In Brief: UN-trained policeman killed in eastern Chad

Photo: Claire Soares/IRIN

Sudanese woman and children in eastern Chad (file photo) Security forces and aid workers in the area commonly face armed robberies and carjackings

DAKAR,  – Armed men shot dead a Chadian policeman on the night of 13 May when they attacked the post of national police specially trained to protect refugees, displaced persons and humanitarian staff in eastern Chad.

The station of the Chadian Integrated Security Detachment (DIS) in the town of Goz Amer was attacked by six men in civilian clothes, according to a 14 statement by the UN mission in Chad, MINURCAT. “The six men arrived on foot and burst into the DIS station where they opened fire on the officers present,” MINURCAT said.

The DIS has experienced numerous armed attacks in the volatile region, where relief agencies assisting more than 400,000 refugees and displaced Chadians commonly encounter car-jackings and armed robberies, but this is the first time an officer was killed in such an attack, MINURCAT spokesperson Penangnini Touré told IRIN.

The attack occurred in a region where clashes between rebels and government troops forced the relocation of aid staff on 6 May. As of 12 May UN and NGO aid staff slowly began returning to the town of Koukou Angarana, where some 60,000 refugees and displaced Chadians live. MINURCAT has temporarily deployed 120 peacekeepers to Koukou, according to an 11 May statement.

np/aj source.www.innews.org

PAKISTAN: Sikhs flee Swat, seek refuge in shrine

Photo: Abdul Razaque Channa/ILAP

Sikh IDPs from Swat at the Sikh shrine in Hasanabdal

KARACHI,  – Among the tens of thousands who have fled their homes in Swat Valley and the adjacent Buner District, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), are about 2,000 Sikhs who have taken refuge in a Sikh shrine in Hasanabdal, a town about 50km from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

According to Gulbeer Singh, head priest at the Sri Punja Sahib shrine, about 207 families from Buner District and 96 from Swat had taken refuge there. The number of Sikh internally displaced persons (IDPs), he said, was roughly 1,800-2,000. The first set of families started coming from Buner on 30 April.

Some 20,000 Sikhs live in Pakistan, according to the US Department of State,  and a study on Swat’s Sikhs by the Islamabad-based Quaid-i-Azam University in 2005 estimated the Sikh population of Swat to be about 2,000.

“We have 307 rooms and can accommodate 6,000-8,000 people at a time,” said Singh. “They will be safe here,” he said.

Manisha, a 14-year-old girl who fled on foot from Swat Valley with her 16-member extended family, said: “I saw a woman wailing with the dead body of her 15-day-old baby. The baby had been dead for two days but she was unable to give him a proper burial.”

Sukhvinder Kaur, who fled Swat with her two daughters and husband, wondered what would happen to her home. “We just came to this `gurdwara’ [Sikh temple] with the clothes we are in,” she added.

“I heard the Taliban looted a jeweller’s shop and a general store [on 8 May]. While we were still there, they broke into a bank,” Kaur said.

Photo: Abdul Razaque Channa/ILAP

Displaced Sikh children try to continue their studies

“Smooth flow of buses”

But the Taliban “never stopped us from leaving, as is being reported in the media… In fact, in the absence of police, it was the Taliban who ensured a smooth flow of buses leaving with civilians,” said Kaur.

Suran Singh, another displaced Sikh from Buner, said the group he had helped get together included doctors, government officials, professors, lab assistants and businessmen.

Manjeet Singh, 37, a primary school teacher in Swat, who was a caretaker at the only Sikh temple in Swat’s principal city, Mingora, said: “I was not sure whether to leave or not, but when a mortar fell just a few yards from my house, then I made up my mind that the place was no longer safe for my children.”

Sundar Singh, a medical technician at Pakistan Telecommunication Company, said this was his family’s second migration. “We moved out of Swat in January, but when the peace deal was signed between the Taliban and the government [on 16 February], we moved back to Swat,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Razaque Channa who visited the Sikh shrine on behalf of the Interfaith League Against Poverty, a local NGO, said “they are managing the whole thing very well… The place was very comfortable and clean, unlike the government-run camps. But I’m not sure what will happen when more come here.”

ze/at/cb source.www.irinnews.org

The black man’s burden is carrying white man’s guilt

By Peter Kimani

I can see clearly now the rain is gone, right through the veneer of woollen coats and wigs that the men of the Bench wear. Formally, they are called judges, the name usually capped to display their seniority in society.

So I shall not mock Justice Muga Apondi’s attire, partly because the weather has been cold, and since that’s his official wear.

Yet, if you don’t mind my saying, my heart went out to him “ a black man in robes reflecting white culture, judging a white man for killing a black man.

After all, Tom Cholmondeley, isn’t Kenyan, in spite of his colour.

Just look at his stiff upper lip, thanks to his English public schooling where life is spent learning more about daffodils and table manners than “life skills”.

Why, the life that his forebears lived included shooting Africans for sport. His grandfather even dreamt about laying pipes to flow with milk, not water, in the place they claimed as their Promised Land, yet no shipload of earth was ferried from England to Kenya.

That’s dangerous rhetoric, considering that our forebears, such as good old Jomo, with his tusahau yaliyopita (forgetting the past) doctrine, sought healing over strife for the land and its people.

Justice Apondi echoed these sentiments on Thursday, recalling the restive mood that pervaded the land in December 2007.

Only that Cholmondeley (his name sounds like Soro-mondo) did not differ politically with Robert Njoya, the stonemason he was convicted of killing in a cowardly attack.

And to confirm that the law is truly an ass, no reference was made (perhaps applying the principle of relevance) to the killing of Kenya Wildlife Service ranger Samson ole Sisina.

Impressed as I was by Justice Apondi’s poetic voice “ soft cadence and erudition “ I think his argument and ultimate judgement was crass.

I remain convinced, like many Kenyans, that race, ethnicity, class and wealth, still count for something.

English peer

And rather than tire us with the principles of law designed for subjects of the Queen, he should have confessed his inadequacy in sentencing an English peer using English law.

Had I been a judge, (with a small j), I would have asked not have wasted public resources trying Soro-Mondo, considering the limitations of our freedom.

Rather, my practical sensibility would have persuaded me to ask him to hand over his vast land or risk spending the rest of his life in jail.

This proposition is not motivated by the “law of the jungle,” it simply means depriving Soro-Mondo the land that’s causing him to cause infractions of the law by recklessly shooting at trespassers.

And we could resettle the landless in the Mau Forest¦

 

Karua, the comeback kids?

“Former Justice Minister Martha Karua!..” There is an edge of anger to this line. Why would people sound as though they are only interested in Karua’s past, not the future?

But the Gichugu MP hardly makes news these days, even when the issues of the day are fairly interesting.

I think this has nothing to do with Mr Mutula Kilonzo’s appointment to replace Karua at the Justice docket; it is just that there are 220 MPs competing for attention.

Some have mastered the art of Sunday Press conference (imagine that, planning your week with a permanent disclaimer of unavailability on Sundays), to try catch some attention when fewer MPs are in town.

Karua did her bit this week, by unleashing some punches on the police that she claims are hatching such unimaginative plots as to disguise themselves as Mungiki, Vigilantes or God “ knows “ what.

Still, her punchy line could only manage space after page 20-something, reflecting the great disadvantage Karua now suffers as a backbencher.

And is the former Justice minister still campaigning as she did every weekend, and now she must have more time on her hands. She is so silent¦

Museveni’s fishy business

Soldiers never die, and Ugandan Prezzo M7 is one to the core. So he speaks directly and forcefully, and recently stopped short of saying that he would demand fishes of the water to carry passports, so that any “Jaluo” fisherman would have prove he fished in the appropriate side of the island.

Now what’s needed is his office to drop any pretensions that M7 was “misinterpreted”.

Since he wasn’t addressing the fishes in the water, but human beings living on land, and so use intellect, rather than instincts, the specific meaning as to his words that the island belongs to Kenya and the water is in Uganda is pretty obvious.

Now M7 should indicate which Jaluo he had in mind (is he a fisherman-politician as someone alleged about Raphael Wanjala), or a fisherman as in John the Baptist?

In any case, neither Wanjala nor the Baptist hail from that community, so M7 must know other fisherman he is having beef with over the Migingo.

-pkimani@eastandard.net

 

source.standard.ke

The white killer’s words – Cholmondoley: “Justice has been served.” (What a shame – served? when he kills the black people?)

Give the judge a knighthood! After all the parents of the killer are aristocrats: Lord and Lady! You are black. Steal a chicken and you will get death sentence by hanging in Kenya. You are white. Kill a black man or two and  you will get 8 months in jail and permission to reflect on your life. This is the reality and value of a black man’s life. (API)

The Killer’s parents laughing after their son got only 8 months for killing a black man in Kenya.

The judge setting the killer free by awarding only 8 months sentence.

By JILLO KADIDA

 

Justice Muga Apondi had promised a light sentence and he lived to his words, handing Tom Cholmondoley a sentence of eight months. In an exclusive interview with the Nation, Mr Cholmondoley who was accused of killing stonemason Robert Njoya three years ago, said justice had been served.

“I was very nervous. It was a life-stopping moment, but I believe justice has been done,” said Mr Cholmondeley at the basement cells of the Nairobi High Court on Thursday.

Justice Apondi had said as he passed judgment: “I hereby wish to impose a light sentence on the accused to allow him reflect on his life and change to an appropriate direction.” This means Mr Cholmondeley will have to serve eight more months, starting Thursday, on top of the three years he has already spent at the Kamiti Maximum Prison.

The judge on Thursday said, in reaching his verdict, he had considered the fact that Mr Cholmondeley has been held in custody for slightly over three years since he was arrested. Immediately he pronounced his verdict, the more than 10 prison warders guarding Mr Cholmondeley whisked him off to the basement.

Earlier on, he had sat on a bench along the corridor leading to the cell rooms, lovingly holding hands with his girlfriend, Sally Dudmesh, and this is where the scion of Kenya’s British settler aristocracy narrated to the Nation how he woke up and prepared for the big day.

Washed face

As early as six in the morning, the rancher had already washed his face and underarms with some rain water he had collected the previous night in preparation for his journey to the High Court. “I couldn’t take a shower in the morning because there was no water at Kamiti,” he said.

He then dressed up and said a little prayer to his maker. Fellow inmates had already gathered outside his cell at Block G to wish him good luck. And it seems his prayers and the good-luck wishes worked well, so well that the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr Keriako Tobiko, told the Nation he will appeal for the enhancement of the sentence, which he termed too lenient.

Mr Tobiko said the sentence doesn’t meet the ends of justice since an innocent life was lost. “The discretion of sentence lies with the judge, but eight months is far below the mark. “We will need to put precedents before the court of appeal in our efforts to enhance and correct judgment,” said the DPP.

Mr Justice Apondi said the discretion to sentence opens the way to both flexibility in response to facts of cases and to unjustifiable differences in the personal or local approach of judges.

He repeated an argument the prosecution had made to the court during the proceedings; that offenders should be treated equally irrespective of their wealth, race, colour and sex. He also supported the defence’s assertion that both sides need to heal.

Ugly scenes

“The offence was committed in Soysambu, which is an area around Naivasha. Needless to state, there was unprecedented ugly scenes based on tribal clashes following the last General Elections and, following death of Njoya, there were ugly scenes reported there,” said the judge.

He added: “This court understands the undercurrents that went with both unfortunate events.” Justice Apondi further noted that Cholmondeley did not have malice aforethought, meaning he never premeditated the killing because he didn’t have any grudge with Mr Njoya.

The judge also said the trial subjected Cholmondeley to the due process of law. “He was arraigned in court for a serious offence without any regard to his wealth, status or race. The above proves beyond doubt that the criminal justice is robust, independent and functioning,” he said.

However, on the issue of the pledge by Mr Cholmondeley’s family to help the Njoyas, he said he will not delve into it because it can be addressed by a civil court. Cholmondeley was found guilty of manslaughter last Thursday by the court.

Relying heavily on the evidence of a best friend of the accused, rally driver Carl Tundo, Justice Muga Apondi found that Mr Cholmondeley shot and killed Mr Njoya three years ago, but spared him death by hanging because a murder charge could not be sustained.

He found that the accused did not have intentions to kill when he shot Mr Njoya at the Soysambu Ranch on May 10, 2006. “This case has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt, both through direct and circumstantial evidence. Due to lack of any malice aforethought, I reduce the charge to manslaughter. The circumstantial evidence adduced irresistibly leads to the guilt of the accused,” the judge had said.

The conduct of the accused after the shooting clearly shows that he shot Mr Njoya by mistake and became extremely remorseful on what he had done. Mr Justice Apondi noted that Cholmondeley gave first aid to Mr Njoya and even fully cooperated with the police by going back to the scene and explaining what happened.

The above is not the conduct of a vengeful and malicious person. The accused had aimed to kill the dogs and succeeded in finishing two of them. That was a risky decision because he ended up shooting the deceased and killing him, he had said.

The judge dismissed evidence by the defence that had sought to link the fatal shooting to Mr Tundo’s gun, dismissing the argument as an afterthought that lacked merit. The judge said if the issue of the second gun was genuine, the defence ought to have raised it when Cholmondeley was arrested. Mr Cholmondeley is entitled by law to lodge an appeal against the sentence.

source.nation.ke

The killer spared – Would a black killer be spared in the UK?

The shame that becometh, a result of Kenya laws as old as the protectorate under the white settlers and the shame that turns to luck for the white aristocrat, while the black widow languishes in pain of loosing her beloved husband, and here the mother of the killer has a good laugh…… (API)

By JILLO KADIDA  and NOAH CHEPLOEN

 

LADY ANNE DELAMERE, Tom Cholmondeley’s mother

Kind, intelligent, articulate and, of course, very tall. This is how she described her son. They portray a mother’s love. In an interview with the Nation, Lady Ann recalled the day she received the news of her son’s arrest. She was in hospital in England, where she had gone for a cataract operation.

The message from her sister-in-law, that Tom had been arrested for a killing, again, was the worst news she could have got from home. She says that she loves Tom very much and believes he is not a murderer. Even in the midst of the tension-filled murder trial, Lady Ann has a sense of humour.

“Tom is my only live child out of five tries — I am not a good cow — and I love him very much,” she said. But she says of her son; “Tom “is incident-prone.” Lady Ann said that she talks to the family of Mr Robert Njoya, the man killed by her son.

“We’ve chatted in the prison courtyard with Serah Njoya. After a shy start, I asked after her children, who have now settled down and are doing well at school.” The young widow was kind to her, she says.

————–

MRS SERAH NJOYA, Robert Njoya’s widow

‘‘I will only be happy if justice is done and the killers punished,’’ Mrs Serah Njoya told the Nation a month ago. On Thursday, the man found guilty of killing her husband got off with a mere slap on the wrist – eight months in jail. Mrs Njoya looked on without betraying emotion when the judgement was delivered.

It is instructive, however, that just last week when the charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter, she displayed unusual empathy. Mrs Njoya said nothing could be gained by sentencing her husband’s killer to death and creating pain in his loved ones.

Mrs Njoya’s husband, Robert, a mason in Gilgil, was shot dead on May 10, 2006, by Tom Cholmondeley, heir to the Lord Delamere title. Aged only 31, she was robbed of a breadwinner, a husband and a companion of 10 years.

Her day starts at 5am and ends at 6pm. She does odd jobs to put food on the table for her children, Gidraph Mbugua, Michael Kamau, John Karegi and Joakim Githuku.

On a good day she might make about Sh300 from her yam crop, but this once a week and after hard toil on the farm.

source.nation.ke