Abuse in Kenya's war on terror

A report published by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) accused the government of using similar tactics used by terrorist groups in its war on terror.

Kenya's official human rights watchdog cited 25 extra-judicial killings and 81 forced disappeared in its report, entitled "The Error of Fighting Terror with Terror."

"The Kenya security agencies have continued to conduct abusive operations against individuals and groups suspected to be associated with terror attacks in the various parts of the country," said the report.

The report also outlined the state's use of torture, including mock executions, genital mutilation, waterboarding and exposure to stinging by ants.

Somali population targeted

In 2011, Kenya sent security forces into Somalia to aid the government in quashing an insurgency by al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab fighters. Since then, the militant group launched a wave of attacks on Kenyan soil, including one on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall that left 67 people dead.

However, Kenya has struggled to contain the attacks, using extraordinary measures to suppress the group, including building a wall on the country's border with Somalia.

"The commission is concerned that the ongoing crackdown continues to disproportionately target certain groups of people, particularly ethnic Somalis and members of the Muslim faith in the coastal region," the report noted. "The profiling of people along ethnic or religious lines constitutes discrimination and is therefore unconstitutional and against international norms."

'Condemn the abuses'

The KNCHR's vice chairman George Morara called on Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to condemn the security agencies' practices and offer a public apology to the country.

"The president should acknowledge and condemn the abuses by security agencies and call upon them to ensure respect for the rule of law and human rights in the fight against terrorism," Morara said, according to the AFP news agency. "He should issue an official public apology to the survivors and families of victims of the abuses."

ls/msh (AFP, dpa)