Extrajudicial Killings claimed over 150 people mainly from Northeastern, Nairobi and Coast last year: Report

Human Rights Watch has documented cases where over 150 people were killed in Kenya under mysterious circumstances last year, According to the lobby group, most of the killings and disappearances took place in Coast, Northern Eastern and Nairobi respectively…

Speaking during the release of the World Report 2023 by Human Rights Watch—which reviews human rights practices in 100 countries—the Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Ms Mausi Segun said that security personnel have been implicated in abuses against civilians.

“Government forces or non-state armed groups have been implicated in abuses against civilians in at least 15 armed conflicts, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan and South Sudan,” said Ms Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

She stated that regional efforts to address certain crises in Africa last year lacked sufficient political will and leadership, She accused the African Union (AU) of remaining silent while more than 100 people were killed by security forces and hundreds more were arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared following the protests that have rocked Sudan since October 2021.

On his part, Kenya researcher Otsieno Namwaya said accountability and justice by the government on police killings and forced disappearances was a major human rights issue, He noted that it was hard to determine the exact figures of disappearances or killings saying the killings and violations are counterproductive.

“Between January and December 2021, there were 128 killings and 15 disappearances while, in 2022, 187 cases were recorded over the same period with 32 of them being disappearances. These numbers are very conservative and are only based on the cases we could access,” he said, Namwaya pointed out that the issue of extra-judicial killings has persisted and also observed that the country has failed in prosecuting police officers implicated in cases of brutality and killings.