U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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Fax: +254 2 622129
e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 113
02 - 08 March 2002


CONTENTS:

DRC: Inter-Congolese dialogue talks resume
DRC: More than 5,000 cases reported in cholera outbreak
DRC: Kimberley Process a "watchdog without teeth"
ROC: MSF intervention for Ebola outbreak extended
ROC: Human rights record "poor" - US State Department
CAR: Deteriorating human rights situation
CAR: Japan gives US $6.4 million to build primary schools
RWANDA: Genocide suspect transferred to Arusha
RWANDA: US eager to speed up work of criminal tribunals
BURUNDI: US $6.5 million project aid released
BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Refugees in Tanzania urged to go home
TANZANIA: New call for inquiry into Bulyanhulu allegations
UGANDA: UNICEF repeats call for release of LRA abductees
KENYA: Police promise justice after weekend slum killings

ALSO SEE:

EAST AFRICA: Special report on violence against women at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24161]

DRC: Inter-Congolese dialogue talks resume

The parties to the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) in Sun City, South
Africa, appeared to be closer to a compromise by Monday evening on the
question of how the unarmed opposition should be represented - the issue
which has blocked progress within the dialogue for the past week. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government delegation has proposed
including a total of 70 opposition delegates, who have been accredited by
the facilitators of the dialogue, while a core group of 15 undisputed
opposition parties, who had earlier rejected the inclusion of 20 extra
delegates to their group, has now proposed to accept 10 of them, and to
allow the other 10 "specific status" as observers. Thus, both groups are
effectively advocating an expansion of the delegation from 55 to 70. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23752]

The ICD resumed on Wednesday after agreement had been reached to expel two
delegates. Both were challengers to the leadership of major opposition
parties and, as such, regarded by most observers as allies, rather than
opponents, of the government. As security adviser to late President Mobutu
Sese Seko, one of them, Vunduawe Te Pemako, is also believed to have had
access to secret police files on many people at the dialogue. Former
supporters of Mobutu were particularly keen to see him excluded. The
other, Frederic Kibassa Maliba, is a challenger to the leadership of the
best known opposition party, l'Union pour la democratie et le progres
social (UDPS), members of which are rumoured to have pledged support for
Jean-Pierre Bemba's rebel group, Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo
(MLC), provided that the MLC supported the move to oust Maliba. The MLC,
and the UDPS and other opposition parties signed a pact six months ago,
but have denied that it was anything more than a declaration of principles
and national unity.

Vunduawe and Maliba were among a contested list of 20 delegates who were
to be added to the delegation representing the unarmed opposition parties
at the ICD. In a compromise move, the other 18 of these delegates have now
been approved, bringing to 68 the number of delegates to represent the
unarmed opposition. As a counter-measure, the government delegation and
the two main rebel movements - MLC and Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie (RCD-Goma) - are also to be represented by 68 delegates each.
All five main groups in the dialogue - the government, the opposition,
MLC, RCD and civil society - took part in plenary sessions on Wednesday,
and a committee of 15 delegates from the five groups has been discussing
rules and procedures. "Everybody is there now, it has all been resolved,"
AFP quoted the secretary-general of MLC, Olivier Kamitatu, as saying.
[Full report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24116]

However, on Thursday evening, after the first full day of talks, the ICD
hit another snag, this time over the issue of DRC President Joseph
Kabila's role in a transitional government. The DRC government insisted
that the post of president of DRC was not vacant; any suggestions to the
contrary were not in the Lusaka Cease-fire Accord, argued DRC Human Rights
Minister Ntumba Luaba. Members of rebel and opposition groups disagreed.
"The Congo has no constitution," said Kamitatu. "For sure, we must discuss
the new key players as part of the agenda. It's quite obvious if we're
talking about new institutions adopted by consensus among 360
participants." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24223]

DRC: More than 5,000 cases reported in cholera outbreak

As of Tuesday, the Ministry of Health in the DRC reported 5,021 cases of
cholera and 407 deaths in the southeastern Katanga Province, since the
outbreak began in November last year. "A total of eight health zones in
Katanga Province, including the city of Lubumbashi, have been affected,
including Ankoro, Kabolo, Kongolo and Kalemie in the northern part of the
province," a statement from the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on
Tuesday. "The outbreak has affected both the northern and southern parts
of Katanga," WHO Country Representative Dr Leonard Tapsoba told IRIN on
Wednesday. He said that the DRC's health minister, officials from the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO and the UN Humanitarian
Coordinator were in the field trying to address the situation.

Health workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF Belgium, MSF France and
MSF Spain) were on the ground too, the WHO statement said. "An
inter-agency committee was set up and has put in place outbreak control
measures, including case management, preventative measures, social
mobilisation and training, surveillance and operational training
activities," the statement added. [Also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23756]

DRC: Kimberley Process a "watchdog without teeth"

Describing the global diamond certification system thus far agreed upon in
the Kimberley Process "a watchdog without teeth, chained in a kennel", the
Fatal Transactions network nongovernmental organisation (NGO) organised a
meeting of experts in the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday to
"ensure that the EU [European Union] takes its responsibility in stopping
the vicious circle of trade and terror that continues fuelling Africa's
most brutal wars". In a statement released on Monday, Fatal Transactions
said that it was "worried about the little progress made so far" in the
global effort to put an end to international trade in diamonds from
conflict regions. It reported that about 500,000 civilians have lost their
lives over the past decade in the diamond wars of Angola, Sierra Leone and
the DRC.

"Although the issue has been high on the international agenda, we just
keep each other busy talking about the issue", with little concrete action
taking place, Judith Sargentini, the international coordinator of Fatal
Transactions, told IRIN on Tuesday. "To date, we have no monitoring
system, no secretariat, no agreement on statistics," she continued. "There
has been a lot of talk, but little changing of theory into practice."

The Kimberley Process is a negotiating process seeking to establish
minimum acceptable international standards for national certification
schemes of import and export of rough diamonds in an effort to stem the
flow of rough diamonds from rebel-held conflict areas, "thereby
contributing substantially to peace and protecting the legitimate diamond
industry", according to the Kimberley Process web site. "Only 4 percent of
global diamond production is regarded as 'conflict diamonds', while a
number of countries depend heavily on the legitimate diamond industry for
their economic and social development," it said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23758]

ROC: MSF intervention for Ebola outbreak extended

MSF has sent a second team to the Republic of Congo (ROC) to assist with
the Ebola intervention programme in the north of the country, MSF said in
a statement. A cargo shipment was sent on 28 February to the capital,
Brazzaville, with an additional three expatriates, MSF said, adding that
the shipment included Ebola kits and isolation facilities. "Some of the
staff will travel on to Mbomo [in the northeast], where two new cases of
Ebola have been reported. Extra reinforcements are also coming from Goma
in the [eastern] Democratic Republic of Congo," the statement said.  "Two
MSF teams will work in the region of Mbomo, which will also be used as a
base for monitoring the area around Kéllé. No new reports of Ebola have
been received from Kéllé up to now," it said.

The team will focus on sensitising the local population to the disease and
available treatment. MSF teams would also set up quarantine facilities to
treat and isolate new cases, noting that an additional problem was the
inaccessibility of the region, which rendered access very difficult, the
report said. During the intervention, MSF is working closely with WHO and
the Congolese Ministry of Health. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24121]

ROC: Human rights record "poor" - US State Department

In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices series, released on
Monday, the US State Department said the human rights record of President
Denis Sassou-Nguesso's government remained poor in 2001. Although there
were some improvements in a few areas, the report states, "serious
problems remain". Security forces were responsible for "extrajudicial
killings, as well as summary executions, rapes, beatings, physical abuse
of detainees and the civilian population, arbitrary arrest and detention,
looting, and solicitation of bribes". There were reports of security
forces summarily executing soldiers responsible for abuses, the report
stated, citing the example of one man shooting and killing a superior
officer in August 2001, who was then arrested and summarily executed
himself.

Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of "undisciplined forces"
committing abuses, the report states. Members of the security forces were
involved in beating citizens however, looting their homes, extorting money
from travellers at checkpoints, using beatings to coerce confessions or
punish detainees, and raping female detainees. A survey of 2,000 persons
conducted by the police in August and September indicated that, of the 81
percent who had contact with police, more than 65 percent were
dissatisfied with their treatment," the State Department added.

Poor prison conditions, including overcrowding and a scarcity of food and
health care, were blamed on a lack of resources. Women were incarcerated
with men, juveniles with adults, and pre-trial detainees with convicted
prisoners. The lack of an adequate judiciary system was also blamed on a
lack of resources. "In practice, the judiciary continued to be corrupt,
overburdened, under-financed and subject to political influence". Almost
nothing remains of judicial records, case decisions and law books
following looting during the civil conflicts in 1993-94, 1997, and
1998-99. Women continue to be discriminated against by the judicial
system: adultery is illegal for women, but legal for men; polygyny is
legal, but polyandry is not. While the Legal Code stipulates that 30
percent of a man's estate should be inherited by his wife, in practice the
wife often loses all rights of inheritance upon her husband's death,
especially in the context of traditional or common-law marriages. The
indigenous pygmy ethnic group, who number tens of thousands, do not enjoy
equal treatment in a predominantly Bantu society, the State Department
says. "Pygmies were marginalised severely in the areas of employment,
health, and education, in part due to their isolation in remote forested
areas of the country." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23895]

CAR: Deteriorating human rights situation

The Central African Republic's (CAR) "poor" human rights record worsened
in some areas in 2001, particularly after the attempted coup in May, says
the US State Department in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
series, released on Monday. During and after the 28 May coup attempt,
security forces committed with impunity numerous extrajudicial killings,
the report states, particularly among the Yakoma ethnic group of the coup
leader, General Andre Kolingba. "Police and security forces are immune
from prosecution for extrajudicial killings," the report states. "No
action was taken against the responsible security force officers for any
of these killings by year's end, and such action is unlikely. The
government acknowledged that extrajudicial killings following the coup
attempt occurred, but claims they were carried out by 'uncontrollable
members' of the security forces."

The special police Squad for the Repression of Banditry had continued to
operate throughout 2001, the report stated, and reportedly engaged in
torture. Medical staff confirmed that the squad often took the bodies of
persons they had executed to a hospital for the families to pick up. "The
squad's use of extrajudicial killing had both official government and
popular support, and was seen as an effective means of reducing crime and
increasing public security," the report adds.

The sole operating criminal court met only once for a period of two months
during the year, due to a lack of funds. As a result, there was a large
backlog of criminal cases, the report states. The courts of justice and
the juvenile court barely functioned during the year, and are unlikely to
function properly due to inefficient administration, shortage of trained
personnel, growing salary arrears and a lack of material resources. Police
conditions are also "extremely harsh". Police station cells are
overcrowded, and the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing
and medicine are in short supply, often being confiscated by prison
officials for their own use.

The government owes at least 16 months' worth of salary arrears to civil
servants and 14 months of salary arrears to the military, according to the
report. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24118]

CAR: Japan gives US $6.4 million to build primary schools

The government of Japan has contributed US $6.4 million (CFA 4,746
million) to the CAR for the construction of 11 primary schools in the
capital, Bangui, and surrounding suburbs. The funds will also be used for
the rehabilitation of dilapidated buildings and classrooms, and for the
training of local staff in the maintenance of these structures,
Centrafrique-Presse reported on Wednesday.

In a statement made on Saturday in connection with the agreement, the
Japanese ambassador to the CAR, Nobuyoshi Takabe, was quoted by
Centrafrique-Presse as saying that he hoped that "the process of
democratisation and national dialogue continues to move forward in the CAR
in order to earn the confidence of Central Africans and the international
community". For his part, CAR Economic and International Cooperation
Minister Alexis Ngomba noted that his government "greatly appreciated
[Japan's] support and would be especially vigilant in ensuring an
efficient use of these funds and upkeep of these schools".

According to Centrafrique-Presse, Japan is one of the primary donors to
the CAR, and often provides support through the Japanese construction
company, Kajima, in the building of hospitals, roads, and water systems.

RWANDA: Genocide suspect transferred to Arusha

Vincent Rutaganira, former councillor of Mubuga in Kibuye Prefecture,
western Rwanda, was on Monday transferred to the UN Detention Facility in
Arusha, a statement from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR) said. Rutaganira, 62, was arrested at Kigoma in western Tanzania by
Tanzanian authorities at the request of the Tribunal, the statement said,
adding that counsel had already been assigned by the registrar to assist
the accused in the preliminary stages of the procedure before the
Tribunal.

He would shortly appear before a judge of the Tribunal to answer charges
of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the statement said.
According to the indictment, Rutaganira is charged with seven counts of
genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity for
murder, extermination and other inhumane acts, and violations of the
Geneva Conventions, it added.

Rutaganira is alleged to have conspired and participated with others,
including Ignace Bagilishema, whose case is before the ICTR Appeals
Chamber, Clement Kayishema and Obed Ruzindana, who had already been
convicted by the Tribunal, to kill Tutsis in Kibuye Prefecture between 9
April and about 30 June 1994, the statement said.

RWANDA: US eager to speed up work of criminal tribunals

The US government has called on the International Criminal Tribunals for
Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia (ICTR and ICTY) to finish their work by
2007-2008. "We have [urged] and are urging both tribunals to begin to
aggressively focus on the end-game and conclude their work by 2007-2008,
AFP reported Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department's
ambassador-at-large for war crimes, telling Congress on Thursday. While
acknowledging the tribunals' contribution to bringing justice to the
victims of war crimes, Prosper cited a number of problems suffered by both
the ICTR and the ICTY. "In both tribunals, at times, the professionalism
of some of the personnel has been called into question with allegations of
mismanagement and abuse," agencies quoted him saying. "And in both
tribunals, the process, at times, has been costly, has lacked efficiency,
has been too slow, and has been too removed from the everyday experience
of the people and the victims," agencies reported him saying.

In addition to criticising the tribunals prosecuting war crimes and
genocide in the Balkans and Rwanda, Prosper said the administration was
conducting a high-level review of how to implement its policy of
opposition to the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which is
less than 10 signatures away from ratification, Reuters reported. Echoing
arguments against the establishment of the ICC, being pushed for by human
rights organisations, Prosper said the ICTR and ICTY "were not designed to
completely usurp the authority and... the responsibility of sovereign
states", Reuters reported.

The ICTR and ICTY were established by the UN Security Council in 1994 to
bring justice to perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The tribunals are viewed by
their supporters as heralding a new era of accountability for violations
of international humanitarian law, and as forerunners of the ICC. The US,
the single largest donor to the tribunals, donated US $20.2 million to the
ICTR and US $22.6 million to the ICTY in 2001. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23490]

BURUNDI: US $6.5 million project aid released

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the government of Burundi have
signed three agreements on the disbursement of US $6.5 million for
projects in the domains of community support, good governance, and
HIV/AIDS. The contributions are part of some $830 million pledged to
Burundi at a donor conference held in December in Geneva, the total of
which includes funds pledged at the Paris conference in 2000. Projects in
support of the long-term reintegration of refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) will benefit from a contribution of $2,746,000
from UNDP. As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the capacities of
communities to re-establish their means of earning a living, the programme
will support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of economic and social
infrastructure, agricultural production, and revenue generation. "All
activities undertaken [in this domain] will be carried out according to a
participatory process, thereby allowing the communities themselves to
identify their own needs and to have a role in project implementation," a
statement issued by UNDP-Burundi on Friday, 1 March said.

Projects in support of good governance will receive $1,815,500 from UNDP,
$250,000 from Austria, $697,760 from the EU and $100,000 from the
government of Sweden. According to UNDP-Burundi, this initiative seeks to
facilitate "the establishment of the rule of law in Burundi via
coordinated support in three interdependent and essential sectors for the
creation of an environment of good governance", these being parliamentary
bodies, human rights and civil society/media. The support will focus on
the capacity building of key institutions in each sector, the improvement
of the body of law for each sector, and the reinforcement of coordination
capacities among the three sectors.

Projects in support of the national fight against HIV/AIDS will benefit
from a contribution of $1,937,800. In an effort to reinforce the gains
made by previous projects, the provinces of Bujumbura Mairie, Gitega,
Muyinga, and Ruyigi will be specifically targeted with projects seeking to
fight poverty, support political dialogue, and increase community and
institutional capacities.

BURUNDI-TANZANIA: Refugees in Tanzania urged to go home

Tanzanian Home Affairs Minister Mohammed Khatib and Burundi Settlement
Minister Francoise Ngendehayo toured several refugee camps in western
Tanzania from 24 to 28 February on a campaign to encourage Burundi
refugees to go home. "It is time for Burundi refugees to return home, but
we want them to go there voluntarily in line with the internationally
accepted rules," Tanzanian Deputy Home Affairs Minister John Chiligati
told AFP. Chiligati said Khatib and Ngendehayo had toured camps in the
regions of Kigoma and Kagera to brief the refugees on security
developments in Burundi and to reassure them of their safety, AFP
reported.

Asked about possible pressure being applied to the refugees to make them
return home, a representative of the office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tanzania, Chrysantus Ache, said he was "very
concerned". He said the feeling among the refugees in the camps was one of
worry and uncertainty. In the absence of a cease-fire, he said UNHCR could
not promote the repatriation of the refugees, but that it would assist
those who wished to do so voluntarily. He said that the number of returnee
refugees had increased recently, with 6,000 signing up to go home between
12 and 28 February. He added that the Burundi government had not made
enough preparations to receive mass numbers of refugees.

AFP quoted Joseph Karumba, the president of the Front national pour la
liberation party (FROLINA) and one of the signatories of the Arusha peace
accord signed in August 2000, as saying: "Yes, there is a transitional
government since November last year, but there is no cease-fire, and the
civil war is still going on around Bujumbura. We are always told that
people are being killed by both rebel and government troops. I don't
understand why all these campaigns for the refugees to return to Burundi
soon [are being mounted]." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23755; also see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23470]

TANZANIA: New call for inquiry into Bulyanhulu allegations

One of Tanzania's most respected legal figures, Judge Mark Bomani, has
called for an independent commission into the alleged killings of
small-scale artisanal miners at Bulyanhulu, Tanzania's biggest gold mine,
in 1996. Judge Bomani, a former attorney-general and Nelson Mandela's
adviser during the Burundi peace talks in Arusha, northern Tanzania, said
only an independent commission could impartially establish the truth over
claims that have sporadically emerged in the press over the last five
years. "Allegations have been made time and again that a number of people
were buried alive at these gold mines in Bulyanhulu. But these allegations
have been repeatedly denied, so someone must not be telling the truth," he
told IRIN. "Either these killings occurred and someone is trying to hide
something, or these deaths never took place, in which case society needs
to know why such allegations have been made," Bomani added.

Claims that small-scale miners were buried alive initially emerged soon
after Bulyanhulu mining areas were cleared for the development of
large-scale mining in 1996. Various community groups and nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs) claim that small-scale artisanal miners were buried
alive as bulldozers filled in the existing mine shafts. They have also
claimed that, since then, there has been a huge cover-up of the affair.

Tundu Lissu, a member of the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT)
that has spearheaded a campaign about the alleged killings, said he
believed the judge's comments were a crucial development. "Judge Bomani's
statements put the debate over the allegations on a completely new level,
and the government needs to take this call very seriously indeed," he told
IRIN. "There should be compensation for loss of life and loss of property,
and there should be criminal proceedings for all those who had a hand in
these heinous crimes." Lissu has since been picked up by the police,
apparently because LEAT does not seem prepared to produce any evidence it
might have on the alleged Bulyanhulu killings to the authorities,
according to media sources in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23896]

UGANDA: UNICEF repeats call for release of LRA abductees

UNICEF has expressed concern over renewed fighting in northern Uganda, and
called for the "immediate and unconditional" release of all the children
abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the Ugandan rebel group
which has been fighting in northern Uganda from bases in neighbouring
Sudan. The Ugandan military undertook strikes against the LRA in southern
Sudan on Sunday, 3 March, following weeks of signals from the Ugandan
government that its impatience with the LRA was growing, the agency noted
in a statement on Tuesday.

Renewed fighting in northern Uganda in the past few weeks, after nearly
two years of relative calm, could put thousands of children and young
people at risk, UNICEF stated, urging all parties to respect their
obligations under international agreements to protect children in wartime.
"The abduction of children by the LRA is an intolerable situation that has
dragged on for years," said Carol Bellamy, the executive director of
UNICEF. "It is time for the LRA, as well as those that have influence with
the LRA, to bring about the safe, immediate and unconditional release of
these children." Tuesday's statement by UNICEF urged the parties to open a
dialogue aimed at demobilising all those abducted or recruited by the LRA
as children. "With renewed fighting under way, children could be on the
front lines," it warned.

In its statement, UNICEF noted a declining trend in the number of LRA
child abductions in the past three years, which it attributed partly to
improved diplomatic relations between Uganda and Sudan. Those improved
relations offered greater opportunities for securing the release of
abductees and encouraged UNICEF "to look for a breakthrough on behalf of
all the children caught in this conflict", Bellamy said. However, the
Ugandan army spokesman, Bantariza Shaban, told IRIN on Wednesday that it
was one thing for the agency to call for the release of the children and
quite another to secure it. "UNICEF is right, but how do we fulfil the
recommendation?" he asked. "They need to give us something that is
practicable so we can save the children," he added. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23905]

KENYA: Police promise justice after weekend slum killings

The Kenyan police are doing "their best" to track down and bring to
justice the perpetrators of weekend attacks on a slum in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, in which up to 23 people were killed and 28 others
injured, according to a spokesman. The 23 people were hacked to death in
Kariobangi North slums, in the eastern suburbs of Nairobi, and 28 others
admitted to hospital with serious injuries, following fighting between an
outlawed traditional sect and a local vigilante group, local media
organisations reported. A group of about 300 youths from the Mungiki sect,
armed with machetes, picks and axes, attacked the Kariobangi North area on
Sunday night, indiscriminately assaulting residents on the streets, in
pubs, and even breaking into houses, according to news reports. The
Mungiki group was reportedly avenging the killing of two sect members the
previous night by a local vigilante group, which calls itself "Taliban",
on suspicion that they were gangsters preparing to rob houses in the area.

Police spokesman Peter Masemo Kimanthi told IRIN on Tuesday that the force
was not to blame for the Sunday night killings, saying it had done its
"very best under the circumstances". "Some people have formed a habit of
blaming the police for everything," he said. "We arrested people, we took
the injured to hospital and collected the bodies. Kenyans should try to
understand situations. We did our best in this case," he added.

The weekend slum killings have sparked outrage among local media and human
rights activists, who have linked the attacks to pre-election violence,
which, they say, has dogged the country ever since the advent of
multiparty politics in 1991. The attacks took place just days after the
Mungiki leadership announced that it would back KANU (the ruling Kenya
African National Union party) and a number of its candidates, including
Vice-President George Saitoti and Cabinet Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, for top
posts during the general elections due later this year, the East African
Standard reported. In its Tuesday editorial, the paper challenged the
Commissioner of Police to reveal the "political" sponsors of the Mungiki
sect. "We do not want to ask where the police were the two nights
Kariobangi North was turned into a field of blood and murder, because this
was not the first time the Mungiki were demonstrating the criminality of
its membership... Mungiki is boasting political connections. And the
public must be told why Mungiki has always been allowed to get away with
murder," it stated. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=23749]


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