Oh, by the way, these are the questions which we asked KNCHR on 11th April, and which until now they first persistently ignored, then pompously refused to answer. Draw your own conclusions, please:
Dear Sir,
our online paper,
www.kenyaimagine.com , has
briely reported about the Mount Elgon violence and the
underlying real causes, which most of the Kenyan media
try to keep silent about. On behalf of the board of
editors, I would like to inquire with you - as secretary
of KNCHR - what the Commission has so far done
to tackle the situation. Notably, we would appreciate
an answer to the following more specified inquiry, so
that we can report fairly:
1. Has the KNCHR sent a mission to Mount Elgon area?
If so, how much time did they spend, and how many
people could they interview?
2. If a mission was sent, were its officers allowed
access to the afflicted areas, or were they stopped
well before by the (in)security forces, as has been
reported with regard to various other NGOs and MPs ?
3. Was the Commission in other ways hindered or
intimidated in the discharge of its duty, or was such
attempted?
4. Have reports of rape of local residents by security
forces been received by KNCHR, and if so, are such
reports deemed to be (prima facie) credible?
Furtheron, does KNCHR intend to cover the gender
aspect of this conflict specifically?
5. Is the Commission aware of the extensive (82 pages)
and very recent (December 2006) independent assessment
report of Schmidt-Soltau on the situation of
indigenous peoples in Kenya, including the Mount Elgon
region, and have you studied it?
Sincerely yours,
(...)
on behalf of KenyaImagine, board of editors