KENYA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is consisted of part, full or summaries of articles from diverses sources (newspapers, newsletters, etc...).
La section suivante est constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles provenant d'origines diverses (journaux,bulletins, etc..).

04 / 22 / 2003

IRIN

The Article: "Tension mounting over Islamic courts"

Religious tensions have started to build up over a proposal to entrench the authority of Islamic courts in Kenya, ahead of a crucial national conference to discuss a new draft constitution next week.

The draft constitution, completed last year by a group of experts and which will be adopted in June this year, has proposed several changes to the current constitution. These include entrenching the already existing Islamic (Khadhi) courts - which preside over Islamic family and personal issues - in the constitution.

Churches and Christian organisations have opposed the proposal, arguing that it would give Islam undue supremacy over other religions in the country. The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) umbrella body, on Monday called for deleting all religious issues from the constitution, and placing them under specific parliamentary legislation.

NCCK secretary general Mutava Musyimi said Kenya, as a secular state, already had provisions guaranteeing freedom of religion in the current constitution, and therefore it was not necessary to add provisions that seemed to favour one religion.

"The sections are discriminative in nature as they seek to elevate Islamic religious courts, which serve one religious sector," Musyimi told journalists in Nairobi.

Muslims, who make up about 20 percent of Kenya's population, however argue that their rights would not be guaranteed under parliamentary majority rules.

Hamisi Juma, a director of Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI), a non-governmental organisation, told IRIN that the decision by churches to oppose the proposal on Khadhi courts had been influenced by "foreign" church groups who wanted to reduce the strength of Islam in the country.

"We have to understand what the constitution is all about. It is about protecting the rights of the minority," Juma said. "Our understanding of the whole thing is that there is a hidden agenda to break the influence of Islam in this country. There is a lot of evidence to show that these churches are being pushed from outside."

04 / 14 / 2003

IRIN

The Article: "Kenya-Uganda: 30 killed in cattle rustling incident"

Despite several agreements between Uganda and Kenya to disarm pastoralists, cattle rustling along the border persisted this month, causing heavy human suffering.

Kenyan police said members of Kenya's Pokot community at the weekend attacked three villages in Kapchorwa district, eastern Uganda, killing over 30 people and torching some 300 houses. They also stole cattle, and over 2,000 people were left homeless, local media reports said.

Kenyan police spokesman King'ori Mwangi said such raids were common in the region during the current season when many communities were re-stocking their cattle. "These are the ones to be slaughtered when the young men are to be circumcised. So there are a lot of attacks," King'ori told IRIN.

"In these pastoralist communities, the men and boys go out to look for pasture for the animals," he added. "The women and the children who remain behind have very little to eat. If you steal from them, they will become destitute. It is a whole problem of underdevelopment."

Local leaders in Kapchorwa district have blamed the attack on the Ugandan government's decision to remove some 400 home guards to join the Ugandan army, leaving the area vulnerable to attacks. The residents called on the government to give them guns to protect themselves, the Ugandan 'New Vision' government daily said.

However, resident district commissioner, Tezira Jamwa, said the attack was a response to similar raids by the Sabiny from Uganda on the Pokot earlier in the month, in which they stole over 200 head of cattle, the paper added.

04 / 04 / 2003

IRIN

The Article: "Government's stand on constitution draws criticism"

Barely three months into office, President Mwai Kibaki's government has been accused of ignoring the most pressing national issue of putting in place a new constitution.

Otieno Ombok, a programme officer at the Chemi Chemi ya Ukweli [Kiswahili for fountain of truth], a Catholic-based human rights pressure group, told IRIN on Thursday that the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) had failed to adhere to its earlier commitment to pursue the crimes of past regimes and make the changes it had promised Kenyans.

Ombok was reacting to this week's announcement by the government that it was planning to set up a special commission to carry out a fresh probe into the mysterious death of an American Catholic priest in August 2000. He said such a commission could not work properly without the overall framework of a new constitution, which would provide the country with a new "political dispensation".

A new constitution is one of the pre-election pledges that Narc promised to implement within 100 days in office. After winning the December 2002 elections, the ruling coalition said it could produce a final draft constitution by June. It also promised to set up a truth and justice commission to probe past crimes against humanity committed under the previous Kenya African National Union (KANU) government.

The human rights activist has accused the government of instead offering "piecemeal" measures to please the public. "Many people expected a constitution to come first, then a truth and justice commission. But this is a piecemeal approach. We needed a proper framework in order to bring a new political dispensation," he added.

"I don't think there is goodwill. There is complacency on their side that makes one feel that they are not serious," Ombok told IRIN.

Anthony Kaiser, a priest of the order of the Mill Hill Brothers was found dead in Naivasha, about 75 km northwest of Nairobi, with a gunshot wound to the head. His body was found lying on the roadside next to his vehicle.

Investigations by Kenyan police, backed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that Kaiser had committed suicide using his own gun, a theory widely denounced by the priest's relatives, the church and human rights groups in Kenya. The Catholic Church, which rejected the verdict on Kaiser's death, said he had been murdered to "silence" the church and stop it from denouncing social injustice.

The government's announcement followed several appeals and campaigns by the church and human rights groups, urging it to order the investigation.

The Kenyan human rights fraternity believes the priest's death to be one of the many unresolved political murders under the KANU regime that Kibaki's government must address.

04 / 02 / 2003

IRIN

The Article: "Kenya-Sudan: President for talks with rebel leader"

President Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of Sudan is due to hold talks with the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), John Garang, during a one-day state visit to Kenya on Wednesday, a Kenyan foreign ministry official told IRIN.

Al-Bashir was due to arrive in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday morning, said a statement issued by the Kenyan authorities. He would be met at the airport by Foreign Minister Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, and would then hold a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki at State House.

Al-Bashir's meeting with Garang would be the first between the two since a meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, in July 2002, said an SPLM/A spokesman, Samson Kwaje.

"The talks will focus on the peace process in Sudan and ways of concentrating efforts towards achieving a permanent peace and bringing about development and stability in Sudan," Radio Omdurman quoted Sudanese External Relations Minister, Dr Mustafa Uthman Isma'il, as saying.

In a separate development, the peace talks between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A were due to resume from 6 to 16 April, Kenya's special envoy to the talks, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, told IRIN. He said the talks would focus on security arrangements. "When we have peace, how the security of the country, and especially the security of the southern areas where fighting is going on, will be taken care of," he said.

The spokesman at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, told IRIN that issues such as the implementation of a comprehensive ceasefire, and the future status of the SPLM/A would also be discussed.