Kenya: End Security Force Reprisals in North Human Rights Watch (HRW) For Immediate Release Thursday, November 22, 2012 Garissa Attack Brings Violent Response by Soldiers, Police Nairobi, November 22, 2012 – The Kenyan government should end its arbitrary attacks by members of the military and others against residents of the northern region as a routine response to any attack on its security forces, Human Rights Watch said today. In the most recent apparent reprisal attack, the Kenyan military responded violently on November 19, 2012, to an attack in which three soldiers were shot dead in the northern town of Garissa, almost 400 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that, immediately after the killings of the three officers, the Kenyan army surrounded the town, preventing anyone from leaving or entering, and started attacking residents and traders. The witnesses said that the military shot at people, raped women, and assaulted anyone in sight. “The level of abuse by Kenyan security agencies following the Monday afternoon attack on three of its military officers is appalling and a complete contradiction of the government’s obligation to protect its citizens and guarantee their rights and freedoms,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This has become a pattern that should not be allowed to continue.” The government should respect the rule of law and ensure that its security agencies follow the strict letter of the law in detaining people before handing them over to the criminal justice system, Human Rights Watch said. It should ensure there are speedy and independent criminal investigations into all the incidents in which abuses have been alleged, and those responsible should be brought to justice. An employee of Garissa Provincial Hospital said at least 52 people with severe injuries had been admitted there on November 19 and 20, following the army reprisals. At least eight of those admitted had gunshot wounds. The soldiers also set fire to businesses, among them Muqti market, the Alwaqaf building, and Maua Posho Mill, the witnesses said. The military remained in barracks on November 20, but regular police, administration police, and riot police continued the attacks, witnesses said. Among those admitted with gunshot wounds at Garissa Provincial Hospital were two school boys who some witnesses said had been shot on November 20 when they joined public protests against the violent security operation. But other witnesses said the students had been shot on November 19 on their way home from school. “You cannot imagine the human rights abuses that are taking place in Garissa,” Aden Duale, member of parliament for Dujis Constituency of Garissa County, told Human Rights Watch within hours of the operation on November 19. “The town is burning, over 70 people have been injured, some by gunshots from the Kenya Defense Forces, women have been raped.” In a May report, “Criminal Reprisals: Kenyan Police and Military Abuses Against Ethnic Somalis,” Human Rights Watch documented serious abuses by security officers in the northern region following attacks in which security officers were killed. In response to the report, the military promised to end such violent reprisals and formed a committee to investigate the abuses. There is no indication, however, that anyone in the military has been detained or investigated as a result, and the chair of the committee has since been transferred to a different position. There has also been no evidence of any investigations by police into the abuses. In October Human Rights Watch again documented cases of similar abuses in Mandera and Garissa, each time in response to a grenade or gun attack on security officers. The reprisals in Garissa come barely a month later. “The Kenyan government should take direct responsibility for the persistent abuses by its security forces in Northern Kenya, get them under control, and hold them to account,” Lefkow said. For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Kenya, please visit: www.hrw.org/africa/kenya

^I doubt that and I don't see the Government reimbursing the victims for the cost of damages in property and lives.

Is this real?

The Garissa Halgan Quran House Resort Hotel is engulfed in flames after Kenyan security personnel, according to residents, swept into the predominantly ethnic-Somali town beating people and burning property, northern Kenya, Nov. 19, 2012.

Kenya: End Security Force Reprisals in North Human Rights Watch (HRW) For Immediate Release Thursday, November 22, 2012 Garissa Attack Brings Violent Response by Soldiers, Police Nairobi, November 22, 2012 – The Kenyan government should end its arbitrary attacks by members of the military and others against residents of the northern region as a routine response to any attack on its security forces, Human Rights Watch said today. In the most recent apparent reprisal attack, the Kenyan military responded violently on November 19, 2012, to an attack in which three soldiers were shot dead in the northern town of Garissa, almost 400 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that, immediately after the killings of the three officers, the Kenyan army surrounded the town, preventing anyone from leaving or entering, and started attacking residents and traders. The witnesses said that the military shot at people, raped women, and assaulted anyone in sight. “The level of abuse by Kenyan security agencies following the Monday afternoon attack on three of its military officers is appalling and a complete contradiction of the government’s obligation to protect its citizens and guarantee their rights and freedoms,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This has become a pattern that should not be allowed to continue.” The government should respect the rule of law and ensure that its security agencies follow the strict letter of the law in detaining people before handing them over to the criminal justice system, Human Rights Watch said. It should ensure there are speedy and independent criminal investigations into all the incidents in which abuses have been alleged, and those responsible should be brought to justice. An employee of Garissa Provincial Hospital said at least 52 people with severe injuries had been admitted there on November 19 and 20, following the army reprisals. At least eight of those admitted had gunshot wounds. The soldiers also set fire to businesses, among them Muqti market, the Alwaqaf building, and Maua Posho Mill, the witnesses said. The military remained in barracks on November 20, but regular police, administration police, and riot police continued the attacks, witnesses said. Among those admitted with gunshot wounds at Garissa Provincial Hospital were two school boys who some witnesses said had been shot on November 20 when they joined public protests against the violent security operation. But other witnesses said the students had been shot on November 19 on their way home from school. “You cannot imagine the human rights abuses that are taking place in Garissa,” Aden Duale, member of parliament for Dujis Constituency of Garissa County, told Human Rights Watch within hours of the operation on November 19. “The town is burning, over 70 people have been injured, some by gunshots from the Kenya Defense Forces, women have been raped.” In a May report, “Criminal Reprisals: Kenyan Police and Military Abuses Against Ethnic Somalis,” Human Rights Watch documented serious abuses by security officers in the northern region following attacks in which security officers were killed. In response to the report, the military promised to end such violent reprisals and formed a committee to investigate the abuses. There is no indication, however, that anyone in the military has been detained or investigated as a result, and the chair of the committee has since been transferred to a different position. There has also been no evidence of any investigations by police into the abuses. In October Human Rights Watch again documented cases of similar abuses in Mandera and Garissa, each time in response to a grenade or gun attack on security officers. The reprisals in Garissa come barely a month later. “The Kenyan government should take direct responsibility for the persistent abuses by its security forces in Northern Kenya, get them under control, and hold them to account,” Lefkow said. For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Kenya, please visit: www.hrw.org/africa/kenya

Criminal Reprisals-HRW Report MAY 4, 2012 This report provides detailed documentation of human rights abuses by the Kenya Defence Forces and the Kenyan police in apparent response to a series of grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that targeted both the security forces and civilians in North Eastern province. Rather than conducting investigations to identify and apprehend the perpetrators, both the police and army responded with violent reprisals against Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees.

^Maarodi posted link in the first post. The comment was the best one I saw there.

Comment I feel compelled to respond to this disappointing and dangerous piece published by Gawker both as a Somali woman living in the diaspora, and as a PhD student specializing in women and gender in the Horn of Africa. Safy-Hallan Farah is participating (despite her disclaimer that her objective is "not to tar Somali women with the label ‘oppressed’") in a wider, problematic discourse of the African/Muslim woman in peril, drawing her authority on the subject not from knowledge or expertise, but as a 'native informant' relying on anecdotal information to generalize the experiences of Somali women as a whole. What evidence is there to support the assertion that not being circumcised differentiates her from "nearly every other Somali woman in [her] age group residing in the diaspora?" What are her sources for the figures thrown around in her essay (ie. 4% of Somali women in the diaspora are uncircumcised) underpinning her argument for her "privileged *****"? There are none. There is a vast literature on female circumcision in African societies that critique and move away from simplistic interpretations of the practice as a product of violent patriarchal custom, and instead explore its status as a female-led social institution embedded in complex and shifting culturally-specific understandings of sexuality, gender identities and generational relationships. Yet Farah instead erases the agency and subjectivity of African women by uncritically repeating ethnocentric Western feminist arguments that cast non-Western societies (in particular African and Muslim ones) as backward, and non-Western women as hapless victims of their barbaric cultures (and barbaric men, as Farah does by invoking Al-Shabaab). Her linking of female circumcision to Al-Shabaab and terrorism is puzzling to say the least, and empirically false. To view the status of women’s genitals as the most pressing issue affecting Somali women, women whose lives are shaped by the realities of military occupation, wars on terror, political instability and displacement, is a uniquely Western exercise of power and privilege.

^You are splitting hairs. The KDF is an arm of the State; a distinction without a difference.

I thought the locals say Torono not Toronto. Is she from really there?

The poor guy looked exhausted, cut him some slack.

Garnaqsi;891862 wrote: This is so embarrassing it's not even funny! Maybe he changed his name to 'I come from Somalia' once he become British citizen.

^With the growing economic muscle of Somalis, I think this community has real good chance. And of course, Somali refugees and native Somalis have also to reconcile and understand they need each other in order to solidify their base and achieve prominence. I think they are both slowly learning to accept each other.

^Unfortunately this has become the narrative in Somali lands with exception Jabouti but I do believe NFD stands the best chance in determining its future albeit within the context of Kenya's political structure. Let's see what devolution of power means for Somalis.

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> I feel some sort of awakening here.

Stop hijacking the thread folks. Never been to Marrkech but I think few nomads have. Hopefully, they will be more helpful. Enjoy your vacation.

Seems like unprovoked nacnac. silly old fart

^The 'Kismayo infatuation' as tutu puts it has steamed some people's lenses.

Does anyone what does government do?

Apo's argument: expect this sort thing from an Áfrican regime but somehow that same regime will address its crimes.

Apo is an outstanding citizen of SOL and pillar of his community.

LOL

No, they are lovely people.

http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2012/Nov/26956/horn_petroleum_third_quarter_2012_results.aspx

Horn Petroleum Third Quarter 2012 Results Horn Petroleum Corporation HRN Wednesday, November 21, 2012 By: David Grellman VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 20, 2012) - Horn Petroleum Corporation (TSX VENTURE:HRN) ("Horn" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its results for the third quarter of 2012. During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, Horn increased its investment in intangible exploration assets by $30.0 million. The majority of the costs incurred during 2012 related to drilling the Shabeel-1 and Shabeel North-1 exploration wells in the Dharoor Valley block. The remaining expenditures are PSA related expenditures and general and administrative costs. The Company and its Partners fulfilled the initial exploration period work commitments under the Dharoor Valley and Nugaal Valley PSAs with the drilling of the Shabeel wells. While the Company was disappointed that the first two exploration wells in Puntland (Somalia) did not flow oil, the Company remains highly encouraged that all of the critical elements exist for oil accumulations. Horn recently completed demobilization of the drilling rig and associated equipment and both well sites have been restored to original condition. Horn and its partners have entered into the next exploration period in both the Dharoor Valley and Nugaal Valley PSAs which each carry a commitment to drill one exploration well in each block by October 2015. Efforts are now focused on making preparations for a seismic acquisition campaign in the Dharoor PSA which will include a regional seismic reconnaissance grid in the previously unexplored eastern portion of the basin as well as prospect specific seismic to delineate a drilling candidate in the western portion of the basin where an active petroleum system was confirmed by the recent drilling at the Shabeel-1 and Shabeel North-1 locations. Operating expenses of $0.5 million were recorded during the third quarter of 2012 ($1.6 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2012). These were offset by finance income of $23.0 million during the third quarter of 2012 ($9.0 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2012). Finance income primarily relates to fair market value adjustments of the Company's warrant liabilities. These fair market value adjustments are performed as the Company has an obligation to issue shares for a price (denominated in Canadian dollars) that is not fixed in the Company's functional currency (United States dollars). As at September 30, 2012, the Company had cash of $16.1 million and working capital of $12.4 million as compared to cash of $27.6 million and working capital of $25.9 million at December 31, 2011. The Company's liquidity and capital resource position has been reduced during 2012 primarily due to expenditures incurred on the drilling of the Shabeel-1 and Shabeel North-1 exploration wells offset partially by the non-brokered private placement which raised CAD$15.0 million in June 2012. Horn continues to investigate potential joint venture partnerships and also is reviewing new venture opportunities in the region. The Board has approved granting 2,820,000 incentive stock options to certain directors, officers and other eligible persons of the Company. The options will have a three year term, vesting provisions consistent with the existing outstanding options, and will be priced at $0.32 per share (or the closing price on November 21, 2012 if higher). Horn President and CEO, David Grellman, commented, "We remain very encouraged by the exploration potential of our Jurassic rift basins in Puntland. We have committed to the next exploration phase in both PSAs and plan to aggressively explore both areas to confirm this potential. We are also optimistic that the political progress in Somalia will continue and allow oil and gas exploration in the region to expand." Horn holds a 60% working interest in the Dharoor and Nugaal Valley blocks and is the operator. The other partners in the blocks are Range Resources (20%) and Red Emperor (20%). Africa Oil Corporation holds an approximate 45% equity interest in Horn. Horn Petroleum Corporation is a Canadian oil and gas company with assets in Puntland, Somalia. The Corporation holds a 60% interest and operatorship in the Dharoor and Nugaal blocks encompassing a Jurassic Rift Basin on trend and analogous to the large oil fields in Yemen. The Corporation's shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "HRN". ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD David Grellman, President and CEO