DATE=8/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KENYA VIOLENCE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265701
BYLINE=KATY SALMON
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Opposition politicians in Kenya say they will
continue organizing public rallies despite violent
attacks on a demonstration they organized Saturday in
Nairobi. Katy Salmon reports from the Kenyan capital
that at least one person died and scores were injured
in the attacks on the rally.
TEXT: Several opposition members of parliament
accused the government of hiring thugs to disrupt the
weekend rally.
Chaos erupted early on Saturday morning when youths
from the National Development Party, which is in
alliance with the ruling Kanu party, set fire to the
stage and dismantled the public address system set up
for the rally. Fighting then broke out between the N-
D-P youths and opposition supporters and the police
moved in with tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse
the crowd.
Opposition parliament member Alfred Nderitu accused
the police of siding with the Kanu and N-D-P
activists, some of whom he says were plainclothes
policemen.
/// ACT NDERITU ///
When so called Kanu NDP goons were fighting our
supporters it became clear that the police were
very partisan, beating our supporters -- the
Kanu-NDP had the help of policemen,
even plainclothes policemen.
/// ACT ENDS ///
An elderly man at the rally was reportedly beaten
senseless by riot police and died on the way to the
hospital.
Ten parliament members who were intending to address
the rally say they were held hostage inside parliament
for almost five hours by men armed with whips, stones
and slings. They say about 40 youths, chanting pro-
government slogans, blocked all the exits from
parliament and searched departing vehicles to make
sure one parliament member, James Orengo, who was
supposed to be the rally's main speaker, was not
smuggled out of the building. The parliament members
say police stood by and watched.
Several days earlier, President Moi had denounced
politicians "who use public meetings to insult other
people".
Mr. Orengo accused the president of masterminding
Saturday's violence.
/// ORENGO ACT ///
The order to interfere disrupt and to allow
these hooligans and goons to unleash violence
was not something that was conspired and
executed by the men you saw on the streets and
outside Parliament yesterday. The orders came
from the highest levels.
/// ACT ENDS ///
Mr. Orengo said the government is using violence to
hold on to power.
/// ORENGO ACT ///
They'll do everything including the use of
violence and the creation of disorder to make
sure that they remain in power. And the
principle of survival in dictatorships is always
to crush your enemy.
/// ACT ENDS ///
/// OPT /// Fellow opposition parliamentarian Shem
Ochuodho said opponents of the government will
continue organizing public rallies to discuss the
problems facing Kenya.
/// OCHUODHO ACT ///
The issues which we wanted to address and which
we shall keep on addressing are the corruption,
the famine which has now taken root in this
country. We do not have water, we do not have
electricity, and we cannot be talking about
poverty reduction when we are laying off
hundreds of Kenyans.
/// ACT ENDS ///
Mr. Ochuodho said that the opposition politicians are
merely reflecting popular discontent.
/// ACT TWO OCHUODHO ///
Kenyans are tired, tired of this system. If Moi
and his cohorts think the move for reform is
unpopular, why didn't they allow the meeting to
go ahead? We are simply reflecting a feeling of
the wider Kenyan community.
/// ACT ENDS //
Despite the MPs dramatic call for change, most
ordinary Kenyans are as disillusioned with the
opposition as they are with President Moi, who has
ruled Kenya since 1978. They say self-serving
politicians are more interested in winning power for
themselves than helping Kenya out of the current
economic crisis. (Signed)
NEB/KS/DW/KL
20-Aug-2000 13:15 PM EDT (20-Aug-2000 1715 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
