US goes easy on Kenya rights abuses

• US report contrasts with the stinging criticisms presented by a United Nations investigator.
• The State Department does not criticise any Kenyan officials by name, nor does it call for specific actions on the part of the government.

New York

A survey by the Hillary Clinton-led State Department shows that the Obama administration is taking a soft stance on human rights abuses in Kenya.

The US report released on Wednesday contrasts sharply with the stinging criticisms presented by a United Nations special investigator on the same day.

Unlike UN’s Philip Alston findings of widespread and systematic killings by Kenyan police, the US review makes note of charges by human rights groups but offers only mild comments of its own.

The State Department does not criticise any Kenyan officials by name, nor does it call for specific actions on the part of the government.

Prof Alston accused security forces of torturing and killing hundreds of civilians in Mount Elgon district, but the State Department says only: “The ongoing conflict in Mount Elgon resulted in human rights abuses. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were frequent instances in which the security forces, particularly the police, acted independently.”

The US human rights report on Kenya also makes no explicit condemnations in regard to the alleged killing of over 500 suspected members of Mungiki.

Prof Alston, by contrast, said that police death squads operated in Nairobi and Central Province with a mandate from their superiors to “exterminate” Mungiki.

Concerning the furore over delays in addressing the post-election violence, the State Department observes: “Progress on reform was slow and efforts to address the economic and social aftermath of the violence were incomplete.”

The generally gentle US assessment of conditions in Kenya drew a strong rebuke from Human Rights Watch.

"The mild tone of the State Department report is shocking,” declared Ben Rawlence, the group's Kenya researcher.

“The US can and should be more forceful with Kenya, otherwise the consequences in the long term will be more impunity and more violence."

Mr Rawlence singled out the State Department's comment that “some forces acted independently” during last year's crackdown in Mount Elgon district.

“This is simply untrue,” Mr Rawlence told the Nation.

“The Kenyan army is disciplined and the security operation in Mount Elgon was carried out exactly as planned.”