Police in Uganda hit a civilian with batons during a protest by members of the opposition Picture: File
Human-rights abuses are widespread in East Africa, and governments in the region typically fail to punish those responsible, a US State Department report published last week said.
The latest edition of the department’s annual global survey of respect for human rights alleges severe abuses on the part of states closely allied with the US. Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan — countries that receive large amounts of American aid — are all criticised for violating the rights of their citizens in numerous ways.
The report comes on the heels of an Amnesty International report, released on May 24 found all five East African Community governments culpable of rising human-rights abuses.
The study fingered Burundi and Rwanda as the two countries in the region leading in human rights abuses in 2011, by clamping down on freedom of assembly and harassing opposition politicians. But governments said by the State Department to have systematically violated human rights sometimes lash back at the US.
Such is the case with South Sudan, which it accuses in the new report of “pervasive” official corruption as well as “extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and other inhumane treatment of civilians.” In response, South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Benjamin Marial called the charges a “mere concoction,” insisting in the Sudan Tribune that authorities in Juba are committed to protecting citizens’ rights.
The State Department report on conditions in 2011 is comparatively milder in regard to the performance of Tanzania and Rwanda.
Zambia is singled out for special commendation. Elections last September were “free, credible and orderly,” the State Department says, adding that Zambia’s incumbent president “relinquished power and accepted the will of the Zambian people.”
Eritrea, by contrast, is excoriated as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers, as is Sudan, while in Somalia, the department says, “the rule of law was largely non-existent.” Abuses were serious and generally left unpunished in the breakaway regions of Somaliland and Puntland, the report adds.
Sudan, and particularly Eritrea, have poor relations with the US. Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government is a US client. This year’s report highlights the treatment of “marginalised people,” including lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans-gender individuals, referred to collectively as LGBT. “Too many countries still criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity, and LGBT people face discrimination and violence in many more countries,” Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner writes in the report.
Persecution on the basis of sexual or gender identity is seen by the US as commonplace in many East African countries.
On the issue of official impunity Kenya is sharply criticised, with the report stating that the government “took only limited action against security forces suspected of unlawful killings, and impunity in cases of corruption was common.”
