By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI
Ambassadors and High
Commissioners in Kenya have expressed concern over violence and the destruction
of property witnessed during the recent anti-government demonstrations called
by the opposition.U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman
In a joint statement issued
Tuesday, envoys of 13 countries; Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany,
Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United
Kingdom and the United States, called for dialogue between President William
Ruto’s administration and the Raila Odinga-led opposition to resolve their
differences peacefully.
“We are saddened by the loss
of life and concerned by high levels of violence, including the use of live
rounds and the destruction of property, during the recent demonstrations,”
reads the statement.
“We recognise the daily
hardship faced by many Kenyans and urge all parties to table their concerns
through a meaningful dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully to build
the nation together, ensuring no further loss of life.”
The envoys expressed readiness
to mediate the government and the opposition, noting, “We stand ready to
support the parties in their efforts to find constructive and peaceful
solutions.”
The opposition called the
anti-government protests to picket against the high cost of living.
They are set to resume Wednesday for three days straight and have also
attracted the attention of the United Nations Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) which Friday urged local authorities
to refrain from using deadly force when quelling the demonstrations and called for speedy investigations into the reported
deaths and injuries.
Kenya responded to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva over the OHCHR’s statement, saying Sunday that the protest was wrongly portrayed and misinformed.
"While the Permanent
Mission shares the OHCHR's concern for human rights, it is obliged to contest
the characterization of recent events in Kenya as 'peaceful protests'. Such a
designation belies the widely and credibly documented ground reality,"
read the statement shared by Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing'oei.
The Permanent Mission insisted
that there is a difference between the right to peaceful assembly and the acts
of destructive rioting that occurred in Kenya in the last
week.
In the
meantime, President Ruto has vowed he will not allow more protests in the
country, accusing his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta of supporting Odinga in
orchestrating the chaos.
But the opposition has
maintained that the protests are on despite what they describe as intimidation
by the government through the police.
Over a dozen people have been
killed in the protests.
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