Kenya: Taking Liberties

This comprehensive assessment of the current human rights situation in Kenya goes well beyond those aspects that are ordinarily the focus of international attention: the efforts of Nairobi-based journalists, lawyers, clergy and political figures to promote the rule of law and an open, accountable system of government. This book also details the arbitrary, punitive and cruel measures by the government of President Daniel arap Moi against rural and urban squatter communities; the miserable conditions of confinement in detention facilities and prisons for those charged with common crimes as well as for those held for political offenses; the violence with which Kenya annexed 14,000 square kilometers of disputed territory on the border between Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in 1988; the brutality of the implementation of emergency powers in the North Eastern Province; and the discriminatory "screening" of ethnic Somalis and the ill- treatment of refugees from Kenya's war-torn neighbors.