How are Ugandans treated in Kenya?
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 May 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | KEN1088 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, How are Ugandans treated in Kenya?, 1 May 1989, KEN1088, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac233c.html [accessed 25 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The government of Kenya reportedly uses the existence of the underground opposition movement MwaKenya, which seeks to
overthrow the existing government and economic system, as a
justification for widespread detention and human rights' abuses
against peaceful or non-partisan opposition demonstrators and
critics. [ Critique: review of the Department of State's Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1987, (Washington: Human
Rights Watch, June 1988), p. 88.]
Systematic harassment based on national or ethnic origin in
Kenya is reported to be concentrated in the northern region of
the country, where the ethnic Somali live. This harassment has
allegedly been carried out by the government forces as a means of securing control of border areas and of gaining support of the Kenyan population of the area. [ Africa Confidential, (London, Miramoor Publications), 6 January 1989, p. 6.] The Kenyan security forces reportedly tortured and killed several hundred people of Somali ethnic origin in northeastern Kenya, in 1984, [ Kenya: torture, political detention and unfair trials, (London: Amnesty International, July 1987), p. 4.] and in 1988-89 they launched a major anti-Somali campaign which resulted in the arrest, death or deportation of several hundred ethnic Somalis. Africa Confidential, 6 January 1989, p. 6.]
A Ugandan teacher named Gregory Byaruhanga was arrested in
the Town of Kisii on March 13, 1987, following an attack on a bus in central Kenya. He died ten days later in a hospital where he was taken by the police. [ Keesing's Record of World Events,
(London, Longman Publishing Group), October 1987, pp. 35431-35432.] This incident reportedly strained relations between Uganda and Kenya, leading to the deportation of more than six hundred Ugandans from Kenyan territory later the same month. Economic and trade disputes between both countries which were precipitated by these events, continued through June
of 1987. [ Ibid, p. 35432.]
Although no recent reports of violence specifically directed against Kenyan residents of Ugandan origin could be found among the sources presently available at the IRBDC, Ottawa, relations between the countries are tense. Kenya has repeatedly accused Uganda and Libya of collaborating in the support of Kenyan rebels. [ Africa Confidential, 28 April 1989, p. 3.] During the first months of 1989, Uganda and Kenya have
been engaged in an almost daily exchange of accusations and
denials of each country's involvement in troop mobilizations,
incursions into the other's territory and collaboration with
rebel groups. [ Sub-Saharan Africa Daily Report, (Washington,
Foreign Broadcast Information Service), issues of March and April, 1989.]
In Kenya, reports indicate Ugandan wives of prominent
Kenyan figures have become the target of widespread suspicion,
although measures taken against them and other individuals of
Ugandan origin are not reported in the sources available to the
IRBDC at the present time. [ Africa Confidential, 28 April
1989, p. 3.] However, an uprising of Ugandan refugees from a UNHCR camp in Thika, near Nairobi, Kenya, on 20 March 1989, resulted in the escape of a Ugandan rebel leader (Alice Lakwena) and other people, rioting in a nearby town, and the intervention of Kenyan security forces to control the unrest. [ Sub-Saharan Africa Daily Report, (Washington, Foreign Broadcast Information Service): 22 March 1989, p. 4; 23 March 1989, p. 8.]
