Torture rife in Kenya, police to blame
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
other press 
Monday June 27, 2005 03:30
by with impunity
By Andrew Cawthorne
Sun Jun 26,11:08 AM ET
NAIROBI June 26 (Reuters) - Torture is still meted out with impunity in Kenya, particularly by police, said two studies released on Sunday to mark the U.N. world day for torture.
Former Kenyan strongman President Daniel arap Moi's security services were notorious for torture in the latter years of his 24-year-old rule that ended in 2002.
President Mwai Kibaki came to power vowing better human rights, but the reports showed his record is by no means clean.
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And most importantly the G8 and EU and UK attitude to the African Union which marks a new phase in 1st versus 3rd world relations. As anglo-saxon-"celtic" popular opinion is mobilised to talk poverty, and give it a new "can-do" image, older bullying imperialist tactics are being used again.
South Africa
a general strike started today.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5903593&cKey=1119869446000
Zimbabwe.
Urbanist clean up operation has brought the wrath of the UK and of Europe to Mugabe's door (as usual) and recent threats of withdrawing South Africa's invitation to be "africa-man" at the G8 table for an hour.
see
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70209
and updated comment 112345
Zambia.
allegations of serious corruption, on G8 debt relief list, just received large contigent of US military advisors.
Kenya
torture see above. Also as the lifting of its colonial era "local drink manufacture" prohibition is debated, the death toll rose to 45 this week from a contaminated batch of "potcheen". Kenya, which has seen disbursement of some aid income delayed because of corruption, said it would like to follow South Africa's example (leading 24 countries to sign up for a peer review system under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a home-grown rescue plan that aims to encourage more aid and foreign investment in return for better governance and often by sacking prominent corrupt politicians and officials) but it had not "one iota of proof" against people in high places.
Uganda
Northern Uganda has suffered nearly two decades of war between the Ugandan military and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
Up to 100,000 people have been killed and 1.6 million have been driven from their homes. LRA fighters have abducted 20,000 children and forced them to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.Fighting intensified after landmark talks- including the first meeting between government and rebels for a decade -- broke down late in 2004. Joseph Kony, the LRA's self-styled prophet leader, is believed to be hiding in southern Sudan with some of the children kidnapped by his cult-like group.
Nigeria
Nigeria is the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter, but billions of petrodollars have been stolen by politicians and the country has little to show for its oil wealth. Most of its 140 million people live on less than a dollar a day and they have to make do with decaying hospitals and schools, potholed roads and patchy power and water supplies.
It has an appaling human rights record, and is thought to be one of the most corrupt regimes in former British Africa.
"It is impossible to blot out dirt with a dirty finger."
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