Human Rights Watch is urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton topromote human rights, accountability and the rule of law during herseven-nation trip to Africa beginning next week. Allegations ofwar crimes and human rights abuses are widespread in the three EastAfrican nations Ms. Clinton is scheduled to visit.
SecretaryClinton's first stop will be in Kenya, where she is expected to addressthe U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum inNairobi.
The State Department says the forum will highlightthe various issues on the secretary's agenda for the trip, includingdiscussing ways to encourage investment and sustainable economic growthon the continent. In talks with government leaders, the top U.S.diplomat is expected to emphasize, among other things, America'scommitment to promoting good regional governance and partnering withregional leaders to prevent conflicts and violence.
A seniorAfrica researcher for the New York-based Human Right Watch, TisekeKasambala, says her group believes Secretary Clinton should also usethe opportunity to urge African governments to show a greatercommitment to human rights.
"Respect for human rights, the ruleof law should be on the table, as well as promoting economicopportunities and growth, during her trip, because we think these arequite important aspects in providing the kind of conditions that arefavorable to economic progress," she said.
In Kenya, HumanRights Watch says, people are losing faith that the power-sharinggovernment of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odingawill act against powerful politicians and business leaders accused ofsupporting and inciting ethnic violence in the aftermath of thedisputed presidential elections in 2007.
More than 1,300people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people displaced fromtheir homes during several months of unrest. The rights group says thegovernment's foot-dragging on calls for justice for the victims ofpost-election violence threatens to undermine Kenya's stability andimpede future economic development.
Secretary Clinton is alsoscheduled to hold talks with Somali President Sharif Sheik Ahmed inNairobi. The focus of those talks is expected to be on U.S.-Somalicooperation against Islamist extremists and insurgents, who arethreatening to topple the government in Mogadishu.
The UnitedStates has provided about $10 million of military equipment andsupplies to the Somali government, and the State Department's top envoyto Somalia says more assistance will be on the way.
Human RightsWatch says the international community, including the United States,has yet to address allegations that troops serving under the previousU.N.-backed government of President Abdullahi Yusuf killed, robbed andraped civilians in 2007 and 2008. Ethiopian forces that intervened toprop up the Somali government were also accused of committing warcrimes.
Kasambala says such allegations eroded popular supportfor the Somali government, while boosting the ranks of insurgents. Shesays the United States must ensure the same mistakes are not madeagain.
"And this is why we are asking the United States toensure that material assistance and training that is given to securityforces in Somalia are accompanied by vetting of personnel and thecreation of specific mechanisms to respond to serious abuses when theyoccur," said Kasambala.
Secretary Clinton is also scheduled tomake a brief visit to Goma in eastern Congo, where government soldiersin North and South Kivu provinces have been accused of mass looting andraping countless civilians. Human Rights Watch says the secretaryshould urge the government in Kinshasa to prosecute all militarypersonnel, regardless of rank, who have committed serious human rightsabuses.
