By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – At least six people have been killed and several injured by a grenade attack on a bus in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the interior ministry says.

The blast hit the 32-seater near the Eastleigh suburb, which is home to thousands of ethnic Somalis.

Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue said a suspect was being questioned over the attack on Saturday.

“We lost two of the victims in hospital where about 30 others are still admitted,” Kibue said. “We now have six people dead out of the incident.”

Police were trying to determine whether the powerful explosion was caused by a grenade or an impoverished explosive device and whether it was placed on the bus, carried by a passenger or flung from outside.

The blast hit several cars near the bus, killing at least one of the motorists, according to witnesses.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attacks.

One witness, Peterson Mwaura, said, “I was passing waiting for the traffic to clear so I can cross, then I hear a loud explosion and metals and other pieces from the vehicle were flying all over the place, and people shouting.”

“I ran back. People were crying for help, they were screaming, but the one lying here (at the scene) appeared to have died on impact.”

Kenya has been the scene of multiple terrorist attacks since the country sent its military to Somalia in 2011 to fight the extremist Somali militant group al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the Westgate attack, saying it was in retribution for Kenya’s involvement in Somalia. The group, which is linked to al-Qaida, had threatened large-scale attacks for years, and it has said more will be carried out unless Kenya withdraws.

Kenya has been grappling with its large population of Somali refugees since the Westgate attack, with government officials announcing plans to speed up their return home. Nearly 500,000 Somali refugees live in Kenya, most of them in the sprawling Dadaab refugee settlement near the Somali border.

In the last several years, Somali refugee camps, particularly in Dadaab, have been hit by a spate of blasts by grenades and other improvised explosive devices.

“The attack is an unfortunate and cowardice incident which will not be tolerated,” the interior ministry said on its Twitter account, appealing for information from the public.

Police said the bus had been close to a girls’ school when it was hit.

Late on Friday, at least one person was killed and three others seriously wounded when twin explosions rocked the Kenyan town of Waji near the border with Somalia, police said, indicating it was likely the work of al-Shabab insurgents or their sympathizers.

Also near the border with Somalia, gunmen on Tuesday killed eight Kenyans, including five policemen, in an ambush.

Another policeman is missing following the attack.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – Nairobi bus hit by deadly grenade attack – 14 December 2013
South China Morning Post – Death toll from Nairobi bus blast rises to six: police – 15 December 2013
The Christian Science Monitor – At least 3 killed in Kenya minibus attack – 15 December 2013
International Business Times – Six Dead in Nairobi Bus Attack – 15 December 2013
Time World – Explosion Inside Kenya Minibus Kills at Least 4 – 14 December 2013

 

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A 19-year-old woman who alleged she was raped has been given a suspended jail sentence by a Somalia court.

The woman, who spent three weeks in pre-trial detention, was convicted of defamation and lying and told she could not leave Mogadishu. Two journalists who reported her story were also convicted of the same offense.

The two men accused of raping the woman have not been brought before a court.

During the time of the suspended jail sentence, the woman will be confined to her home, said Judge Hashi Elmi Nur.

The journalists are to serve out their sentences, of one year and six months respectively, or pay a fine in order to win early release.

This is the second time this year that Somalia has jailed a woman for speaking out about rape and journalists for interviewing her.

Spokesman Ridwaan Haji said war-torn Somalia’s courts were in their “infancy” and needed time to improve.

He also said that while the government stopped “a free pass and freedom of speech,” journalists were also obliged to “take their role in society seriously and demonstrate social responsibility.”

The Somalia government has said previously that sexual violence is unacceptable.

The BBC’s Mohamed Moalimu in Mogadishu says the case raised fears among journalists about reporting rape.

The woman in this case has accused two men from the state-run Radio Mogadishu of raping her at gunpoint.

Last month Human Rights Watch called on the government to order a new and impartial investigation into the case, saying the response to the incident “has been marred by mismanagement, opacity, and the harassment of the female rape survivor and support service providers.”

This “points to security officials trying to silence both those who report the pervasive problems of sexual violence and those who help rape survivors,” HRW said.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

Eighteen media professionals were killed in Somalia in 2012, the east African country’s deadliest year on record, according to reports.

At least six media reporters have been killed this year.

In August, a Somali woman who said she was gang raped by African Union (AU) soldiers was held by police for questioning.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – Somalia court sentences ‘rape victim’ – 9 December 2013
Horseed Media – Somali court sentences alleged rape victim, journalists – 9 December 2013
News.com.au – Somali court sentences alleged rape victim, journalists – 9 December 2013
The Hindu – Rape victim in Somalia sentenced, govt. defends court – 11 December 2013
The Nation – Somali court sentences alleged rape victim, journalists – 10 December 2013
The Daily Star – Somali court sentences alleged rape victim, journalists – 9 December 2013
News 24 – Somali ‘rape’ victim, journos sentenced – 9 December 2013

 

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

ASMARA, Eritrea – Up to 30,000 Eritreans have been abducted since 2007 and taken to Egypt’s Sinai to suffer torture and ransom demands, new research says.

The study, presented to the European parliament, says Eritrean and Sudanese security officers are plotting with the kidnap gangs.

The report focuses on the trafficking of refugees from the Horn of Africa who are targeted by criminal networks for extortion and exploitation. The report looks at the experiences of the refugees who have fled their countries looking for safety and security.

The captives are threatened with being sold to people traffickers if they do not raise tens of thousands of dollars. Some are freed if they raise the ransoms. Others are sold on to traffickers, even after money has changed hands, only to be tortured to extract further cash from relatives.

At least $600m has been extorted from families in ransom payments, the report says.

Eritrea has denied its officials are involved in the kidnappings. The report, however, says Eritrea’s Border Surveillance Unit (BSU) and Sudanese security officials are among the “actors” conspiring with the gangs that hold people hostage in the largely lawless Sinai.  

Most of those targeted are Eritrean refugees fleeing the country.

Almost every Eritrean knows somebody who has been held hostage.

“Their captors are opportunistic criminals looking to profit from their vulnerability,” the report says.

“[The victims] are then taken to the Sinai and sold, sometimes more than once, to Bedouin groups living in Sinai.”

These hostages include men, women, children, and infants fleeing from desperate circumstances in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan. An estimated 95% are from Eritrea.

Many of the hostages die in captivity or after their release. Some simply disappear – killed while being held, shot by border guards, or from just being lost in the desert.

The study interviewed an Eritrean woman living in Sweden who told them her son was abducted from the camp. He and six other children were forced into a car by a high-ranking Sawa military officer and driven into Sudan. Once there, they were made to call their parents, who were given three days to pay $7,500 or they would be sold to traffickers.

“[The hostages] are chained together without toilets or washing facilities and dehydrated, starved, and deprived of sleep,” the report says.

“They are subject to threats of death and organ harvesting . . . . Those who attempt to escape are severely tortured.”

The report said trafficking would have been impossible without the direct involvement of Eritrean security officials, given the “restrictions on movement within the country, the requirement of exit visas at the border and the shoot-to-kill policy for illegal border crossing.”

Eritrea’s UK ambassador said Eritrea is a “victim of human trafficking” and that the government was “working hard” to arrest and bring justice to justice criminal gangs operating along its border.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – Thousands of Eritreans ‘abducted to Sinai for ransom’ – 4 December 2013
Free Republic – Thousands of Eritreans ‘abducted to Sinai for ransom’ – 6 December 2013
WADR – Thousands of Eritreans ‘abducted to Sinai for ransom’ – 5 December 2013
Agencia Angola Press – Thousands of Eritreans ‘abducted to Sinai for ransom’ – 7 December 2013
allAfrica – Eritrea: The Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond – 2 December 2013
The Guardian – Eritrea’s military is trafficking the nation’s children, report says – 3 December 2013

 

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – A Christian militia is suspected to have killed 12 people, including children, and wounded 30 others in an attack in the Central African Republic (CAR), officials say.

The attacks appeared to have targeted a mainly Muslim community north of capital, Bangui, the officials said.

Those killed include a pregnant woman and 10 children.

The gang of Christians disemboweled the pregnant woman and slashed the children with machetes in the attack against Peuhl Muslims.

The attack comes with the UN Security Council set to vote on creating a large peacekeeping force for the impoverished country, where the transitional government has lost control since rebels forced the president flee in March.

The Council is to vote on Thursday on dispatching French reinforcement to restore order in CAR, which has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence.

The UN office did not give details on who was responsible but it warned of tensions between communities leading to a “climate of increasing violence” in the impoverished landlocked country, which is majority Christian.

Amy Martin, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangui, said the attack occurred on Monday and that Christian militias known as “anti-balaka” appeared to have targeted Peul herders, who are mostly Muslim.

“It looks much more organized just than community defense groups,” she said, referring to the mainly Christian militia that have formed to counter abuses by the former rebels, who are known as Seleka.

Religious and ethnic attacks have led to warnings of genocide.

Hundreds of villages have been abandoned, with civilians hiding in the bush and pleading for outside intervention.

“At this stage, it is difficult to know whether the African force, with the support of French forces, will be able to do the work,” Mr Araud, France’s UN ambassador told reporters.

“If the African forces do the work there will be no need for a peacekeeping mission.”

One man whose child and wife were killed in the attack said his other child was being treated in the hospital. He said the Christians had fired shots but had mostly used machetes to attack the group.

Clashes are increasingly about religion and the UN Security Council is preparing to vote on developing a peacekeeping force for the country.

For more information, please visit:

BBC News – Central African Republic militia ‘killed’ children – 4 December 2013
International Business Times – Central African Republic: Christian Vigilantes Disembowel Pregnant Muslim and Kill 10 Children – 4 December 2013
Perth now news – Christians disembowel pregnant woman in attack in Central African Republic that killed 12 – 4 December 2013
iol news – Dozen killed in DRC attack – UN – 4 December 2013
Reuters – Twelve killed in Central African Republic attack – U.N – 3 December 2013