Parliamentary caucus cautions on crackdown

Friday, April 11, 2014
By ALLY JAMAH

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Nairobi, Kenya: Members of the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights have expressed concern that the crackdown against terrorism in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate may boomerang as more sympathisers rise up against the operation.

Led by Kibra MP Ken Obura, the legislators said terror groups might score propaganda points as police hold thousands of people, majority of them of Somali descent, without access to food, water and legal services.

“By holding people in dehumanising conditions, including women and children, we are undermining the war on terrorism,” he said.

Moral victory

Seme MP James Nyikal said Al Shabaab might score moral victory to further its goal of dividing Kenyans along religious lines and provoking inter-religious conflict in the country.

He said it was difficult not to see the police operation as targeting people of Somali origin.

At the Kasarani Safaricom Stadium and various police stations, police denied relatives, media and political leaders access to the detainees.

Ndhiwa MP Agostinho Neto expressed concern on what he termed as “profiling” of ethnic Somalis in the name of combating terrorism.

“No one knows what a terrorist looks like, and from what we have seen, those who have been charged in courts with acts of terrorism have not just been people of Somali descent.

We have also seen people of Luo and Luhya descent,” he said. The leaders now want Parliament to be reconvened next Tuesday to discuss the police operation.

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