Kenyan police accused of abuse, extortion of Somali refugees

Nairobi - A human rights organization is accusing the Kenyan police of abusing Somali refugees who are fleeing from their war-torn and violence-hit country where chaos engulfs the streets. They have allegedly raped, whipped, assaulted and deported the refugees.

News out of Somalia continues to get worse as each day passes. Without a government since 1991, Somalia has experienced violence, coup d’etats, human rights violations, war crimes, rapes, poverty and consistent clashes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Digital Journal reported this week of the recent report that the Somalia Transitional Federal Government uses child soldiers, which makes up 20 percent of their troops, to fight against Islamist militants and that the average United States taxpayer is funding this. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Kenyan police of abusing Somali refugees who escape from their country and flee to Kenya, which hosts the largest number of Somali refugees in the world, according to a new report released by HRW. The human rights group claims in the 99-page report titled “Welcome to Kenya: Police Abuse of Somali Refugees” that Kenyan police physically assault and rape refugees, extort them for whatever they have, detain them and then eventually deport them back to Somalia after they pay the officers, at least according to Gerry Simpson, refugee researcher for HRW. “One of them kicked me on the right side. I fell over with my baby. Then he raped me, with my baby on the ground close by. Then one of the other two men raped me. The third man stood close by,” said one refugee who attempted to enter Kenya with her children earlier this year. A Kenyan refugee aid worker described the police operation near the Kenya-Somalia border as “one big money-making machine” because as fleeing Somalis attempt to make it to the camps in Kenya, police rape the women and steal the little money they have. “For more than three years the closed border has benefitted no one except corrupt police officers and has led to untold abuses against hundreds, if not thousands, of asylum seekers," said Simpson. "Kenya needs to guarantee safe passage and protection to Somalia's vulnerable refugees." The Kenyan government has responded, according to the Associated Press. After reading a summary of the report in May, Kenya’s Minister of State for Internal Security, George Saitori, explained that “Any unlawful action that may have been taken by a police officer is not a reflection of government policy.”