-go zones. The violence has resulted in slowed economic activity that will likely hit the tourism sector hard.

In 2007, Kenya earned 65.4 billion shillings in tourism. Last week, according to the Kenya Tourism Federation, the sector could be forced to lay off about half of its 250,000 employees to cope with losses arising from the unrest.

For more information please see:

MSNBC (AP) – Kenya Fighting Leaves Road ‘Covered in Blood’ – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Kenya’s Rift Valley Burns, Death Toll Soars – 28 January 2008

Yahoo News (AP) – Kenya Election Violence Spreads in West – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Violence Exposes Kenya’s Deep Ethnic Fault Lines – 28 January 2008

AllAfrica.com – Kenya: Rivals Given Roadmap to Peaceful End – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Kenya Shilling Recovers Losses vs Dollar, Unrest Weighs – 28 January 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya –  According to a press release issued by UNICEF yesterday, Kenya has seen a rise in child rapes since last month’s disputed presidential election sparked violence and forced thousands into makeshift camps.  UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told reports that overcrowding and lack of security at the camps are making women and children vulnerable to opportunistic sexual assaults.  Girls and women in the camp “trade sex for biscuits, protection, transportation, or are raped while trying to get to a latrine during the night.”

The Gender Violence Recovery Center in Mombasa has seen a doubling of sexual violence cases since last month’s elections, especially gang rapes of young girls and boys.  As a result of these attacks, there is a very high risk of HIV/AIDS spreading as many of the victims don’t report the attacks and are therefore not getting treatment within the recommended 72 hours to prevent infection.   

UNICEF has dispatched more than $1.2 million in emergency supplies and has had teams on the ground since the violence began.  However, more funds are needed to protect children from violence and abuse and to help who have already been affected. 

800 people have died and a quarter of a million have been forced to flee their homes following the 27 December election which sparked violent clashes between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Sex attacks on the rise in Kenya: UNICEF – 26 January 2008

AP – UNICEF: Kenya Child Rapes on Rise – 26 January 2008

AllAfrica.com – Kenya: UNICEF Warns of Abuses Against Children – 25 January 2008

VOA News – UNICEF Reports Sexual Violence Increasing in Kenya – 25 January 2008