Riots break out in Kenyan capital

Riots have broken out in Kenya's capital Nairobi at a rally involving hundreds of students against alleged extra-judicial killings by police.

Police used tear gas to disperse university protesters who were hurling stones and looting shops.

The rally was held to protest against last week's killing of a student by police and also alleged shootings of two human rights activists.

Police deny any involvement in the killings of the two activists.

Oscar Kamau Kingara and John Paul Oulo were shot dead in their car in central Nairobi last Thursday.

They were attacked just hours after a government spokesman accused their group of aiding the Mungiki criminal gang.

~ more... ~



From Kenyan rights body says activist killings part of pattern

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya's top human rights group charged Friday that the slaying of two activists who investigated extrajudicial killings was part of a pattern of assassinations of people who made allegations about police death squads.

Oscar Kamau Kingara and John Paul Oulu were shot at close range Thursday night while their car was stuck in traffic near the University of Nairobi.

Kingara was the head of the Oscar Foundation, which had released a report on extrajudicial killings and the disappearance of thousands of Kenyans in police custody. Oulu was the foundation's communications and advocacy director. The two activists had met last month with Philip Alston, the UN's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and provided him with testimony on police killings in Nairobi and Central Province.

They were on their way to meet with a senior member of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights when they were attacked, Alston said, calling for an independent probe into the killing.

A former police driver was shot dead last year after he told the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights he had witnessed over 50 suspects being executed by police. And in January, a Kenyan journalist who said he had been threatened by officers after writing about police malpractice was found decapitated in a forest.

No suspects have been charged.

"It is obvious that there is a pattern," said Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, chairwoman of the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The victims "are linked by the fact that they were doing work on extrajudicial killings."


From Kenya: Human rights activists murdered

Days after a senior UN official severely indicted the Kenyan police for killing innocent people, two human rights activists belonging to a vocal organization were executed on Thursday in mysterious circumstances.

Oscar Kamau King'ara, the Executive Director of Oscar Foundation, and John Paul Oulu were driving to meet Kamanda Mucheke of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights at his office when three men caught up with them and shot them at point blank. A University of Nairobi student was also shot dead in riots that ensued after the killing of the two.

The killings happened only hours after the Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua accused the Oscar Foundation of being a civil society front for the banned ultra-traditionalist Mungiki sect. Mungiki, accused of bizarre killings and extortion, had called nationwide protests that paralyzed Kenya's public transport to push for the implementation of the UN officials.

Local and international civil society organizations have reacted angrily to the killing of the activists.

“We know that the Foundation recently met the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial killings and presented their report on the same,” KNHRC said in a statement. “We believe that statements attributed to the Government Spokesman must be taken very seriously and therefore we demand that an independent inquiry on what he knows about the death.”

Oscar Foundation is a registered charitable organization that offers free legal services to the poor. Some of its major projects include organizing caravans to offer free legal aid to the poor around the country.

KNCHR said the foundation has a strong track record researching corruption in the police force, the prisons, and police brutality against the urban poor. The latest activity was researching and documenting cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.