By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya—Along Kenya’s southeastern Tana River Delta region, several mass graves have been discovered. This has shed new light on the ethic tribal violence in that region of the country. In the past month, over 100 people have been killed as a result of these tribal conflicts. This death toll was thought to continue to rise as the authorities attempted to identify and count bodies at these graves. However, no bodies were found.

This conflict began earlier this year, in mid-August, between the Pokomo people, who are mostly farmers involved in growing cash crops along the Tana River, and the Orma tribe, a group of semi-nomadic cattle herders. The violence between these two groups has often been attributed to disputes over water and grazing rights.

In the past, the root of many violent conflicts in Kenya stemmed from local tribal animosities. However, the country seemed to be a relatively peaceful and politically stable nation until only a few years ago.

In 2008, tensions over ethnic differences burst into violence after the round of contested 2007 presidential elections. The race stirred up much conflict between the incumbent’s tribe and their opposition. This developed into countrywide conflict and Kenya, as a nation continues to struggle with these types of ethnic and local tensions.

A team of pathologists and gravediggers began working earlier today to exhume the gravesites and look for bodies. At the outset, there was no real sense of what exactly they would find or how many bodies they would find. Police officials noted that any bodies found there are likely to have been buried there by a raiding party that carried off their comrades during an attack. Over 1,000 of paramilitary police have been sent to that region in order to quiet any future attacks.

The results of the search have resulted in only one human foot and no bodies. Aggrey Adoli, the regional police chief, suggested that the site may have been tampered with. He said, “We believed the bodies were removed to hide the identities. Our plan was to take fingerprints of the bodies and that would have led us to their origins.” Without any findings, the police decided to call off the operation.

After the continued violence that flooded the country since the contested elections several years ago, many people now fear a new surge of violence as the country prepares for another set of elections in March 2013.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Kenya Tana River Delta: ‘Mass Graves’ Mystery – 20 September 2012

Capital News – No Bodies Found in Suspected Mass Grave in Kenya – 20 September 2012

The Telegraph – Mass Grave Fuels Kenya Tensions – 20 September 2012

International Business Times – Mass Graves Discovered in Kenya – 18 September 2012

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DODOMA, Tanzania – On Tuesday, September 18, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) elected Justice Sophia A. B. Akuffo from Ghana as its new President for a two-year term.

Justice Akuffo succeeds Justice Gérard Niyungeko from Burundi who served as the first President of the AfCHPR from 2006 to 2008 and was re-elected for the 2010 to 2012 term.

Justice Sophia Akuffo’s election as President was held during the AfCHPR’s 26th ordinary session. She joined the AfCHPR as a Judge in 2006 and was re-elected in 2008 for a six-year term. The same year she was re-elected as AfCHPR Judge, she was also elected as Vice-President of the Pan-African Court for a two-year term. As soon as her term as Pan-African Court Vice-President ended, she was elected to the same position again in September 2010.

A Judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Justice Sophia A. B. Akuffo is an active member of several legal organizations in Africa, including the Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute.

The President of the AfCHPR is elected among serving Judges of the Court for a two-year term. This term is renewable only once based on the Protocol establishing the African Court and the Rules of the Court.

With regard to the position AfCHPR vice-president, the vacancy has yet to be filled. According to Jean Pierre Uwanone, the AfCHPR spokesperson, the election of the vice-president will be announced at a later date this year.

Justice Sophia Akuffo’s election comes a day after the AfCHPR swore in two newly elected judges who were elected by the 19th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. These two judges, namely Judges El Hadji Guissé and Ben Kioko, were elected on 16 July 2012 for a six year term each. Earlier during the Judges’ swearing-in ceremony, the AfCHPR dedicated a minute of silence in memory of the late Ugandan Justice Joseph Nyamihana Mulenga who passed away last month. The AfCHPR has not named Justice Nyamihana’s replacement yet.

The AfCHPR, an Arusha-based court, was established by African countries to ensure the protection of human and peoples’ rights in the continent. It is a judicial body that aims to complement and reinforce the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

To date, only 26 African states have ratified the AfCHPR Protocol which include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Comoros, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – African Court Elects New President – 19 September 2012

Leadership – African Court Elects New President – 19 September 2012

African Court on Human and People’s Rights – Justice Sophia A. B. Akuffo Is Elected President of the Court – 18 September 2012

IPP Media – Two new judges elected to Africa Human Rights court – 14 September 2012

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights – Opening Statement of the Vice-President of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Hon. Sophia Ab Akuffo – 28 April 2011

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—South African police, yesterday, began to crack down on the striking minors who have been condemned and criticized by the South African Council of Churches. The police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowds that caused men, women and children to rush back into their homes.

Several people were injured by the rubber bullets at one of South Africa’s largest platinum mines, Lonmin’s, after the government order to stop the unrest. This crack down has targeted, not only illegal gatherings, but also weapons, incitement, and threats of violence. About a half dozen men were arrested for possession of arms and drugs and another six were arrested. The police told the leaders of the protest that they actually needed permission to carry out the protest.

This show of force followed the vow by the government to halt these illegal protests and disarm the strikers who, when they stopped working, destabilized the country’s most affluent mining sector.

Analysts who have been following the strike’s impact on South Africa’s mining companies have estimated that just this week, Lonmin has lost 102m rand in revenue since the beginning of the labor unrest. Should this continue, the worst-case scenario is that the group may lose as much as $239m before the situation is resolved and the company’s production finally returns to normal levels.

Gaddhafi Mdoda, one of the workers’ committee members at Anglo American Platinum, noted, “The police have blocked us. They are dispersing us. Now we are telling our people to go back to where we came from.” Other protestors have commented as well, saying, “The government is against people of South Africa and allows people to be killed. But we are suffering as workers of mines, they are forcing us to go to work as they did under apartheid.”

Yesterday, Saturday, September 15, Lonmin decided to raise its pay offer, which would more than double the increase that the company offered just a few days ago. The raise, however, still does not meet the workers’ demands of 12,500 rand a month. Lonmin’s acting chief executive, Simon Scott, said that the workers’ wage demand would cost the company 2.3 billion rand to actually implement.

Scott told the press, “We have had our wake-up call, as has the rest of South Africa.”

 

For further information, please see:

News.com.au – South African Police Block March by Miners – 16 September 2012

The Telegraph – South Africa Deploys Army to Deal with Lonmin Dispute – 16 September 2012

Reuters – 3 S. African Police Fire Tear Gas at Strikers Near Massacre Site – 15 September 2012

The Washington Post – South African Police Fire Tear Gas – 15 September 2012

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – 38 people, including 16 men, 5 children and 9 police officers died on Monday due to renewed ethnic clashes in the southeastern village of Kilelengwani.

Members from the Pokomo and Orma tribes have been attacking each other since last month in what is reportedly Kenya’s worst tribal conflict in years. Tribe members from both sides, armed with guns, spears, bows and arrows, would attack each other’s villages, burn homes and kill people. The conflict has now claimed approximately 116 people and 167 houses.

The two tribes have a long history of violence. The dispute between them has mainly been about the use of land and water in the Tana River delta, an ecologically rich area in the country. Cattle-grazing rights have also been a prevailing issue of contention between the Pokomo, a settled farming community, and the Orma, a semi-nomadic cattle-herding tribe.

What is remarkable about the current wave of hostilities between the Pokomo and the Orma is that the fighting seemed to have intensified. Phyllis Muema, executive director of the Kenya Community Support Centre observed that an influx of weapons from neighbouring Somalia has exacerbated the conflict. “This is actually a massacre. The level of killing shows very clearly that this is not just a resource-based conflict… The sophistication of the arms they are using indicates that they have acquired them, we suspect, from neighbouring Somalia,” says Muema.

Local people, meanwhile, attribute the latest violence to politics. “We were born into the conflict between Pokomos and Ormas,” Kadze Kazungu, a Pokomo, told reporters. “We have fought over land and water before. But whenever that occurs, elders from both tribes always find a way of resolving the issue. This time it is not about land. It is politics. Bad politics,” he added.

Human rights groups have received reports that politicians in the area have been involved in inciting violence as a strategy to win seats in the March 2013 election. Political parties would traditionally pit ethnic groups against each other to draw support from a specific tribe.

Next year’s election is said to have higher stakes than previous ones. Kenyans, for the first time, will be able to vote for county governors and senators making local votes more significant than before.

However, despite reports to authorities on the suspected involvement of politicians, not much has been done by the police. Robert Ndege, a political risk consultant at Africapractice, described their response as “pathetic”. “If [the security forces] can’t contain one flashpoint, what happens if this is repeated across the country,” he asked.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been in place since Monday. Houses continue to be raided and people killed, notwithstanding.

 

For further information, please see:

AFP – Militia behind Kenya’s Tana River killings, say villagers – 14 September 2012

The Guardian – Deadly clashes in Kenya fuel fears of election violence – 13 September 2012

Al Jazeera – Dozens killed in Kenya ethnic clashes – 10 September 2012

BBC – Kenya Tana River renewed ethnic clashes kill 30 – 10 September 2012

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – British producer, David Cecil, is facing at least two years of imprisonment in Uganda for staging a play that dealt with homosexuality.

“The River and the Mountain” ran from August 17 to 23 in a small cultural center in Kampala managed by Cecil and his girlfriend. The play was initially scheduled to be held in the Uganda National Theater, but was transferred to a different venue out of fear of a police raid.

“The River and The Mountain” by British playwright Beau Hopkins, tells the story of Samson, a gay Ugandan businessman, who faces violent reactions from his family and colleagues after he comes out at a party following a promotion. His mother contracts a Christian pastor and a witch doctor to try to “cure” her son. Samson is eventually killed by his colleagues.

The play was intended to further dialogue about homosexuality and homosexual acts. Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda and draw condemnation from church pastors and politicians.

Cecil was charged for ignoring an advance warning from the Uganda Media Council that the play was not to be staged until they obtained official clearance. The Media Council issued the warning on August 16, the day before the play premiered. On August 29, after the shows had ended, the Media Council ruled that the play was not to be staged because parts of the production “implicitly promote homosexual acts” which “are contrary to the laws, cultural norms and values of Uganda”.

Cecil said he, along with British playwright Beau Hopkins, Ugandan director Angella Emurwon and the Ugandan actors, decided to go ahead with the staging because the Media Council’s warning letter “in no way” made reference to any potential legal consequences. “Even my Ugandan lawyer read the letter and said: ‘It does not clearly constitute a legal order,'” Cecil explained.

However, Cecil was contacted by the police and subsequently charged for disobeying an order from the Media Council – a public authority in Uganda. The law enforcers asked Cecil, who has been living in Uganda for three years, to surrender his passport. A police bond was also issued for him.

The Ugandan ethics minister Simon Lokodo condemned the play. Lokodo explained, “This play is justifying the promotion of homosexuality in Uganda, and Uganda does not accommodate homosexual causes. We will put pressure on anyone saying that this abomination [homosexuality] is acceptable,”

As a conservative, dominantly Christian society, many Ugandans regard homosexuality as contrary to both African traditions and their faith. Homosexuals are often harassed and even killed in the country.

The Ugandan parliament is due to debate a 2009 bill that threatens the death penalty for what was termed “aggravated homosexuality”.

 

For further information, please see:

The Telegraph – British Theatre Producer Jailed for Putting on Gay Play in Uganda – 13 September 2012

BBC News – Uganda Charges British Producer David Cecil over Gay Play – 13 September 2012

The Huffington Post – Producer of Play about Gays Faces Jail in Uganda – 12 September 2012

The Observers – ‘I Play a Gay Man in Uganda, where Homosexuality is illegal’ – 11 September 2012

Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Producer of Uganda’s First Gay Play Could be Jailed – 8 September 2012

International Business Times – Producer of Pro-Gay Play Arrested in Uganda; Faces Two Years in Jail – 7 September 2012