Stop this blackmail, Kenyans tell Americans
Story by MUGO NJERU
Publication Date: 5/30/2005
Kenyans yesterday reacted angrily to arm-twisting tactics adopted
by the US government over the signing of an agreement meant to shield American
soldiers from the international war crimes court.
Mr Kulundu
The US government's decision to suspend military aid unless Kenya
signed the agreement was dictatorial and showed lack of respect to the
country's sovereignty, they said.
Others said the Americans could as well keep their money.
"We should be principled and resist being held at ransom by the
Americans," Cabinet minister Newton Kulundu and Kabete MP Paul Muite said
separately.
"They can keep their dollars as long as they respect our dignity.
It is not only Americans who can train our military personnel and it is time we
started looking at the European Union, China, South Africa or even Japan for
such training," Mr Muite said.
They were reacting to an exclusive story in the Sunday Nation
yesterday about Washington's decision to suspend military aid over Kenya's
reluctance to sign an agreement sheltering American soldiers from the
international war crimes court.
Already, a group of Kenyan military officers who were scheduled to
leave for the US in July for an advanced military training have had their trip
blocked.
Threatened with cancellation is a Sh760 million military aid
package, which includes equipment, unless Kenya agrees to sign what is referred
to as bilateral non-surrender agreement.
Under such an agreement, each country would agree not to surrender
a citizen of the other country to the International Criminal Court, or any
international tribunal, without the permission of the citizen's country.
Mr Kulundu said that Americans had subjected prisoners from other
nations to cruel treatment and they should be held accountable.
"Iraqis and suspects held at the US base of Guantanamo Bay have
been humiliated by the same soldiers the superpower wants to protect," Dr
Kulundu, the minister for Labour, said.
As a democracy, he said, America ought to follow international
rules of justice and desist from applying double standards.
Mr Muite
The head of the Anglican Church in Kenya, Archbishop Benjamin
Nzimbi, asked the Government to stand by its decision and refuse to be swayed
for the sake of money.
"It is all a question of ethics and if some people have done wrong
things, it is only proper that they be surrendered to the organs, which can
handle them," Archbishop Nzimbi said.
The Government, he said, should stand morally upright and resist
being forced by the US to act in the name of aid.
"The bluff by these arrogant Americans must be called off," said Mr
Muite.
He said that apart from military aid, the US has also been
demanding that Kenya fast-tracks the enactment of the Bill against terror.
Mr Muite said although Kenyans do not support terrorism, the two
recent cases in which the country has suffered terror attacks in Nairobi and in
the Coast had to do with American and Israeli interests.
"Although the Americans and Israelis injured or killed in the two
attacks were adequately compensated by their governments, families of the
affected Kenyans continued to wallow in abject poverty," he said.
Mr Musila
"The Israelis, for example, should be asked to adequately
compensate families of dancers who died during the Kikambala bomb attack in the
north Coast in November 2002."
The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and the Kenya National
Commission on Human Rights added their voices to the debate and advised the
Kenya government not to bend to pressure to sign the agreement.
Mr Khelef Khalifa of the human rights body said countries in the
European Union and others had refused to sign the treaty, which has been
described as a gross violation of human rights.
"The stand of our commission is that the Government must not bend
to pressure by the US to sign this treaty. In any case, military aid is not
something we really need as a country as long as support for HIV/Aids and
poverty are not affected; we do not care about military support," he said.
Mr Khalifa said recent events in Guantanamo Bay and Baghdad do not
allow the US to operate in other people's countries without control in the name
of a bilateral non-surrender agreement.
The council of imams secretary general, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, said
the decision to suspend military aid to Kenya was a demonstration of the kind
of democracy the US was promoting all over the world.
"The US government is always bullying and threatening poor
governments in the name of protecting its soldiers without regard to the
interests of the host country," Sheikh Dor said.
"We fully support the Government in this matter and it should never
bow to pressure to sign this treaty that will protect criminals from
prosecution," he said.
Sheikh Dor said Kenya appeared to be falling out of favour with the
Americans for failing to dance to their whims. He cited the Bill on terror as
an example of issues that have put the Kenya government on a collision course
with the US.
The US action was also condemned by Ford Kenya with an official
saying the move is likely to strain relations between the two countries.
The party's secretary for foreign affairs, Mr Ken Wafula, said the
US decision was tantamount to arm-twisting Kenya's leadership.
Additional reporting by Ngumbao Kithi and Kennedy Lumwamu
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