Apologise to North rift for atrocities, KNHCR urge State

An armed youth at Ameyan in Tiaty, Baringo county on May 31,2018. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The Government owes North Rift residents an apology for atrocities committed in decades of conflict in the region. 

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) wants the Government to offer an unconditional apology for hundreds of people killed either through cattle raids or in subsequent security operations.

The report accuses the police and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) of brutality during security operations in the region, and blames politicians for fueling perennial conflict.

In a report titled ‘Mending the Rift’, KNCHR states that up to 573 people have been killed in cattle raids and security operations in the past decade.

According to the report, communities in Turkana, Baringo, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet counties have lost livestock worth Sh500 million in the conflicts.

“To address the violations of human rights, the commission recommends the President of the Republic of Kenya, Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chief of the General Staff to first acknowledge the violations and apologise to the people of North Rift region for omission and commission in the provision of the right to freedom and security of the person,” said the commission chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori when she launched the report on Wednesday.

Human rights

The 260-page report arose out of an inquiry conducted between May and June 2016, in an investigation on the impact of insecurity on the enjoyment of human rights in the North Rift region.

The report accuses KDF and National Police Service of violating the rights of many Pokots in an operation that followed the killing of 19 policemen at “Kasarani” area, Turkana East, in November last year.

“The Public Inquiry was presented with 21 types of violations committed against children, women and men by Kenya Defence Forces and National Police,” states the report.

The violations, it said, ranged from deaths, disappearance of persons, torture, confiscation of property, destruction of businesses, homesteads, schools, churches, markets, shooting and slaughter of livestock and looting of shops.

The report also states that politically instigated violence has been a major cause of conflict in the regions, as politicians arm gangs and use their tribes to incite neighbouring communities against each other.

“To ensure that illegal guns are removed from civilian hands, a comprehensive disarmament exercise by the Government should be conducted,” said KNCHR.

The report was a result of public hearings conducted in Marigat, Yatia, Bartabwa, Chemolingot, Kapedo, Orawa and Kapenguria.

Other hearings were held at Kainuk, Lokichar, Lodwar, Eldoret and Elgeyo Marakwet.  

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