Today's Headlines - Mon 6/29/09

Reuters Ethiopia
Kenyan forces again accused of torture, rape
Reuters - Andrew Cawthorne, Abdi Sheikh - ‎3 hours ago‎
The accusation by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) of brutalities in a late 2008 operation adds to a litany of allegations against Kenya's army and police ...
Kenya: Bring Prosecutions for Torture in Northeast Human Rights Watch (Communiqué de presse)
Police deny Kenya torture claims Modern Ghana
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Kenyan Stocks Climb for a Third Day: Led by TPS Eastern, Unga
Bloomberg - Sarah McGregor - ‎4 hours ago‎
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Kenya's price-weighted All-Share Index rose for the third day, climbing 0.9 percent to 57.75 points at 10:20 am in ...

Daily Nation
Kenya confirms first swine flu case
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation - ‎2 hours ago‎
The tests were done by the Kenya Medical Research Institute - KEMRI and other agencies. However, the minister has called on the public not to panic saying ...
Kenya confirms country's first swine flu case Times of India
Swine Flu hits Kenya Standard
Kenya confirms first case of H1N1 flu virus Reuters India
Independent Online - Daily Nation
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Los Angeles Times
In Kenya, patients held hostage to medical bills
Los Angeles Times - Edmund Sanders - ‎Jun 27, 2009‎
Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya -- Widowed and HIV-positive, Beatrice Acheing had no money to have her baby delivered in a hospital. ...

CTV.ca
Somalia: Kenya Army Ready for Attack
AllAfrica.com - ‎Jun 25, 2009‎
Nairobi — Kenya's military is preparing to protect its borders and refugees seeking a safe haven in the country following threats by extremists in Somalia ...
Kenya may close border with Somalia PRESS TV
As more flee Somalia, world's largest refugee camp feels the pressure Christian Science Monitor
US Has Sent 40 Tons of Munitions to Aid Somali Government Washington Post
United Press International - Daily Nation
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Kenyan stocks rise by 0.5% by Friday's close:
ISI - Emerging Markets - ‎1 hour ago‎
Kenyan stocks rose for a second day, by 0.5% by Friday's close of trade in Nairobi , reported Bloomberg. The price-weighted All-Share Index rose every day ...

Business Daily Africa
Kenyan sugar privatisations should cut costs:
ISI - Emerging Markets - ‎1 hour ago‎
Kenyan sugar privatisations should cut costs by up to 30% and boost regional competitiveness as the country sells shares in five sugar factories over the ...
Sugar millers not ready for competition East African
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IMF approves USD 200mn Kenyan funding request.
ISI - Emerging Markets - ‎1 hour ago‎
The IMF approved a USD 200mn Kenyan funding request from the fund's Exogenous Shocks Facility, Scott Rogers, the senior IMF representative in Kenya , said. ...

African Development Bank sees Kenya GDP growing by 4.2% in 2009.
ISI - Emerging Markets - ‎1 hour ago‎
The AfDB said on Tuesday that Kenya 's economy will expand at a rate of 4.2% this year, hampered by a global economic downturn. The bank's forecast is more ...

African Markets - Factors to watch on June 29
Forbes - ‎5 hours ago‎
Kenya's shilling rose to a seven-week high on Friday on foreigner demand for government bonds. The central bank governor says he anticipates the Kenyan unit ...
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Police deny Kenya torture claims
BBC - Kenya's police have denied claims of torture and rape when they disarmed rival clan militias last year.

Human Rights Watch says there should be an inquiry into the "collective punishment" of civilians in Mandera.

The US-based organisation said its research showed thousands of people had been tortured and women had been raped.

But police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told the BBC there had been no torture or beatings and asked HRW to produce evidence to back up its findings.

"Certainly we should look into the laws in this country which allow any street boy to come here and publish very disparaging lies about our internal security forces," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Earlier this year a UN investigator into allegations of extrajudicial killings elsewhere in Kenya, Philip Alston, said the police were a "law unto themselves".

'Not a case of bad apples'
According to Human Rights Watch, a joint police and military operation to disarm the warring militias in the north-eastern town of Mandera took place between 25 October and 28 October 2008.

A woman who was raped in Elele:

"One held my head on the ground, and the other one started raping me.

I fainted because I was pregnant and when I woke up I just found myself damaged from the rape.

I ran to the bush where our livestock are. I went with the five children that I could see. After three days, I found the rest of my kids in the bush.

I came back after six weeks to give birth in Elele. I haven't seen any doctor or hospital."

Source: Human Rights Watch

It followed deadly clashes between the local Garre and Murulle clans, which had killed 21 people earlier in the year.

"Unfortunately, that joint operation pursued a brutal strategy of basically rounding up all of the civilians in various villages and then, in a sense, collectively punishing them," the report's author Ben Rawlence told the BBC.

"Requiring them to turn over weapons, to disclose the whereabouts of the militias who've been fighting, torturing thousands of people and raping some women… destroying property and causing between 20,000 and 30,000 people to flee the area."

In February, Human Rights Watch researchers visited five of the towns and say they documented consistent accounts from more than 90 victims.

The interviewees said security forces entered early in the morning and rounded up all of the men they could find.

They were made to lie on the ground for hours and were beaten with rifle butts, sticks, canes and iron rods.

"In front of the police station, they made us lie down. They were beating us with sticks, rungus [clubs], anything. They weren't saying anything except beating us and then: 'Bring the gun or you'll die,'" a victim in El Wak said.

“ We have well over five institutions in this country prepared to carry out public prosecutions and ensure that justice is done ” Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe

Other said the security forces twisted, crushed or ripped open their testicles.

"This is not a question of a few bad apples disobeying orders," Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch's executive director said.

"This operation was the result of a strategy devised by senior officials to use brutal force against Kenyan citizens."

Mr Kiraithe has denied previous accusations of police brutality and said if Human Rights Watch had evidence of torture in the Mandera district, the organisation should hand it over.

"We have well over five institutions in this country prepared to carry out public prosecutions and ensure that justice is done," Mr Kiraithe said.

The region around Mandera is prone to conflicts between rival clans, often for control of scarce water and pastures.

The area is largely inhabited by Somali-speaking nomads.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8123751.stm
Published: 2009/06/29 08:59:43 GMT© BBC MMIX

Kenya confirms first swine flu case
Written By:Margaret Kalekye/Mary Daraja
Posted: Mon, Jun 29, 2009

Caption: According to WHO 263 deaths from the flu have been reported worldwide (File Picture)
The first case of swine flu has been confirmed in Kenya.

Public Health and Sanitation minister Beth Mugo addressing a press conference on Monday said samples taken from a 20-year-old British student who is on a field trip in Kisumu tested positive.

The student is at a kisumu hotel which was immediately quarantined following the positive results.

The tests were done by the Kenya Medical Research Institute - KEMRI and other agencies.

However, the minister has called on the public not to panic saying the country is well prepared to handle Swine Flu outbreak.

She says the Flu is curable and the government has enough drugs in its stores.

Mugo said public health officials were on high alert and are screening visitors at the airports and border points.

On Saturday, Mugo allayed fears of a Swine Flu outbreak in the country.

Samples taken from the patient for testing at Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) laboratories proved negative for the H1N1 influenza virus.

Mugo said the patient suspected to have been infected with the flu was a 20-year old Kenyan lady who is a student at a university in London.

The student who had arrived UK on Friday was rushed to AAR health clinic at sarit centre after she developed a slight fever and flu like symptoms similar to those of the swine flu.

The doctors examined her alerted Kemri officials after she disclosed that she had been in contact with a friend who later tested positive for influenza A H1N1 in London.

The clinic was closed and the patient transferred to Kenya's main referral hospital, the Kenyatta National Hospital where she was placed in isolation ward as tests went on at Kemri.

A press statement from AAR said the first results had ruled out presence of the H1N1, adding that the affected clinic had been reopened.

Mugo assured the public during a press conference that the suspected case had been confirmed negative.

The announcement by the minister came as a relief to Kenyans.

'Government prepared'
She reiterated that the country is fully prepared to handle any confirmed AH1N1 cases.

" The government with the support of World Health Organization-WHO has stocked over 50,000 doses of tamiflu for treatment of any confirmed cases of Influenza a H1N1 and stocked personal protective equipment for the health workers" She said.

She urged health workers and the general public to report any suspected case to the national surveillance unit and the national influenza centre through the following contacts: 0722 331548, 0202040542, 2718292.

News about the suspected case spread across Nairobi via SMS overnight on Friday causing panic across the city.

The H1N1 virus first emerged in April in Mexico, which has recorded 116 deaths and 8,279 cases, according to the WHO.

On 11 June, the WHO declared a global flu pandemic, meaning that swine flu virus was spreading in at least two regions of the world.

According to the latest figures from the WHO, there have been 263 deaths and nearly 60,000 cases in some 100 countries and territories.

US health officials estimate that at least one million Americans have been infected with swine flu since the H1N1 virus emerged nearly three months ago.