Category Archives: Human Rights

Kenya: Mt Elgon continues

TRUTH JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION HEAR OF TERROR ON THE MOUNTAIN.
By Agwanda Jowi

The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission continued its hearings in western Kenya today.

At Kibuk Catholic Church in Kapsokwony, Mt. Elgon, the Commission heard from divergent witnesses who narrated their perspectives and experiences of the cyclical violence on the mountain.

began to hear from witnesses in Mt Elgon a district that has experienced some of the worst episodes of violence in the country.

Mr. George Walukhu spoke of persistent harassment he attributed to joining an opposition party during former President Moi’s regime.

Ms Gladys Nanjala Obabi broke down and wept throughout her testimony. She recounted how her husband was pulled out of their home late at night by Sabaot Land Defence Force militia.

“ Young men came to our home late at night and knocked on the door. My husband declined saying it was late. The men grew in number and continued banging on the door saying they would break it down, which they did and pulled my husband out. We screamed for help but none came. I could hear him crying out for mercy and in pain. They told him to say his final prayers and killed him right there at the front of the home,” Mrs Obabi said weeping.

One of the young men then shone a torch into my face and hit her with a metal rod, knocking out four of her teeth and leaving her traumatised and in shock. She went on to tell how Police from Kopsiro came to her house took her husband’s body to Bungoma and advised her to seek medical attention.

Mrs. Obabi said she survived but was told never to return again to their farm. She said they lost, their home, cattle, and she left with the clothes on her back.

“ I am now an internally displaced person living at the Kimabole market place with my children. We have nothing. My children are not going to school and yet my father gave me an education. If I could be given just a small piece of land we could work and fend for ourselves,’ she pleaded with TJRC.

Messers George Walukhu and Jocktan Wepukhulu recounted harassment , arrest and torture during former President Moi’s regime accused of being members of the February 28th Movement which allegedly sought to destabilise the Moi regime.

“ I was extensively tortured by security officials trying to get me to admit to being a member of FERA. When we were arrested I was blindfolded with my shirt and my hands tied with my belt and thrown onto a lorry like a sack of potatoes,’ Mr. Walukhu said. He attributed his troubles to belonging to the opposition party FORD at the dawn of multiparty democracy when it was considered bordering on treason.

Mr. Mayu who also suffered unlawful detention told the hushed hearings how he had been tortured until he became impotent.

But it was 27 year old Helen Nakam’s testimony that kept the hearing riveted in horror.

A simple trip to fetch firewood in 2002 turned into a rape ordeal that left her HIV positive and led to the loss of her daughter. Ms Nakam said she was abducted by SLDF militia who accused her of disrespect.

“They said they would beat me until I told them why I was calling them janjaweed ( orginal name for SLDF ) and yet they were officers. They blindfolded me with a dripping, bloody cloth and I had to swallow blood not knowing where it came from as they walked me to Kipsis forest. The 5 men raped me and I told them ’you are hurting me and I have not done anything to you’,” Ms Nakam said.

“ They held me captive for days beating me with blows, kicks and clubs and keeping me blindfolded. One of them relieved himself into my mouth telling me to drink the water and I swallowed it. They made me go down on my knees and crawl back and forth on stones. They raped me again, all five men and I pleaded with them not to hurt me as I had done them no wrong,” she lamented in tears pouring down her face. She said she could she could hardly move as every part of her body was in pain

Ms Nakam said they would leave her and return but the last night they asked her to choose between life and death. If she wanted to live they would take her to a church in Kipsis from where she could walk home. If not they would kill her on the spot.

“They took me right to the house and told my husband they had returned his wife to him and infected her with HIV Aids.

“ My husband left me and I returned home. Soon after the baby I had been expecting died and that is my story, Ms Nakam ended her testimony.

The TJRC held a women’s forum concurrently at which those whose testimony could not be heard at the formal hearing could be given a platform to tell their story.

Most women spoke of how their husbands were taken away by SLDF despite their pleas for mercy or offers of cattle in exchange. The militia told them they did not want cattle but their husbands heads.

One woman told the session punctuated by open weeping, “ My 18 year old son was slaughtered and cut into pieces and I was forced to carry his head. The man who slaughtered my son and husband went off to drink chang’aa (illicit brew) with blood stained clothes to show that he had made a kill of her son and husband.”

The mandate of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission is to inquire into human rights violations including those committed by the state, groups or individuals. It includes but is not limited to politically motivated violence, assassinations, community displacements, settlements and evictions.

It will also inquire into major economic crimes, in particular grand corruption, historical land injustices and the illegal and irregular acquisition of land especially as these relate to conflict or violence, between 12th December 1963 to February 2008.

The Commission will receive statements from victims, witnesses, communities, interest groups, persons directly or indirectly involved in events or any other group or individual; undertake investigations and research; hold hearings and engage in activities as it determines to advance national or community reconciliation.

Parliament enacted the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Act 2008 on 24th October 2008. The Act was assented to on November 28th 2008 and the Act came into force on 9th March 2009.

The Commissioners were appointed by President Mwai Kibaki on 22nd July 2009 and sworn in on 3rd August 2009.

Commissioners are: Tecla Namachanja Wanjala ( Ag.Chair Kenya) , Gertrude Chawatama (Commissioner Zambia), Amb. Berhanu Dinka (Commissioner Ethiopia), Ahmed Sheikh Farah (Commissioner Kenya), Prof. Tom Ojienda (Commissioner Kenya), Margaret Shava (Commissioner Kenya), Prof. Ronald Slye (Commissioner USA). The Commission CEO/ Secretary is Patricia Nyaundi

KENYA: TRUTH JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION WESTERN KENYA HEARINGS BEGIN

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By Agwanda Jowi

The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission began its hearings in western Kenya to hear from witnesses in Mt Elgon a district that has experienced some of the worst episodes of violence in the country.

Former MP Wilberforce Kisiero and representative of the Sabaot community presenting their memorandum to the TJRC at Kibuk Catholic Church in Kapsokwony, narrated the long history of conflict between his community and their neighbours, the Bukusu.

“ The mountain’s problems began when the colonialists removed people from their ancestral land that is Tran-Nzoia, Bungoma including Mt Elgon. They removed the Sabaot because they wanted to settle soldiers from World War 1 and so began to forcefully remove them to Uganda, ” Mr. Kisiero said adding that some were still there to this day and others have eastern Congo, into Pokot county and Nyanza.

Describing a series of perceived betrayals by successive regimes by whom the Sabaot had been displaced and never compensated, he said all they wanted was to be settled as in government farms.

‘All we want is for land for the Sabaot to be looked for in the remaining government farms which are in Trans Nzoia which is their ancestral land, not all just a token. There should further be consideration for 5,000 displaced from Chebyuk settlement scheme. While we would prefere Mt Elgon be divided into three constituencies, in consideration of the economy and the expense, we would be happy if it was split into two, ” he said.

Mr. Timothy Mulumbi representing the Bukusu community said he recalled former President Moi saying that the removal of Section 2A from the constitution turning Kenya into a multi-party state would lead to tribal clashes and it did happen in 1992 after elections.

“The Bukusus were not armed. We still have wounds from the past but I believe that we have started healing from the testimonies being brought to you TJRC, ” Mr Mulumbi said

Asked by the Presiding Chair Prof. Tom Ojienda if he knew who among the leadership had caused the cyclical violence in the region, Mr. Mulumbi said he did. “ Yes it is our leaders, we know them but we want healing. When we reported to the police they dismissively likened to a match between AFC and Gor Mahia (alluding to rivalry between the top football teams in Kenya); they did nothing. We want healing and we want to co-exist with our neighbors,” he ended. His testimony followed by the Teso experience.

– Ends

world: Global Fight Against Corruption and Impunity Is Bearing Fruits….!

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from Judy Miriga

Folks,

The Global Fight Against Corruption and Impunity is bearing fruits….!

God promised Humanity Unity, Peace and Love….That is our goal-post….

2011 has set the stage for the realistic sustainable Global Justice that which will usher Peace with “Thou Must Love Thy Neighbour As Thou Lovest Thyself” in order to enjoy God’s Blessings upon which He God Created the Universe……(The World)……Where there will be no more man-made inflicted pain, sufferings or poverty, that God did not create poverty to the poor, and there will be no escape without consequences.

No one is too big, too small or too smart for justice….. ICC Hague is true and real, and the Law Shall set us all free and free indeed…..

Pay attention and listen to the voice calling from the wilderness…..!

In all our doings…..God has the last say…..!

God Bless Us All and help us see His beaming majestic light and power……..

Cheers everybody………. !

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: UNNews

Subject: CHARGES AGAINST RECENTLY ARRESTED FUGITIVES MUST EXPOSE SEXUAL CRIMES — UN ENVOY

New York, May 29 2011 5:05PM

Welcoming the recent arrests of two men long sought for their roles in the Balkans conflicts and the Rwandan genocide, a top United Nations official today stressed the need to ensure that the crimes of sexual violence they both stand accused of are exposed in the legal process under way.

Ratko Mladiæ was apprehended last week in Serbia after evading capture for almost 16 years, while Bernard Munyagishari was arrested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, said that the indictments of the two men show that the fight against impunity for crimes of conflict-related sexual violence continues to yield results.

“In most media reports on their respective apprehension, however, sexual violence used as a tactic or weapon of war is repeatedly neglected from being mention
ed,” she said in a statement.

Mr. Mladiæ, the war-time leader of the Bosnian Serb forces, is awaiting transfer to The Hague, where he will stand trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

He is charged with 15 counts that include the murder of close to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995. In the indictment, sexual abuse or sexual violence is mentioned five times.

Mr. Munyagishari, the former head of the Interahamwe Hutu militia for the city of Gisenyi in western Rwanda, is charged with five counts that include genocide, and rape as a crime against humanity, during the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus that took place in little more than three months beginning in April 1994.

He is awaiting transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is based in Arusha, Tanzania.

“It is crucial that the terrible acts of sexual violence they both stand accused of are exposed in
the legal process currently under way,” stated Ms. Wallström.

“Only by explicitly bringing these horrible deeds into the open can we help to break history’s greatest silence.”

– – – –
Ratko Mladic: career officer infamous for the Srebrenica massacre
Military mastermind of Bosnia’s destruction repeatedly claimed he was on a mission of vengeance

The capture of Ratko Mladic, the military mastermind of the destruction of Bosnia, closes more than a decade of deceit for many parties in the Balkans and beyond.

Serbia’s post-Slobodan Milosevic democracy remained stigmatised and isolated for as long as its military, security structures and gangsters sheltered the general.

The United Nations, the Nato alliance, the Dutch state, the French Republic, and the world’s mightiest spy services were all tainted by their appeasement of Mladic and by the long failure or reluctance to apprehend the man said to be the most infamous mass murderer in Europe.

For the prosecutors and investigators in The Hague, finally getting Mladic in the dock will represent the climax to 16 years of often thankless toil among the mass graves, government filing cabinets, video archives, and questioning of witnesses in the Balkans.
Mladic and his partner-in-crime, Radovan Karadzic, were the military and political leaders, dubbed the psychopath and the psychiatrist, of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-95 war. The men, both of whom are now in custody – Karadzic was seized by Serbian intelligence in 2008 – were, at least initially, the creatures of the Milosevic regime in Belgrade.
Mladic is most infamous for the biggest single massacre of the Bosnian war at Srebrenica towards the war’s end in 1995.

But for the previous four years he was the most ruthless and determined instrument of Milosevic’s disastrous strategy to hijack Yugoslavia and carve a Greater Serbia out of the ruins of Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo.

It was a project that failed spectacularly. Kosovo is now an independent state carved out of Serbia while Croatia and Slovenia next month will be celebrating 20 years since they declared their independence from Yugoslavia.

In June 1991, weeks before the Yugoslav wars opened with the skirmishing in Slovenia, Mladic – a career Yugoslav army officer and graduate of Belgrade military academies – was made military commander of the Yugoslav army garrison in Knin, a dusty provincial centre in south-west Croatia that was the seat of the Serb insurgency in Croatia.

Within six months he had helped Milosevic partition Croatia, seizing control of a quarter of the country and in the process pulverising the Danube town of Vukovar, which became the scariest symbol of that campaign. Those gains were then consolidated behind a UN peace plan in January 1992, devised by Cyrus Vance, the former US secretary of state who became UN special envoy to the region.

Two months after that plan came into effect, Milosevic, aware of Mladic’s unruly and Bonapartist displays, pulled his henchman out of Croatia into his native Bosnia, where he rallied his devotees. According to his army file obtained by investigators in The Hague, he was made commander of the Bosnian Serb military in May 1992 when Milosevic purged the high command in Belgrade and formally separated the Bosnian from the Yugoslav military.

What followed the Mladic appointment was a whirlwind of murder, pogrom, siege, and destruction giving birth to the term “ethnic cleansing”.

A senior UN official, who spent hours haggling with Mladic from the early days in Knin, characterised him as “a psychopath – highly intelligent and profoundly violent”.
Mladic liked nothing better than to parade as a proud Serbian military officer, mixing with and confronting French brigadiers, British generals and US commanders on equal terms.
His war in Bosnia, however, was that of both the bully and the coward – a war against defenceless civilians. Within a few months of the start of the Bosnian war, by the end of 1992, Mladic’s blitzkrieg had left tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims dead, put two million to flight, their homes looted and torched, their cemeteries and mosques bulldozed into oblivion.

His forces already controlled 70% of Bosnia and instituted a Nazi-style racist reign of terror aimed at the expulsion of almost all non-Serbs.

The 15 counts of genocide, murder, extermination, hostage-taking, and persecution he now faces in The Hague were the means, according to the chargesheet, to “the elimination or permanent removal, by force or other means of Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non-Serb inhabitants from large areas of Bosnia”.

The Srebrenica massacre – he entered the enclave in July 1995 with the sinister assurance, “Don’t worry, no one will be harmed” – was the terrible climax of the Serbian project in Bosnia.

By the end of the same year he had been indicted for genocide at Srebrenica, while already facing a host of other charges over ethnic cleansing and the three-year siege of Sarajevo imposed by his forces.

If that was the cost of the professional, military, and career victories Mladic believes he chalked up in Bosnia, the three-and-a-half-year war there also inflicted crushing personal losses on a man who clearly relished the macho male culture of the Balkan military caste but who grew up in the company of women – his mother, sister, wife, and daughter.
Mladic was born into another bloodbath – the Serb-Croat war and Serbian civil war that ran in tandem with the second world war in Yugoslavia. Mladic was born in the village of Bozinovici, near the town of Kalinovik in eastern Herzegovina in March 1942. It is stark mountain territory on the western fringes of Serbdom, home to the kind of frontier folk that make the most fanatical breed of nationalists. Several Serbian nationalist leaders of the 1990s in Belgrade are from the same region.

When Mladic was three years old at the end of the war, his father, a partisan fighting with Tito’s forces, was killed during an assault on the Bosnian village of Bradina, home to Ante Pavelic, the fascist leader of the wartime Croatian Ustasha state.

In the 90s Mladic repeatedly claimed to have been traumatised by his father’s death and to always have been on a mission of vengeance, although the greater family tragedy came in 1994 when Mladic’s adored daughter, Ana, a 23-year-old Belgrade medical student, killed herself at the height of the Bosnian war.

Mladic and his sister were reared by his mother. A colleague who spent hours with Mladic on Mount Igman overlooking Sarajevo in the mid-90s recounted how the general dwelt obsessively and at length on his mother, daughter and sister.

When Ana killed herself, a distraught Mladic went to the mortuary in Belgrade where a senior Yugoslav Muslim doctor was on duty. According to Mirko Klarin, an authority on Yugoslav war crimes, Mladic bellowed at the doctor, ordering him out on ethnic grounds. He then proceeded to apply make-up to his daughter’s face.

Whatever the impact of family tragedy and tension on the general, amateur psychologists speculated that the suicide unhinged Mladic, contributing to eruptions of rage and violence in Gorazde in 1994 when he faced down and bested Britain’s General Sir Michael Rose, at Bihac in 1995 when he responded to Nato air strikes by taking 200 UN troops hostage, and finally at Srebrenica.

Since then, in the early days of life as a fugitive he lived reasonably openly, clearly feeling he had nothing to fear. He was frequently sighted in the better suburbs of Belgrade, in city restaurants, at football games, going to weddings. Only after 2002 did Mladic perform a disappearing trick, fearing that his impunity was eroding.

Over the past few years, after a long period of doing nothing to address the toxic issue of war crimes and atrocities, the Serbian government started coaxing senior police and military figures into surrendering to The Hague tribunal.

Karadzic, Mladic’s peer, partner and sometime rival, was seized by Serbian intelligence in July 2008 while riding on a Belgrade bus. He had been living under a false name in the Serbian capital, working as a spiritual healer.

Given the volume of evidence against Mladic and the sentences already handed down to many of his subordinates, it now appears inevitable that Mladic will spend all of his old age behind bars.

Cameron Charles Russell 9:59 pm on May 27, 2011 Reply
Tags: crimes against humanity, ICTY, justice ( 2 ), Mladic, peace, war crimes
On the Arrest of Ratko Mladic: hopes for justice, and for peace
In early May, there were scenes of jubilation throughout America at the killing of Osama bin Laden. Yesterday, however, there were no such scenes when the news that Ratko Mladic had been arrested, and would be extradited to the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to face trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Arguably, however, Mladic was guilty of far worse crimes than bin Laden, having personally commanded or overseen the rape, torture, and murder of many thousands of Muslim Bosnians in the mid-1990s. He was the head of the army during the incredibly bloody and shameful episode of “ethnic cleansing” following the break-up of Yugoslavia. Why, then, the lack of celebrations? Should not the arrest of such a divisive mass murderer, after more than a decade-and-a-half on the run, be cause for joy?

Unfortunately for many Bosnians, joy is one emotion it is hard to connect to the atrocities committed during the war. Bin Laden, for all his evil, united America with a common purpose, and Americans supported an active foreign policy to satiate their desire for (re)action and, ultimately, vengeance. Mladic, however, made his reputation not by killing alone, but by ripping a country apart. The scale of the devastation and slaughter was such that almost no family was left unaffected.

Bosnia and Serbia both have been trying to move on from the past, and the arrest of Mladic has brought back many painful memories. Moreover, many in Serbia are still loyal to Mladic, or at least do not welcome yet more humiliation in front of an international audience. Rather than stirring up past animosities and memories of horrors in two countries that are trying to look ahead and not back to the past, would it have been better to put aside the interests of justice for those of peace? Mladic is an old man, protected by a group of nationalist loyalists, but no longer a threat. Does his arrest bring back painful memories and risk enflaming nationalistic backlash? If justice is served, at what price will it come?

The argument that justice mechanisms like domestic trials and international tribunals serve to heighten division rather than produce reconciliation, and thus should be forgone in favour of truth commissions or even amnesties, is an old one. But it is also an easy argument that is increasingly at odds with the facts, and with contemporary opinions. In a paper released last December [see: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/18/seductions-sequencing Human Rights Watch gathered the views of many individuals and organizations, from Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon, to the EU, to argue that no meaningful peace can be obtained without justice also being served. As recently as 2007, scholars Katherine Sikkink and Carrie Booth Walling argued, in the Journal of Peace Research, that the experience of Latin America with trials of suspected human rights violators has promoted democracy, lessened political tensions, all without producing violent backlash.
We can hope, then, that along with the relatively somber reaction to it, the news of Mladic’s arrest will bring some small measure of peace to many who were affected by his brutality. Moreover, by extraditing Mladic, Serbia moves one step closer to EU accession, and through it, towards reconciliation with its neighbours and the international community as a whole. The trial should also serve as yet another forum to bring out the truth of the atrocities committed in the name of nationalism; the more Serbians come to terms with the horrors perpetrated in its name, the more they, and others, can move on. And, with the trial of Mladic, all of the top war criminals due for prosecution at the ICTY will have been captured, thus fulfilling a promise almost two decades old – one that few ever thought likely.

Many have seen the arrest of Mladic as a great achievement, and consider it a warning to Qadhafi and al-Bashir; but we should be wary of inflating our expectations. It took years of diplomacy to convince Belgrade that the war criminals Karadic and Mladic should be handed over. And it took the incentive of accession to the EU for the Serbian government to overcome the sentiments of its population, half of whom do not support Mladic’s extradition [link: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/26/bosnia-mladic-arrest-ends-reign-impunity. International law is neither as weak as “realists” believe, nor as strong (yet) as idealists would like. But it is, nevertheless, increasingly carrying stronger normative weight in states’ foreign policy making decisions.

We should celebrate Mladic’s arrest, and be mindful that the the memories of the horrors that it brings up are precisely those that we hope international law can deter in the future.

– – –

Bosnia: Mladic Arrest Ends Reign of Impunity
(New York) – The arrest of notorious fugitive Ratko Mladic almost 16 years after his indictment for genocide shows that no one is beyond the reach of the law, Human Rights Watch said today. Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander, is charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including the massacre of up to 8,000 Bosnian men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.

“Only hours before his forces slaughtered thousands of civilians in Srebrenica, Ratko Mladic was handing out candy to Muslim children and promising their parents safe passage,” said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “After more than a decade and a half on the run, justice has finally caught up with the man who personified the brutality of the war in Bosnia.”

In a press conference, President Boris Tadic of Serbia confirmed that Mladic had been arrested in the early hours of May 26, 2011, on “Serbian soil.” Mladic is being transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY).
Mladic’s capture comes almost three years after Serbia’s arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb civilian leader. Both men have been twice indicted on genocide charges for the Srebrenica massacre and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. They have also been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. In July 2008, Serb authorities arrested Karadzic and transferred him to The Hague to stand trial before the ICTY.

The arrest of Mladic comes as EU countries are considering the opening of formal membership negotiations with Serbia. The EU has stressed that Belgrade must cooperate fully with the ICTY before talks can start. The fact that Mladic and Karadzic are now in custody shows what principled EU engagement can deliver, Human Rights Watch said. The ICTY Prosecutor is due to present his report on Serbia’s cooperation with the tribunal, among other issues, to the UN Security Council on June 6.

The authorities in Serbia had previously claimed to have no information about Mladic’s presence in Serbia. The ICTY prosecutor and independent Serbian media have alleged that Mladic was in Serbia under the protection of elements of the army outside effective control of the civilian authorities. Authorities in Belgrade acknowledged that Mladic received a Yugoslav army pension until 2002, and they have detained several people accused of helping hide him. An opinion poll conducted in Serbia released earlier this month indicated that 51% of respondents did not support Mladic’s transfer to The Hague.

“The Serbian government has shown considerable courage in arresting Mladic in the face of fierce opposition by hardliners,” said Dicker. “Belgrade’s commitment to justice should be commended.”

Human Rights Watch urged the Serbian government to continue cooperating with the Yugoslav tribunal, including by surrendering Goran Hadzic, the only remaining ICTY fugitive, who is believed to be within Serbia’s reach. Hadzic, a Croatian Serb, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the persecution of Croat and other non-Serb civilians in 1991 and 1992 in parts of Croatia controlled by rebel Serbs. Such cooperation also includes surrendering key documents and archives for ongoing and upcoming trials. Human Rights Watch said that it is crucial that the EU maintain pressure on Serbia to cooperate.

The long-awaited arrests and surrender of Mladic and Karadzic come as the ICTY is in the process of implementing its completion strategy, as mandated by the UN Security Council.

As of the end of 2009, the UN Security Council indicated that the tribunal should complete all of its work, including appeals, by the end of 2014. Although the ICTY prosecutor has amended the indictment against Mladic to speed up proceedings, it is unlikely that Mladic’s trial will be completed by that date. Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council to adopt a flexible approach in deciding the tribunal’s completion dates.
“It is essential that governments give the Yugoslav tribunal the support that it needs to guarantee fair and effective trials for the indicted architects of the Srebrenica massacre,” said Dicker.

Background

Mladic and Karadzic were first indicted by the ICTY in July 1995 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes alleged to have occurred in several cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a separate indictment in November 1995, the ICTY charged both Mladic and Karadzic with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes based on the mass execution of civilians after the fall of Srebrenica.

The ICTY delivered its first genocide conviction against General Radislav Krstic in August 2001, sentencing him to 46 years in prison. Krstic was second in command to Mladic of the Bosnian Serb troops at Srebrenica. In April 2004, the ICTY Appeals Chamber, while reducing Krstic’s sentence to 35 years, confirmed that genocide had occurred in Srebrenica. On June 10, 2010 the ICTY also convicted Vujadin Popovic (Chief of Security in the Drina Corps) and Ljubisa Beara (Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army Main Staff) on several accounts including genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Topics: War crimes, Crimes against humanity, Impunity,

Nigeria: Letter to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria By The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities Of Nigeria in the Diaspora

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from Yona Maro

His Excellency President Goodluck Jonathan
President of Federal Republic of Nigeria
Office of the Presidency
Asu-Rock, Abuja, Nigeria
CARE OF:
Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
United Nations
Two United Nations Plaza, DC2-1372
New York, NY 10017
United States of America Secretary Hilary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Senator David Mark
President of the Nigerian Senate
Hon. Oladimeji. Bankole (CFR)
Speaker, Nigerian House of Representative

Hon. Mrs. Iyom Josephine Anenih
Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs
Chineme Ume-Ezeoke
SSA on Nigeria’s Civil Society
Hon. Abike Dabiri
Nigerian National Assembly
Office of the Diaspora

His Excellency,

RE: OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

On behalf of the more than 22 million Nigerians with disabilities, DPOs, friends and allies both from the civil society government, The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria in the Diaspora, Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPDI), Walk the Talk America, Inc, New Nigerian Initiative of Nigeria in the Diaspora, and FESTAC-USA, we thank and congratulate you and your administration for ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), on September 24, 2010. As the CRPD is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century, ratification demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to full and equal human rights for all of its citizens, as well as its willingness to uphold the international principles embodied in the treaty.

As Nigeria seeks to honor its obligations under the treaty, including its duty to report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, implementation through national reform is essential. Article 4 of The UN Convention identifies general and specific obligations on States parties in relation to the rights of persons with disabilities. One of the fundamental obligations contained in the Convention is that national law should guarantee the enjoyment of the rights enumerated in the Convention. In order to assist in meeting this obligation, we humbly and respectfully seek to support and encourage the signing of the Disability Bill before you.
This Bill marks a turning point in the lives of millions of Nigerians, and offers a chance to enhance Nigeria’s economy through the inclusion of people with disabilities, while also upholding Nigeria’s obligation under international law. One tangible benefit of the Bill will be greater economic contributions of 22 million Nigerian’s with a disability,, who are also now , a very formidable political constituency of consequences. Many multinational companies have discovered the potential of people with disabilities to make significant contributions to the workplace, and therefore the economic growth of a nation. For example, the DuPont Corporation (a US based chemical company) undertook a 30 year measure of the performance of its employees and found that disabled employees performed on par or better than nondisabled staff with regard to attendance, safety and overall job performance. Supporting this idea further, the International Labor Organization conducted a study, including countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and found that economic losses related to the exclusion of persons with disabilities from the labor force are large and measurable, ranging from between 3 and 7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Bill before you will ensure that Nigeria benefits from the untapped potential of people with disabilities, through the inclusion in skills training and employment opportunities, allowing for greater contributions to society and the economy.

Another key component of the Bill is a right to education. Education is the key for any country to compete globally and see economic gains. It is a means out of poverty, helps prevent disease, generates a skilled employment pool and has been cited by the UN as a major factor in ensuring national peace and stability. Without access to education millions of Nigerian’s with a disability will not only be kept out of the job market, but will remain trapped in a cycle of poverty, dependency and poor health, all factors that lead to national economic and social instability.

Other objectives of the bill, such as the mandate that new buildings be constructed with accessibility requirements, will not only ensure compliance with the UN treaty but will save the Government money over time. It is more cost efficient to construct an accessible building then to build one that is not accessible, and have to modify the structure again in the future. Accessibility in both buildings and transpiration ensures that the 22 million Nigerians who have some form of disability can get to work; access health services, thereby reducing the spread of disease, access banks; courthouses; schools and other essential facilities which will enable them to become self sufficient and productive. A person who is self sufficient and productive can not only better contribute to society, but will ultimately cost the Government less because they will be able to take care of themselves and their families.

In addition, it is critical to keep in mind that it is not just Nigerian’s with a disability that will benefit from this Bill but society as a whole. Since almost every Nigerian will develop a disability as they age, the Disability Bill will be of use to every Nigerian at some point in their life. Therefore, by signing into law the Disability Bill you will not only provide equal right and treatment for 22 million Nigerian’s with a disability, you will also do so for the entire Nigerian society.

Mainstreaming disability is not a radical idea for Nigeria, but falls in line with the previously undertaken movement to mainstream gender. The Commission of Women’s Affairs is a vital part of the Nigerian Government, and has increased not only the rights of women but their participation in and contribution to society. A Commission on Disability would produce the same results and could be created by undertaking the same process that was done for Women’s Affairs. In addition a Commission on Disability would work with all ministries, Department and Agencies in the country and in the Diaspora, as issues of disability is a crosscutting one, affecting all areas of development. The idea of this kind of multisectorial approach is further explored below.

The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria in the Diaspora, USA Chapter, Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPDI), Walk the Talk America, Inc., New Nigeria Initiative in the Diaspora (NNID), FESTAC-USA and many other unnamed organizations, Diaspora collaborators, are all willing and able to work with the Federal Government and the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria, to assist in implementing the Disability Bill and in establishing the Commission. We are prepared to assist by providing expertise, guidance, and examples of how other countries have implemented the Convention. For instance Uganda adopted a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) as a service strategy for reaching more persons with disabilities in 1990. Currently the country runs a CBR model with activities that include identification of persons with disabilities; assessment, referral, rehabilitation and home programs. Families of persons with disabilities are also encouraged to participate in income generating activities. This project involves multisectorial committees at National, District and Sub-country levels. All these committees are geared to mainstreaming disability in general community development and work with the Commissions on Disability. This multisectorial committee approach works for two reasons:

It ensures full inclusion and implementation within society.
The benefits and financial burdens are spread throughout different programs thereby easing budget strains.

We are also interested in helping deflect the cost of establishing a Commission and enacting a Bill. As an NGO with ties to international organizations, the UN and other institutions, we can seek and apply for funds that have already been designated for use in such efforts. As we are part of Rehabilitation International (RI), a global network of more than 1000 organizations of person with disabilities, service providers, agencies, professionals and experts in a broad range of disability-related issues with consultative status to the United Nations, we can attest to the fact that other RI members such as those in Tanzania and India have already received similar support. We have identified United Nations Voluntary Funds on Disabilities, Open Society Institute, Ratify Now and many other unnamed agencies, as potential donor matches and hope that this will further alleviate any cost related hesitancy to signing the Bill.

Signing this Bill will help Nigeria to serve as a leader among human rights, and will change the bleak reality in which Nigerian’s with disability currently live. Without this Bill millions of disabled people will continue to live below the poverty line. They will go without access to education, employment opportunities and critical health care. They will continue to be trapped in a cycle where wide spread discriminations and segregation cause them to remain highly vulnerable to poverty and disease. Without this Bill social stigmas associated with disability will remain so prevalent that even families will continue to reject their own members with disabilities. This Bill will help to change the role of people with disabilities in Nigerian society, moving them from objects of pity or charity, where society is more comfortable giving disabled persons money on the streets then giving them paying jobs and shelter, to one in which persons with disabilities can enjoy equal rights as all other Nigeria’s and contribute to society on a level yet unrealized under current law.

Therefore it is not only on behalf of 22 million Nigeria’s with disabilities that we humbly and respectfully ask you sign the Disability Bill into law. Your Excellency, we want to sincerely state here that appointing any of us into the office of the Special Senior Assistant to the President on Disability Matter, Nigeria would not in any way, honor its obligations under the UN treaty, including its duty to report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, essential and mandatory implementation through national reforms, which Article 4 of The Convention identifies general and specific obligations on States parties in relation to the rights of persons with disabilities; .Please Your Excellency, note that one of the fundamental obligations contained in the UN Convention is that national law should guarantee the enjoyment of the rights enumerated in the Convention; would not in anyway meet the needs and aspirations of people with disabilities and their households, it would not in anyway promote and protect their rights, and would not in anyway restore their dignity.

Your Excellency Sir, please, all we are asking for, is the signing of the Bill into law, for in it lays our hopes and aspirations, and it is only when this happens that we can have a breath of FRESH AIR. This Bill is a chance for the nation to demonstrate that indeed, she truly cares for her vulnerable and less privileged members. A chance for Nigeria to fulfill its obligations under the UN Convention while getting back the maximum potential and benefit of all its citizens and for these reasons we reverentially, humbly and respectfully ask the Bill be signed into law.

Please note that valid and verifiable, statistical data has proved that Nigerians in the Diaspora, sends more than ten Billion dollars in cash annually, to their loved ones living in Nigeria. Also, we render billions of dollars on, undocumented healthcares, in form of medical mission, charity work, and other services. Therefore Mr. President, we Nigerians in the Diaspora, as second highest sources of Nigeria’s foreign revenue, to crude oil and gas, deserves to have the right, for our voices to be heard and valid requests to be honored.

Thanks so much for hearing our voices and granting our request.

Respectfully Submitted,

________________________
Chief Eric N. Ufom, President
Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities
Of Nigeria in the Diaspora, USA Chapter
P.O. Box 710251

USA: If Noah Built an Ark in 2011

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And lo, in the year 2011, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said:
“Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me.”

“Build another Ark and save two of every living thing along with a few good humans.”

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, “You have 6 months to build the ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.”

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard, but there was no ark.

“Noah! I’m about to start the rain! Where is the ark?”

“Forgive me, Lord,” begged Noah, “but things have changed.”

“I needed a building permit.”

“I’ve been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system.”

“My neighbors claim that I’ve violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.”

“Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the ark’s move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.”

“Getting the wood was another problem. There’s a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl.”

“I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls, but no go!”

“When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.”

“Then the EPA ruled that I couldn’t build the ark until they’d conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.”

“I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I’m supposed to hire for my building crew.”

“Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work.”

“The trades unions say I can’t use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with ark-building experience.

“To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I’m trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.”

“So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.”

Suddenly, the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, “You mean you’re not going to destroy the world?”

“No,” said the Lord. “The government beat me to it.”

Kenya: Leadership

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forwarded by Betty

Knowing our rights as Kenyans is the best thing we could do for ourselves.

. . . . . .

One of the most popular statement that I have so far heard as far as the Vienna Convention is concerned is ‘you cannot sue an ambassador’ is this true? Fundamental rights of an individual are very stringently adhered to in the US. . . even when a known Gun
killer walks into s school and sprays bullets on little innocent baby’s in broad day light, he is still presumed innocent until proven guilty. What happens when a US diplomat take away the fundamental rights of a person in another country under the pretence cover of the Vienna Convention?

http://www.tusijisunde.com/2011/honourable-john-harun-mwau-%e2%80%93-teach-kenya-a-new-lesson-2/

Uganda: Museveni Sworn in Amid Worries Over Democracy Flaws…..!

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Folks,

Do Not Be Fooled People…! Birds of The Same Feather Stay & Work Together….!

Sad to say, Corruption, Impunity and Terrorism has gone to High Definition level in the HUB of Somali Terrorism, Pirating and Drug Trafficking at Eastleigh Nairobi.

What makes you think they do not enjoy the comfort zone of Coalition Government Protectorate in cohort with Politicians Interests…….

And why would these politicians behave in such daring and boldly……….Masters of their Art………In their free world…….

Stay Focused…….and watch the Scenarios…….!……

May God Keep us all safe and secure…..!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Museveni Sworn in Amid Worries Over Democracy
Mkinga Mkinga

12 May 2011

Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was yesterday sworn in for the fifth time as the Head of State, at a colourful ceremony in Kampala, amid post-election tensions with the opposition.But as his supporters cheered and ululated, top political commentators in Dar es Salaam expressed concern over the state of democracy in Uganda, where opposition politicians have in the recent past been subjected to extreme violence and brutality.

Tanzanian scholars and political analysts said the recent events in Uganda have portrayed Mr Museveni, who waged a guerrilla war and seized power in 1986, as a new challenge to the democratisation process in the East African region that would have to be dealt with.

Speaking to The Citizen, the critics said the chaotic scenes in Uganda, where security forces had been clamping down on the opposition with excessive force, showed President Museveni, “as a person who will suppress democracy in the region”.

His failure to restore peace, especially in Karamoja, which is ravaged by cattle rustlers, was also cited as a challenge that Mr Museveni’s fellow East Africa Community (EAC) leaders should address.In Kampala, thousands of people, both the young and old, had thronged the Kololo ceremonial grounds to witness the swearing-in ceremony that was also attended by several African heads of state, including President Jakaya Kikwete, and diplomats.

But in an interview with The Citizen in Dar es Salaam, a renowned political scientist, Prof Mwesiga Baregu, said President Museveni had been more militaristic than political. “Museveni had been a warlord before he came to power. But in politics you can see him as a man against democracy, judging from the recent clamping down on his rival, Dr Besigye,” he said.Prof Baregu, who now teaches at the Dar Campus of St Augustine University of Tanzania (Saut), said: “His re-election presents a challenge to all EAC leaders to start thinking about the political future of Ugandans.”

For his part, a University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) political science lecturer, Dr Benson Bana, said Mr Museveni had initially played his part as a Ugandan patriot and one of the better leaders on the African continent.

However, he added, the Ugandan leader had overstayed, proving the assertion that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupt absolutely”.

He added: “President Museveni helped to bring harmony in his country and rebuild it from the ruins of his predecessors. He should now not leave a disintegrated Uganda.” Dr Bana urged him to think of retiring soon.

“Mr Museveni has had time to prepare a successor to continue his legacy and champion what he stands for in terms of ideology and policies. Uganda is blessed with a lot of people who qualify to serve as head of state.”

Another UDSM lecturer, Dr Azaveli Lwaitama, noted that as Mr Museveni was taking his oath, only one of the eight opposition presidential candidates was there to witness the event.

“This shows that the others are not satisfied with what has happened… it should be a challenge to him (Mr Museveni) as well,” he said.

He also criticised the inauguration speech. “He never even once used words such as socialism and kept switching from English to Luganda, and didn’t speak Kiswahili. In spite of his army’s parade being conducted in Kiswahili, he talked of his NRM as being a party that subscribes to Pan Africanism,” Dr Lwaitama said.

He recalled that when he came to power in 1986, Mr Museveni was seen as one of a new breed of African leaders, including the late Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso, who promoted grassroots democracy and criticised those who had overstayed in power. “Today, he is one of the African leaders being criticised for overstaying in power, reneging on his promise.”

Dr Lwaitama said Mr Museveni’s dictatorial inclination risked cancelling out all the good things he had done for Uganda and Africa since when he was a member of the University of Dar es Salaam’s University Students African Revolutionary Front (USARF). Speaking after being sworn in, President Museveni extolled the achievements of his National Resistance Movement (NRM) on the economy, education, roads and delivery of social services.

Kenya’s Moi, Kibaki Jet in for Swearing-in Fete

Richard Wanambwa

12 May 2011

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, were by last evening among some of the dignitaries who had arrived for President Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony.

Others are Saharawian leader Mohamed Abdelaziz, South Sudan leader Salva Kiir, Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh and Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

However, the number of actual guests by press time was not established as top government ministers were not forthcoming with information regarding the event.

No information

Minister for Presidency Beatrice Wabudeya referred this newspaper to her Information counterpart, Kabakumba Masiko, who doubles as spokesperson of the event, but the latter told Daily Monitor that she had been attending meetings and was not aware of the facts.

She promised to verify and get back to Daily Monitor but when this paper got back to her before press time, she could not answer our repeated calls.

But sources within the security establishment who requested for anonymity because they do not speak for government, confirmed the above guests as having arrived but added that more were to jet in this morning.

Daily Monitor could not access Entebbe International Airport as is the norm to photograph arrivals of different dignitaries. Government on Tuesday limited visitors to the airport citing security reasons for guests and a threat posed by Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters who were to receive their party leader as he was expected to return from Nairobi Hospital.

In both Nairobi and Harare, government websites carried statements from both State Houses indicating that Presidents Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki and Robert Mugabe of Zimbawe and Zimbabwe, respectively, were to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

“President Mwai Kibaki will Wednesday (yesterday) travel to Kampala, Uganda to attend the swearing-in and inauguration ceremony of the President-elect of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni … on Thursday 12th May, 2011,” the Nairobi statement reads.

Tripartite meeting

The statement further said the plane carrying the President and his entourage was expected to depart Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shortly before 4.00p.m…and during his trip President Kibaki is expected to attend a tripartite meeting of the leaders of Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

While the Zimbabwean statement read: “President Robert Mugabe is expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at Kololo Independence Ground in Kampala tomorrow.”

The government had invited 32 heads of state for the occasion but Foreign Affairs State Minister in-charge of International Affairs, Okello Oryem, said on Tuesday that at least seven heads of state and representatives from 19 countries had confirmed.

On Eve of Museveni Inauguration, Human Rights Situation Grave
11 May 2011

As Uganda prepares to inaugurate Yoweri Museveni, its president of twenty-five years, to yet another term tomorrow, the human rights situation in Uganda grows increasingly grave. The revival of the odious anti-homosexual bill and the recent brutal crackdown on civilians, journalists and political opposition have further eroded political rights and civil liberties in a country that already lacks genuine political competition, according to Freedom House.

At least ten people have been killed and hundreds injured in Uganda as security forces have responded to widespread protests against rising food and fuel prices with tear gas and live ammunition. Opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who has been arrested four times since the protests began, was barred from a flight to Uganda today as he attempted to return from Kenya where he had received medical treatment for injuries stemming from his April 28 arrest. According to the airline, he has been issued a ticket to return to Uganda this evening. Also yesterday, Democratic Party leader Norbert Mao and others were drenched by authorities in an unknown pink fluid and subsequently arrested while attempting to demonstrate.

“The deteriorating situation in Uganda in recent weeks is deplorable.

With the harsh crackdown on media and political opposition, violent attempts to prevent citizens from exercising their legitimate right to speak out about injustices, and the resurgence of dangerous anti-homosexual legislation, the rights of Ugandans are being squeezed from every direction,” said Paula Schriefer, Freedom House director of advocacy.”Tomorrow’s inauguration of a leader who has shown increasingly authoritarian tendencies will undoubtedly lead to more demonstrations and we call on Ugandan authorities to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens to express views peacefully without interference.”

It has been reported that President Yoweri Museveni is considering a new law to deny bail for six months to those arrested while protesting.

Journalists have been prohibited from entering hospitals and other areas where the major clashes are taking place, preventing an accurate count on those dead and injured.

Uganda was also recently criticized for prosecuting critical journalists under accusations such as treason or spreading false news, and a joint freedom of expression mission last September found that violence against journalists and impunity issues severely challenged the space for free expression.

Additionally, a bill that received global condemnation for provisions that criminalize homosexuality and mandate the death penalty may reportedly come before Uganda’s parliament for a vote on Friday.

Although recent reports suggest the death penalty clause may have been removed, the bill remains problematic.

“The passage of the anti-homosexual legislation will have devastating consequences not only for Uganda’s LGBTI community, but for the country’s reputation as a rights respecting country around the world,” continued Schriefer. “It simply shocks the conscience that such a blatantly discriminatory and vicious piece of legislation could even be considered, let alone adopted, in the 21st century.”

UGANDA WOMEN’S CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS – STATEMENT ON THE USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE

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From: Yona Maro

Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed a series of disturbing events in which we have seen the State and its law enforcement agencies respond in a brutal and often excessive manner to citizens’ demands for government action to address increased prices, cost of living, growing poverty, inequality in distribution of resources and corruption.

During this period, the Police and other security agencies have sought to quell demonstrations under the ‘Walk to Work’ Campaign using live ammunition and copious amounts of tear gas resulting in the loss of life, injuries to persons, and destruction of property. We have seen our sisters, brothers, and children affected in various ways with many still nursing injuries in hospital and others arrested and imprisoned, some without charge. In some incidences, sections of the public have exploited the volatile situation to break the law further spawning a downward spiral of violence both in Kampala and in other towns upcountry.

The shooting to death of two year old Juliana Nalwanga in Masaka, seven-month pregnant Ms. Nalwendo in the stomach and the brutal arrest and treatment of demonstrators and some bystanders are but some of the horrific incidents that have shocked us and invoked unease and a range of reactions from various sections of Uganda’s population and international actors including the Inter Religious Council, the Uganda Law Society and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

While the State has a duty to ensure law and order, the State is also obliged to respect, promote, protect, and fulfill the rights of its citizens as enshrined in the 1995 Constitution and other regional and international treaties to which Uganda is a signatory.[1] In attempting to fulfill its obligations in the last few weeks, the State has instead used excessive force resulting in the infringement of some of the fundamental rights enshrined in Chapter 4 of the Constitution including the right to life, the freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, right to access prompt, fair and timely justice and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.

We are also deeply concerned about the suffering that has been occasioned by the escalating food and fuel prices. Many women, men and children are subsequently unable to meet their basic needs and enjoy their basic right to food, education, health and shelter. While we recognize the myriad of causes behind the current crisis, we also wish to express our profound disappointment with government’s indifference, exhibited by the lack of urgent action to curb the situation and apparent disregard of pressing priorities in allocation of government expenditure.

We as Women in Civil Society are hereby convening to register our deep concern and condemnation on the use of excessive force by the Police and other security agencies and subsequent escalating violence and to call upon the State to take critical measures to address the key issues/ concerns raised by the public so as to avert a national crisis. In particular, we wish to register our deep concern of:

1. The use of excessive force and especially the use of live ammunition to quell demonstrations, indiscriminate physical assaults on civilians, spraying of vast amounts of tear gas in closed spaces including cars, schools, dispensaries and homes occasioning loss of life and property, severe injuries and pain among innocent children, by standers, those at work and urban dwellers. We are greatly concerned that rather than enjoy state protection, citizens are preoccupied with defending themselves against its wrath;

2. The brutality of officers of the Uganda Police Force and other security operatives in handling the “Walk to Work” campaign which amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for those that were arrested;

3. The intimidation of human rights defenders who have spoken out on various issues of concern including the declining space for engagement;

4. Censorship of the media and a curtailing of press freedom and freedom of expression, including intimidation and security threats to journalists and media houses carrying out their duty as a watchdog of the state and provider of information to the public;

5. he increased erosion of the independence of the three arms of government and lack of . The actions and decisions of some judicial officers which cast doubt in the minds of the public on whether justice is being done. We are equally concerned that contrary to the public appeal for the perpetrators of violence to be brought to justice, the Minister for Internal Affairs has instead defended the use of brutal force. Such responses from government risk promoting impunity.

6. The increased militarization of the State and use of armed forces to enforce law and order and quell peaceful protests which heightens risks of violent conflict and will affect the entire population of Uganda including men, women and children.

We as women’s civil society organisations are calling upon the Government to respect, promote, protect, and fulfill the rights of its citizens as enshrined in the 1995 Constitution and exercise restraint in fulfilling its obligations. Government must recognize that the language of force and violence alienates more then 50% of Uganda’s population – the women and diminishes our initiative to exercise our civic duties within the public sphere;

We are calling upon Government to take proactive measures to address broader social justice issues, and ensure that key concerns voiced by various sections of the public are addressed. We demand for strong policy measures to address issues food security, unemployment, health and education. We also demand for government’s resolve to ensure greater transparency in the allocation and management of public resources, reduction of excessive government expenditure and equitable distribution of benefits of economic growth to all the citizens of Uganda.

We are formally submitting an appeal to the Government and to the International Community through the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights defenders (UNSR) requesting for thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into the human rights violations committed by the security forces.

Finally,we are calling upon the public to remain peaceful in the pursuit of various rights and to desist from violent actions. We are also calling for national dialogue between key parties and urge all stakeholders including the regional and international community to intervene in ensuring peace and justice prevails in Uganda.

UGANDA WOMEN’S CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

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[1]These treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women, the African Charter on Human And Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa

Kenya: People Being Targeted and Going Missing…..Is a Crime Against Humanity……..!

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Folks,

Have you heard of Oriaro Leonard recently…….since his claim on-line?

With the kind of fears we see around where Millicent became a victim, I wonder if you have heard of oriaro leonard ; Kisumu Councilor who was recently reported being followed and trailed by unknown people and some he named names…….Please find out……and circulate report urgently…….

Let us not keep quite when others are in trouble especially by these corrupt criminal leaders……We must keep the fire in the house of the poor Africans burning until Jesus comes to our aid……It will not be long people…..stay the cause…….It Is Because, God is LOVE…!

God Bless you all…..!

Thanks,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

Kenya: Museveni comes face to face with a “heckler” in Nairobi

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

Kenya was last Saturday sucked into the escalating crisis over rising food prices in Uganda after the two main players arrived in Nairobi within hours of each other.

There were fears that the visit to the country by both President Museveni and the Opposition leader Dr Kizza Basigye would trigger a diplomatic incident after one you brave Kenyan unhappy with the Uganda leaders treatment of protesters in Kampala threatened to mobilise anti Museveni protests.

A ring of security was thrown around the posh Hotel Intercontinental where the Uganda leader addressed business leaders under the auspices of Mindspeak forum. One young man braved the security and shouted at Museveni saying,” We can’t have you speak to us whereas back at home you are brutalising the Ugandan citizens. Then the young man was thrown out by Museveni detailed security who handed him to the Kenyan police.

But addressing a mammoth crowd of people, who attended the Labour Day at the Nyayo National Stadium, the COTU{K} secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, demanded that the young Kenyan who had attempted to shout Museveni down should be released immediately, because he has done nothing wrong to warrant his continued detention by the police. “We can’t have dictators here and can’t tolerate the rule of gun under dictatorship”shouted Atwoli.

So far there was not much news about the whereabouts of the Nairobi “hecklers”. The visit of the two leaders,one for business forum and the other for medical treatment would have acquired more political overtones had Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited Dr Basigye at the Nairobi Hospital where he is lying critically ill after the last Thursday beating by the combined Ugandan regular and military police during his arrest for the fourth time within one week.

The planned hospital visit by Odinga was called off at the eleven hours, after the authoritis at the Nairobi Hospital said the patient was too ill and not ready to receive any visitors. Basigye is believed to have undergone eye surgery to clean his eye lenses following the attack on him with policemen using pepper laced papers. He is also said to have sustained injuries on his both sides of the ribs as he was thrown forcefully onto an open pick-truck during the arrest.

President Mwai Kibaki on Saturday held talks with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni who paid him a courtesy call at State House Nairobi.

President Museveni, who arrived on Saturday morning, is in the country to attend the Social Economic Transformation and the East African Political Federation Forum.

During their meeting, President Kibaki and President Museveni discussed ways of developing and improving cross-border infrastructure including the proposed construction of a new standard gauge railway line and the Kenya-Uganda petroleum pipeline.

In this regard, President Kibaki expressed Kenya’s commitment to continue improving sections of the Northern Corridor to ease the movement of goods and services between the two countries and the region in general.

The two leaders further discussed the East African integration and agreed that the process should move with speed so that the citizens of member states can fully enjoy the fruits of the regional economic bloc.

The two leaders also underscored the need for peace and stability as the cornerstone of development of the East African Community.

Uganda: Can AU and EAC stop Museveni from brutalizing Ugandans?

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Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo

Five presidents whose countries have jointly established one of the most vibrant economic bloc in the African continent, namely the East African Community are scared stiff of making their stand known on the current political situation in the neighboring Uganda?

It is not a laughing matter when the military soldiers are deployed in streets to brutalize and violently dispersing peaceful and unarmed the citizens from demonstrating against the sky-rocketing prices of essential land basic commodities.

The way and the manner in which protesting in Ugandans are treated is totally a mockery to the tenets of democratic principles.

The opposition Leader Col.Dr Kiiza Basingye was on Wednesday stopped while driving into town by heavily armed men who looked like military police. They used their steel pistols but in smashing his car’s windscreens on both sides of the vehicle and lobbed tear gas canisters into the car. A this was not enough, they splashed his face with looked like acids.

On two previous arrests, Dr Basingye was shot in his right arm by a trigger-happy policeman who got away with the heinous act scot free. The third arrests were even more brutal because the liquid substance flashed in his face appeared to have affected his eyesight. Surely was this excessive force necessary in arresting an unarmed person?

Why are the AU and EAC leaders keeping quiet as Uganda is slowly drifting back to the rule of the gun? So far none of the four presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi has commented on what is gong in Uganda. Where are their usually vocals so called government spokesmen. Why are they burry8ng their heads in sands in the face of brutal militarist colleague in Uganda?

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has re-introduced the rule of the gun in Uganda. It is something which the citizens of that beautiful African country had long forgotten – – ever since the former despotic ruler in the name of Field Marshall Lt Gen Idi Amin Dada was sent packing by a combined forces of Tanzania regulars and Ugandan exile forces. That was the justified liberation war which Museveni himself was one of those brave Ugandans who had sacrificed their time and energy to accomplish.

The removal of Idi Amin from power in Uganda was not a joking game, but a very expensive exercise which counted for the loss of hundreds of young Tanzanian and Uganda soldiers. As admitted in later years by the late President Julius Nyerere it had a long term bearing on Tanzanian economy. All these sacrifices were not in vain but were meant for the search of freedom and liberty of Ugandans.

What Ugandans are protesting abut is the unaffordable prices of basic commodities. Similar protests have taken part in the neighboring Nairobi, but accounted for no human loss of life.

Museveni must be advised to respect the sanctity of human blood. He should his soldiers back to barracks and leave the job of dispersing the protesters to the police. But if has soldiers in excess who are idle, then he should consider the possibility of dispatching more troops to go the troubled Horn of Africa country {Somalia} to supplement the work of the UNMAR peacekeeping instead of deploying them where they are savagely brutalizing Ugandan citizens.

I happened to be in Kampala last Monday and Tuesday and I even witnessed three soldiers kicking a pregnant woman hard at the back and in her stomach as she pleaded with them to be left alone in vain. I am sure for certain that woman did not survive unscathed, but might have suffered abortion.

For more than two decades since he came to power after protracted time in the bush, forces of Gen Tito Okello who had seized power after overthrowing Obote Two administration, President Museveni has been in the forefront among the new generation of African leaders who are armed with university degree and who the ordinary citizens expect a lot to come from in their salvation. But what we are witnessing now is in the opposite.

The Presidents of four other African countries which are member of the East African Community must come out in the open and register their strongest objection to the rule of gun in Uganda.

There is no point in keeping silence and yet things are not all that is well in Uganda. Kenya in particular must speak out. Uganda is Kenya’s best f not leading economic partner, and both the two principals in the coalition government must com out in the open and tell Museveni that what he is doing in Uganda des not augur well for the larger Eastern African region and the EAC in particular and its development partners abroad.

Museveni recently conducted and concluded much flawed general elections in which member of the Uganda Peoples Defense force {UPDF} were the returning officer and polls clerks at the various polling booths, and despite of the protests by the combined opposition parties against this unbecoming practices nobody else registered his or her voice from within the EAC partner states. Both AU and EAC member states accepted the outcome of Ugandan elections on face value and totally ignore the dissenting views coming from the internal opposition groups.

The time is ripe for both the AU an the EAC to consider the possibility of establishing a blueprint for mechanism for conflicts control and resolution in member states in order to put belligerent African leaders to a constant check of their excesses.

It is arguably that Museveni has restored the sanity in Ugandan politics, but he has been there for too long and should now vacate the political scene in that country before it is too late.

The Ugandans need a break and a breathing space from his draconian rule. Level minded regional leaders like Presidents Mwai Kibaki of Kenya Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania must come to the rescue of brutalized Ugandans who are losing their precious lives at the hands of Ugandans soldiers and speak loudly against the primitive rule of the gun.

The African Union must not only be used as talking shop and toothless bulldog when things are gong from bad to worse in the member countries.

Otherwise the history will judge the current EAC and AU leaders harshly for standing a loaf while one of their colleague is committing atrocities against human race in the neighborhood.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo,com

China AIDS: China’s brutal repression

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From: WanYanhai

By Kate Krauss

Just before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, a group of young Chinese activists was evacuated to the United States for safety reasons. Chinese officials were harassing and detaining people they thought might embarrass them during the Olympics. Three of the activists flew to Philadelphia that summer and slept on mattresses on my dining room floor.

Ironically, they brought Olympic souvenir chopsticks as gifts. “We’re not against the Olympics; they are a great thing for China,” one of them said very seriously. “We’re against the oppression by the government.”

One of my guests in particular was especially excited about visiting America. Chang Kun, an AIDS activist and online organizer, was thrilled to see Philadelphia, try American food, meet American girls and exchange ideas with other activists.

Chang has a giant online following. He writes with exclamation points and pure outrage. His visit to the United States made a deep impression; he was moved by what he described as an atmosphere of freedom, tolerance and cultural exchange. When he returned home to Anhui province in eastern China, he established the AIBO Youth Center, a small community organization with a free library and free Internet access, a place where young people could learn about the wider world.

Recently, during a conference at the youth center, in front of scores of activists, thugs broke into the room where Chang was speaking, knocked him from the podium and beat him severely. Police did nothing to stop the assault, which left him hospitalized. He is slowly recovering.

I wish I could say I was surprised. But after working with Chinese activists for nine years, I recognize the government’s treatment of Chang Kun as routine. In fact, China deploys human rights abuses on a massive scale — beatings, torture and imprisonment of activists and critics, broad censorship of the news, and the increasingly effective blocking of independent channels of communication. These are not mistakes or areas for improvement; they are the fundamentals of the government’s power. Negotiating for small concessions on rights cannot change this equation.

In 2009 and 2010, in response to an uprising by Muslims facing harsh discrimination, the government cut off Internet access to the vast Xinjiang region for 10 months. Now it is slowly strangling the Internet for everyone in China, blocking access to Web sites it can’t control and intensifying online surveillance.

The human cost of this repression is steep. In recent months, Chinese security forces have detained scores of activists, reportedly tortured to death three Falun Gong members, publicly arrested the architect-activist Ai Weiwei (who, ironically, designed the Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing), detained hundreds of Christian worshippers (while they prayed) and even broke up their Easter Sunday service.

The State Department, which is holding an annual human rights dialogue with China this week, recently released a report that describes “black jails” throughout China where activists, their families and others who oppose the government are punished. Many detainees are beaten and tortured.

Chinese leaders have been in power so long that we may forget that no one elected them. Their regime is no more legitimate than those of Libya or Yemen. If elections were held tomorrow, the leaders might all be swept away. But there are no elections on the horizon. For decades, the U.S. government has aided the regime by supporting China’s economic aspirations, including permanent normalized trade relations, which have allowed it to reap huge profits — enriching the Central Committee and the unelected elite.

Many observers believe that China is becoming an economic powerhouse that has no intention of becoming a democracy. In 20 years, China may be emboldened even further to violently repress its own people.

Given this record, at what point do we stop seeing China as a flawed but dynamic nation on the road to democracy and start seeing the Chinese government as a violent, destabilizing, and autocratic regime on the order of, say, Iran?

Where do we, the American people, draw the line?

We have to stop deluding ourselves. China is governed by a violently repressive regime. And the United States, through its economic policies, is helping it stay that way.

The writer is executive director of the AIDS Policy Project and has organized campaigns for the release of detained health rights activists in China.

KENYA: WAKO TO TRY OCAMPO SIX LOCALLY! KENYANS AND THE ICC SHOULD NEVER LET HIM DO IT

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It is not long ago that Moi using the same Wako fulled Kenyans by arresting Oyugi and Biwott for Minister Ouko’s assassination only to release them for “”lack of evidence!”

ICC Wako is the person to watch for as it was in Ouko case he will indeed discharge the Ocampo six for ”lack of evidence!”

DR. ODIDA OKUTHE.

Kenya: National Land Audit

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from odhiambo okecth

Friends,

We must do a quick National Land Audit and determine who has been settled where since Independence.

We must then ask for fairness in the process of resettlement.

It is not in anyone interests that Kenyans are being declared IDPs yet we have vast pieces of lands held in private hands, land that was never acquired legally in the first place.

It is in our interest as Kenyans to address this problem once and for all. The “Government’ seems to be hell bent on repeating history. When we fight as Kenyans, a few people in the “Government’ benefit the more. They are hence keen not in settling the question of IDPs.

I bet we are smarter now and we can live to the dictates of the New Constitution in as far as the Land Question is concerned.

This is a time bomb that will destroy Kenya if not well handled, or if handled the way it is being handled now; where “Government’ id hawking some Kenyans as IDPs.

Oto

EAC summit expressed concerns about the Political Federation as concerns mount abut democratic credential of some partner states.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

The planned political federation of Eastern African countries might be delayed owing to different application of democracy in some member states.

The fears and subsection surfaced this week at the end of the two days ninth extra-ordinary summit of head of states meeting in Dar Es Salaam.

Leaders in the fine East African nations in a stalled regional bloc admitted to broad concerns over the union with Uganda’s current unrest and a monetary union among the sticking points.

The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi met in Dar Es Salaam on Tuesday to review the status of the East African Community, a regional economic and trade union similar to ones elsewhere in Africa.

The leaders said in a final statement, that the team tasked with finding out what their cities thought about the bloc had “identified fears, concerns and challenges. ”The statement, however, did not elaborate but simply said the team would draw up “concrete proposals on how to address th9se fears, concerns and challenges” before the next summit scheduled for November in Burundi.

A political federation would necessarily mean that members lose some degree of sovereignty and some diplomats worry that constitutional reform, in several countries, notably in Kenya, is complicating moves towards integration.

There are also concerns about the democratic credentials of some of the partners such as Uganda, said Tanzanian opposition leader and top economist Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has n recent weeks clamped down on opposition protests tarnishing his democratic image. He has been in the forefront championing the formation of an East African Political Federation with one president, one single currency and shared mineral and other resources. Prof. Lipumba said, ”Our countries should first be democratized adding; “A leader who does not respect the constitution of hid country will not respect the constitution of the East Africa political federation.”

Those back tracking the political federation had set the year 2015 as the deadline for the birth of the much highlighted political federation of East African countries, though experts and political pundits have expressed doubt about the plans viability and political goodwill.

Ends

China: Invitation to GFO survey

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from Kun Chang

From: GFO Newsletter

Dear reader of Global Fund Observer (GFO),
We need you to complete a 10 minute survey. This is to help maintain funding for the service we provide and to improve the quality of what we do.
We really need a high response rate, so as a small incentive, all respondents can enter a lucky draw where ten winners will receive book vouchers worth $50 each.
Please click on the following link to open the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/aidspan
Remember – it will take no more than 10 minutes of your time. We need your help by May 2nd 2011.
Thank you
Bernard Rivers, Executive Director (bernard.rivers@aidspan.org)
Aidspan – an independent watchdog of the Global Fund, and publisher of Global Fund Observer
P.O. Box 66869-00800, Nairobi, Kenya
www.aidspan.org

ICC & Kenya: President Kibaki allies finally appeared before the ICC court at the Hague to answer violence charges

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writes Leo Odera Omolo

Thousands of Kenya who glued their eyes on Television sets eagerly waiting to see how the senior most top government officials would react to questions put to them by the trial judges at the Hague.

To their disbelief, the three top official who included the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the Head of Public Service and the Secretary to the Cabinet Ambassador Francis Muthaura and the former Commissioner of Police Maj-Gen Mohamed Husssein Ali finaly appeared before judges accompanied by batteries of highly esteemed criminal lawyers from Great Britain, Canada and Kenya.

But back at home in Kenya is mounting opinion that the three must step aside and relinquished their offices while awaiting for their eventual trial. Recent speeches in a series of rallies conducted by some of them showed to total defiance on thee part to that effect, particularly the Deputy Prime Minster Uhuru Kenyatta who has arrogantly and repeatedly insisted that he would continue working as normal.

Kenyans who gave interviews to the various TV ,radio and newspaper were unanimous that now that the three have appeared before a court of law on serious criminal charges against humanity, they must step aside and wait until the end of their trial. If found not gulty then they will eventually be reinstated on their jobs respectively.

This is the first time when President Kibaki’s allies appeared before the International Criminal Court to answer to accusations of crimes against humanity. The crimes were allegedly committed to crush opposition protests against his 2007 disputed re-election.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali, who was the police chief during the 2007/2008 post-election violence, made their initial appearance at The Hague Friday.

They appeared only hours before the United Nations Security Council in New York met to deliberate on Kenya’s request for a deferral of the cases by a year.

The unsettling eventuality, of his trusted aides being hauled before a foreign court on alleged international crimes that President Kibaki had fought so hard to forestall, including a plea to the UN Security Council and a challenge to ICC’s jurisdiction, came to pass.

Mr Muthaura, Mr Uhuru and Maj- Gen (Rtd) Ali are alleged to have directed police and Mungiki attacks on ODM supporters between January 24 and January 30, 2008, in Nakuru and Naivasha towns, to suppress protests sparked by the declaration of President Kibaki as winner of the disputed December 27, 2007 presidential vote.

Same Court

Eldoeret North MP, William Ruto, Tinderet MP, Henry Kosgey, and Kass FM radio presenter, Joshua arap Sang, appeared before the same court on Thursday.

Muthaura, Ali and Uhuru faced five counts of crimes against humanity – murder, forcible transfer of populations, rape, other inhumane acts, and persecution.

Confirmation of charges hearings would be on September 21. A status conference will be held on April 18, at which the prosecutor will make available to the defence teams the evidence he has against the three.

The ICC issued a stern warning to the trio, just like it did to Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang, that they risked arrest if they sustained statements that could trigger fresh violence.

On The Radar

Presiding judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova though did not mention the particular individuals on the radar for hate speech, only noting the caution was based on reports in the Kenyan Press.

In an apparent reference to the anti-ICC campaigns preceding The Hague visit, she warned the trio the court could take the “drastic measures” to substitute summonses with arrest warrants.

“I want to reiterate the concern of the Chamber also raised in yesterday’s proceedings that it came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards triggering fresh violence by way of delivering some dangerous speeches,’’ said Lady Justice Trendafilova.

She added: “I would like to remind the suspects — and I’m not referring to anyone in particular, but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects — that such type of action could be perceived as constituting the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear: Namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest.”

But Muthaura rushed to clear himself because he did not want to share in the collective blame widely seen as targeting politicians, who had whipped up anti-ICC rhetoric in rallies prior to The Hague appearance.

Adverse Comments

Through his British lawyer, Karim Ahmad Khan, Muthaura told the court he had not made any adverse comments and reiterated his commitment to obey the ICC conditions.

“There is the impression created that some adverse comments have been spoken by Ambassador Muthaura. I don’t want the public to think in any way that anything has been said or done by Muthaura to that effect. I want to assure of his commitment to the conditions set out by the court,” Khan said.

Justice Trendafilova clarified she was not referring to anyone in particular but that was a general caution to all the suspects. She, however, acknowledged the assurance by Muthaura and his “desire to make that clear to the public”.

The three suspects were calm and responded only to the questions put to them, unlike the bid by Ruto and Sang the previous day to raise issues they were not happy about.

Yesterday, it was the defence teams, foreigners among each team, who did most of the talking, directing jibes at Moreno-Ocampo.

Possible Unrest

Ali’s lawyer protested at “extra-judicial comments” by Moreno-Ocampo in Press briefings, such as reference to “possible unrest in Kenya”.

“It is not helpful when the prosecutor makes the extra- judicial comments,” he said.

They sought gag orders against the prosecutor, but the judges said they would decide on the matter while determining the pending application in 21 days.

The lawyer said there ought to be an “understanding between the parties” on how the Press is going to be addressed in the arena.

Earlier Muthaura, Uhuru and Ali were asked to identify themselves, before a court official read out the charges to each one of them. Thereafter the presiding judge informed them of their rights.

Muthaura stared expressionless, as the court official read out the charges to him, but leaned back and sighed as the list went on.

Ali followed proceedings with his right hand resting against the side of his cheek. He is accused of being criminally responsible by contributing to crimes committed against groups of persons, unlike his two co-accused alleged to be indirect co-perpetrators.

Uhuru said he had been informed of the charges against him, through “some press release from the prosecutor’s office” but he acknowledged subsequently a formal notification was delivered from the ICC registrar.

In an uncanny coincidence with history, Uhuru was facing the international crimes charges at The Hague on a date on which his father, the late President Jomo Kenyatta was jailed by colonialists. Kenyatta was jailed for seven years on April 8, 1953, on a Wednesday, after the infamous Kapenguria Six trials. Jomo Kenyatta was that year sentenced to seven years hard labour for his role in the Mau Mau freedom movement.

Different Positions

The court arrangement was slightly different, with Muthaura, Uhuru and Ali sitting in different positions, each with his defence lawyers. Muthaura sat on the left of the judges’ bench with Ali on the side, and Uhuru a row behind.

Ruto, Sang and Kosgey sat together on Thursday.

Earlier, Ali was the first to arrive at the court accompanied by his advocates. Muthaura, who was accompanied by his wife, followed. Uhuru came later holding hands with his wife.

Ruto and Sang were at The Hague in solidarity with their co-accused. But Kosgey was absent.

After the session, the three joined other MPs accompanying them to sing the National Anthem.

The defence lawyers made applications to press for the faster disclosure of the evidence the prosecutor intends to use during confirmation of charges hearings.

And Khan, who in 2006 led the defence for former Liberian President Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Moreno-Ocampo should disclose evidence against the suspects “at the minimum in the next hearing”.

“The filing by the Government of Kenya cannot be used to decide to slow down proceedings and prejudice our client’s right to full disclosure,” said Khan.

He was responding to the prosecutor’s remarks that full disclosure is constrained before the determination of the challenge of admissibility of the cases lodged by Kenyan Government.

Stiffer Conditions

The three serving State officers, however, left without stiffer conditions expected following Moreno-Ocampo’s protests they hold influential positions in Government.

Muthaura has stepped down from chairing the National Security Advisory Committee while Uhuru has given up his position in the Witness Protection Board.

Outside the court, Uhuru said:

“We expect nothing short of justice. We now have got the official chance to see what evidence the prosecutor has got against us. Also what we are accused of, and I have no doubt I will prove my innocence,” said Uhuru.

British lawyers Steven Kay and Gilian Kay Higgins represent Mr Kenyatta. The two defended former Yogoslav warlord Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.

Ali’s lawyers are Evans Monari and Mr Gershom Otachi.

Ends

ICC & Kenya: ICC judge warns the Ocampo Six suspects aganst making hate speeches back home else that may prompt the issuing of warrants of arrests against them

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

Kenya’s first three high profile suspects appearing before International Criminal Court got a stern warning they risk arrest if they sustain statements that may trigger fresh violence back home.

In nearly all major towns throughout Kenya hundreds of thousands of Kenyans remained glued on their Television sets in hotels, restraints,social halls, bars and at home, keenly watching the unfolding events at The Hague during the opening of the criminal cases against the first batch of three of the six suspects, who are facing various criminal charges before the International Court of Criminal of Justice.{icc}

The Kenyans, who included the head of public service, three cabinet ministers, a former commissioner of police and a vernacular radio presenter are facing charges of committing crimes against humanity, causing violence and displacement of thousands of citizens as well as the deaths of close to 1300 in 2008 when violence and mayhem erupted throughout the country following the disputed presidential election of December 2007.

The warning, however, brusque as it was, came without names and was founded on Kenya’s media reports seen by ICC. It was also the day the long and circuitous five-month process went to the next phase, out of probably years if it goes to the trial stage, began with the suspects bracing for what could literally be the battle for their lives and careers. The sombre mood in the courtroom, at least for the suspects sprung from the fact that the charges read to them fell in three categories: murder, forceful evictions, and persecutions of fellow Kenyans. They all related to the wave of post-election crimes in Uasin Gishu and Nandi.

It was the first time, before a formal sitting of the court that the Kenyan suspects were coming face to face with the ICC judges and Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The court also set September 1 as the day Eldoret MP, William Ruto, Tinderet MP, Henry Kosgey and Kass FM radio presenter Joshua arap Sang would know from the judges if the case against them by the prosecutor would go to full trial. They must attend this session in person, where, if it is ruled they must stand trial, and then they would be handed over to a new set of ICC judges.

The court also set April 18 as the day when the prosecution and defence teams will meet to ascertain the status of the process culminating in the confirmation phase on September 1.

In between now and then, the prosecutor is obliged to share the evidence he holds against the three with defence lawyers.

Fresh violence

The three, who will be followed in appearance before ICC today by Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Hussein Ali, became the first Kenyans citizens to appear before ICC to be read charges of crimes against humanity.

“It came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards triggering fresh violence by way of using some dangerous speeches,’’ said the presiding judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova.

She then threw in the warning to the politicians who have appeared in pre-ICC rallies and prayer sessions.

“I would like to remind the suspects — and I’m not referring to anyone in particular but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects — that such type of action could be perceived as a sort of inducement, which may constitute the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear: Namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest…” she said.

Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, Presiding Judge at the initial appearance of William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang before the ICC on April 7. 2011.

The sitting arrangement, like that of local courts had the four traditional sitting formation of sitting pews: Defence, Prosecution, Registrar’s or court officials, the Judges’ Bench, and the Public Gallery.

Burden of proof

The prosecutor bears the burden of proof, as the defence teams fight the claims against their clients. The judge(s) constitute the final arbiters, and the public stand witness to the wheels of justice.

Yesterday and today’s cases however, as the judge said at the outset, were not sessions during which a ruling was expected or where evidence would be adduced.

Ruto and Sang appeared to be navigating in strange waters when they jumped the gun and prematurely sought to clear their names at the stage where they were to be identified, read their rights, and allow court to ascertain if they have been adequately briefed about the allegations against them.

Kosgey, however, was more guarded, and even after the appearance, he merely said he was anxiously waiting to be told the allegations against him so that he could clear his name.

Ruto, however, was fiery against the court, which had started by reprimanding the three for being late by three minutes, and was quoted by Associated Press dismissing the case against him as “balderdash”.

He also gave the analogy of a movie or cinema in and outside court to support his argument the charges read to him were fictitious and mythical.

“The allegations that have been made here … can only be possible in a movie,” said Ruto, in court. He added: “For an innocent person like me to be dragged all the way here is a matter that puzzles me.”

His wife Rachel and daughter accompanied Ruto. Kosgey’s son was also in his father’s defence team. Once the court session and in complete disregard of court protocol, Kenyan politicians who had accompanied the three held news conferences, donning the national colours, at which they sustained their anti-ICC tirade and made political inferences against the charges against the Ocampo Six.

They also declared they would hold a welcome rally for the six once back home, despite the warning by Justice Trendafilova to avoid political statements that could precipitate renewed tension.

At the court Ruto, Kosgey and Sang showcased their defence teams, called out to their names, and made short statements regarding who they were, where they were born, and what they do for a living. It was during this session that Ruto and Sang overstepped the questions they had been asked by the Judge and the agenda of the day to venture into their innocence.

Ruto wondered who his accusers were; said it was unfair for him to have been brought all the way from Kenya to be read false accusations. He was, however, asked to take his seat by the Judge.

Accusations

Sang described himself as ‘innocent journalist’ and told Justice Trendafilova he had not been interrogated by the prosecutor and criticised the charges against him.

Sang, like Ruto, was cut short by the judge with the restraint there would be time for those kinds of arguments and presentations.

Unlike in political arenas where politicians take the front positions in the high table, it was a different experience for Ruto and Kosgey. They took the back seats, right behind their defence teams. The three incidentally were behind Ruto’s lawyers, while their own were in different wings of the courtroom.

The Chamber assured the process would be expedited, and also promised the suspects they would be given sufficient time and facilities to prepare their defences. They were also informed the September 1 verdict could terminate or carry on the cases against them.

The judge also told them she knew well the ‘psychological burden’ the cases and summonses have on the suspects. But it was a departure from tradition for the judge to warn the suspects they risked arrest warrants even before ruling on the application of stringent conditions Moreno-Ocampo sought on Wednesday against the six.

When he left the court, Ruto declared: “My conscious is clear, and my soul is at peace that I never committed these crimes.”

Ruto said accusations against him are absurd, adding that he was praying for justice.

“To say I distributed 3,000 guns is absurd. We will be given the names of the accusers and their statements. But the truth will come out finally,” he declared.

The chamber is composed of Justice Trendafilova, Justice Hans-Peter Kaul, and Justice Jakob Tarfusser.

Justice Trendafilova informed the suspects they have the right to access evidence Moreno-Ocampo intends to use against them. This is to help the suspects to prepare their defence

Ends

Libya: A vision of a democratic Nation

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From: Yona Maro

The interim national council hereby presents its vision for rebuilding the democratic state of Libya. This vision responds to the needs and aspirations of our people, while incorporating the historical changes brought about by the 17 February revolution.

We have learnt from the struggles of our past during the dark days of dictatorship that there is no alternative to building a free and democratic society and ensuring the supremacy of international humanitarian law and human rights declarations. This can only be achieved through dialogue, tolerance, co-operation, national cohesiveness and the active participation of all citizens. As we are familiar with being ruled by the authoritarian dictatorship of one man, the political authority that we seek must represent the free will of the people, without exclusion or suppression of any voice.

The lessons of our past will outline our social contract through the need to respect the interests of all groups and classes that comprise the fabric of our society and not compromise the interests of one at the expense of the other. It is this social contract that must lead us to a civil society that recognises intellectual and political pluralism and allows for the peaceful transfer of power through legal institutions and ballot boxes; in accordance with a national constitution crafted by the people and endorsed in a referendum.

To that end, we will outline our aspirations for a modern, free and united state, following the defeat of the illegal Gaddafi regime. The interim national council will be guided by the following in our continuing march to freedom, through espousing the principles of political democracy. We recognise without reservation our obligation to:

1. Draft a national constitution that clearly defines its nature, essence and purpose and establishes legal, political, civil, legislative, executive and judicial institutions. The constitution will also clarify the rights and obligations of citizens in a transparent manner, thus separating and balancing the three branches of legislative, executive and judicial powers.

2. Form political organisations and civil institutions including the formation of political parties, popular organisations, unions, societies and other civil and peaceful associations.

3. Maintain a constitutional civil and free state by upholding intellectual and political pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power, opening the way for genuine political participation, without discrimination.

4. Guarantee every Libyan citizen, of statutory age, the right to vote in free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as the right to run for office.

5. Guarantee and respect the freedom of expression through media, peaceful protests, demonstrations and sit-ins and other means of communication, in accordance with the constitution and its laws in a way that protects public security and social peace.

6. A state that draws strength from our strong religious beliefs in peace, truth, justice and equality.

7. Political democracy and the values of social justice, which include:

a. The nation’s economy to be used for the benefit of the Libyan people by creating effective economic institutions in order to eradicate poverty and unemployment – working towards a healthy society, a green environment and a prosperous economy.

b. The development of genuine economic partnerships between a strong and productive public sector, a free private sector and a supportive and effective civil society, which understands corruption and waste.

c. Support the use of science and technology for the betterment of society, through investments in education, research and development, thus enabling the encouragement of an innovative culture and enhancing the spirit of creativity. Focus on emphasising individual rights in a way that guarantees social freedoms that were denied to the Libyan people during the rule of dictatorship. In addition to building efficient public and private institutions and funds for social care, integration and solidarity, the state will guarantee the rights and empowerment of women in all legal, political, economic and cultural spheres.

d. A constitutional civil state which respects the sanctity of religious doctrine and condemns intolerance, extremism and violence that are manufactured by certain political, social or economic interests. The state to which we aspire will denounce violence, terrorism, intolerance and cultural isolation; while respecting human rights, rules and principles of citizenship and the rights of minorities and those most vulnerable. Every individual will enjoy the full rights of citizenship, regardless of colour, gender, ethnicity or social status.

8. Build a democratic Libya whose international and regional relationships will be based upon:

a. The embodiment of democratic values and institutions which respects its neighbours, builds partnerships and recognises the independence and sovereignty of other nations. The state will also seek to enhance regional integration and international co-operation through its participation with members of the international community in achieving international peace and security.

b. A state which will uphold the values of international justice, citizenship, the respect of international humanitarian law and human rights declarations, as well as condemning authoritarian and despotic regimes. The interests and rights of foreign nationals and companies will be protected. Immigration, residency and citizenship will be managed by government institutions, respecting the principles and rights of political asylum and public liberties.

c. A state which will join the international community in rejecting and denouncing racism, discrimination and terrorism while strongly supporting peace, democracy and freedom.

http://ntclibya.org/english/libya/

Kenya: Who Caused Kenya’s 2007 Post Election Violence & Why?

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from Judy Miriga

Folks,

First and foremost, the subject question is now in the hands of the ICC Hague to comb and give a ruling where Kenya does not qualify to do.

But the fact remain that we all know the truth as the acts were done in broad day light all we are asking is that, let Justice be done. Those found guilty will definitely face the Law.

Those who Joe Kihara is trying to implicate, he is doing it at a wrong forum, I believe it would be just right for him to apply for visa to the Netherlands at ICC Hague and put up his challenging case there……

However, I am still in charge as a voice of reason, Diaspora Spokesperson, standing tall for the voiceless. From the onset, before and after, I led the voice of reason of the Diaspora to dialogue, debate, rally and demonstrated commitment. On the second of January 2008, I swiftly planned and organized where we formed a crowd of more than 300 Kenyans and Friends of Kenyans’ demonstrators who turned up in a cold chilly winter, before US State Department during Bush Administration, demanding for an immediate intervention on “Election Thieving” and to halt Election Violence.

Former President Bush took immediate initiative in response, where he send US State Secretary Condoleeza Rice to Kenya to mediate on the same. From that point on, I echoed that, ICC Hague is the answer ! …….I have not rested since then, but kept pressure and fire on all Leaders of the World including the UN Security Council and the ICC Hague to make good on the call of Post Election Violence and crime that have been committed in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, so to mark a symbol of change in leadership in Kenya and Africa and to guard over corruption and impunity, a monster pushing Africa into poverty death-bed and as well that African Leaders begin to play by the rule and respect the voice of reason and People’s mandate where they are required to honorably oblige and relinquish power safely and peacefully or face the law.

This we hope, will serve as a sign of responsible democracy taking root for just rule and good governance and we hope for an improved governance where Development Millennium Agenda is able to take root to benefit the people of Africa fairly from grassroot, who are the majority poor, without marginalization, discrimination or intimidation.

This behavior of Hard-Core Corrupt Leadership in Kenya and Africa has turned to be too cancerous and a dangerous monster quite unbearable. It is about time Africa see light and appreciate Blessings of God with a breathing space.

Therefore, Joe Kihara has no right to smear and create character assassination of Responsible Leaders of the West. It is a scheme they author and are nurturing thinking it will help them escape justice. They have lived in a world of wishful thinking for too long and escaped reason, but banked on indoctrinating fear factor on people they rule by iron fist for too long, imagining everyday is Sunday……Lucky go happy…..

They should know, it is time Mugumo tree can be cut by a razorblade……as the struggle continues……

Blame Game will die on thin air……….and because we want Peace, Reconciliation and Reconstruction to benefit common purpose and interests, we are looking forward to earn freedom to be enjoyed by all in a conducive environment on a fair level playing field.

ICC Hague is the way to go Joe…….No short-cut…….I am not going anywhere until this matter is fairly concluded in the best way Kenyans and Africans will appreciate Justice has finally dawned in Kenya and Africa …..

Cheers !

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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— Paul Nyandoto wrote:

From: Paul Nyandoto

OHO!, OHO! WAUUUU! what a story?.

An old parable goes like this: If somebody kills your child and you do not report to the police but you go home call your friends, make a meeting talk and come to agreement to take revenge and go a head and kill other people related to the man who is accused of killing your child. What do you call that?. Do you call that Obama, Sarkosy, Hillary Clinton, only supports ODM but not PNU or what?. I think it is high time we learn to know that killing people is not a game. Calling mass action is not the same as raping, burning people, fighting for land Kenyatta stole from the rift valley etc. or police use live bullets shoot to kill etc. How is mass action explaining Mungiki killings or secret state house meetings to kill luos in Naivasha?.

What this writer have forget is this: The killings were done when somebody had already sworn himself at night, so Kenya had a government to protect people, but completely failed. Instead made meetings to kill more.

Paul Nyandoto

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Joe Kihara Munugu wrote:
Who Caused Kenya’s 2007 Post Election Violence & Why?
By Paul N. Njoroge : Nairobi, Kenya : March 30, 2011

What’s been happening lately in Libya has been an eye-opener about the real nature of the leaders in America and in the West. I now have no doubt they are a thoroughly bad lot, spiritually and morally petty, arrogant and full of contempt for people with less power than they. Of course, things are very worrying for all of us who live in the so-called Third World.

I’m certain the Second Scramble for African territory is on, and the operating ideology the ideology of the Sarkozies, Obamas and Hillary Clintons is: Might is Right!

They’ll insist on imposing puppet-leaders on our (Third World) countries.

I have begun to understand what’s been going on. For example the way these Western countries were committed to regime change in Kenya during the 2007 elections in spite of the fact that the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki is a man in real liberal mold, and had shown commitment in respecting human and democratic rights. Western powers were fed up with Kibaki simply because he was not at their beck and call, and he’d dared to do business with China.

Kibaki had also dared to pursue the attainment of national economic self-sufficiency. Somebody told me, “The white man [western powers] is not prepared to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the African.” How true!

In contrast, Raila Odinga was ready to court the West in order to ascend to power, while treating his own Kenyan heritage with contempt. Raila’s 2007 elections campaign was premised on the proposition that nothing positive had ever been achieved during the whole period since Kenya became independent. Raila’s campaign was undemocratic and fascistic. It mobilized wholesale ethnic hatred against the Agikuyu. ODM’s 2007 election slogan was ‘Forty-One against One’, meaning all the forty-one Kenyan tribes against the enemy Kikuyus.

Nobody from the so-called democratic West ever pointed to Raila that democratic electoral campaigns are never conducted in such hateful manner against a whole innocent ethnic group.

Not Bush, not Condoleza Rice, not Barrack Obama raised a finger or warned Raila against such call and drumbeat for an all out violence on a whole Kenyan people, Kikuyus, based purely on their ethnicity. They failed to warn Raila that his conduct was grievous crime against humanity.

Following investigations by an independent commission, South African judge Johann Kriegler wrote a report on the conduct of the 2007 elections in Kenya. Kriegler acknowledged that the ODM campaign relied heavily on the demonization of the Kikuyu.
Judge Kriegler noted that a prominent feature of the ODM campaigns (before people voted) was the claim that only rigging could prevent ODM from taking power at the elections. The commission did not find evidence of rigging at the KICC, as alleged by ODM.

Now, I have no doubt in my mind that America and the Western countries are grooming Raila Odinga to seize power come 2012. The International Criminal Court (ICC) process has been politicized to achieve that end. In all seriousness, how could one charge William Ruto and Henry Kosgey, two members of the ODM Pentagon and not charge the other members of the ODM high command, including their captain Raila Odinga who ordered all ODM members to mass action? Who can’t see Obama’s hand in this political scheming?

But is it going to work? I’ll bet Raila Odinga will be called into the trials as a witness. Even Obama will not stop this. At the ICC trials it will be demonstrated that the violence that followed the 2007 elections had been planned in advance. It’ll be clearly established that it was, in fact, part and parcel of the campaign of ethnic hate against the Kikuyu carried out systematically by ODM. It will be established that the violence was the natural outcome of that ODM campaign.

It’ll also be demonstrated that the worst didn’t take place. Why? Because the violence was planned to take place in the context of the then anticipated electoral victory by ODM. Victory was perceived in the minds of the entire ODM high command as certain, long before the voters went to the polls.

The 2007 post election violence had been planned to right the “historical wrongs” in Kenya once and for all – by expelling millions of Kikuyus and other non-Kalenjin people from the Rift Valley.

It was planned to have been carried out under an ODM-controlled state security machinery, which was expected to be in place immediately after the 2007 elections. This project was designed by the whole ODM high command.

It would have been carried out while the so-called International Community averted its eyes. But God prevented it: the reins of state power did not slip from the hands of ODM’s enemies – and the country, inspite of the horrific and massive sufferings, was saved! So, who’s bluffing who by the current exhibition of self-righteous bravado in the current chorus about taking the Ocampo Six to The Hague? If I was any member of the ODM High Command, I’d be more afraid than Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura, or Police Commissioner Maj. Gen. Mohamed Hussein Ali.

For the truth will surely come out as an answer to the ultimate question: Who was the prime, the first, cause of the violence? The world may watch in fascination after the ODM High Command are summoned as witnesses. That will enable this question to be answered. The answer to the question “Who responded to the originally organized violence” will, most likely, take a back seat.

Jaluo dot Kom

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