NAIROBI – Ninety-two people were killed during Kenya’s months of election turmoil and dozens of others were sexually assaulted, a human rights watchdog said Wednesday.
Most victims “were felled by the bullet” and authorities must account for “how the officers under their command used the live ammunition that had been assigned to them,” according to the report of the independent Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
The group reported 86 cases of sexual or gender-based violence, saying it was “extremely worried” by the emergence of sexual violence “as a weapon of subjugation” during political contests.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused Kenyan security forces of killing scores of his supporters. Police have denied it. They also called a recent Human Rights Watch report alleging gang-rapes by men in uniform in opposition strongholds “utter falsehoods.”
Odinga lost the August presidential election but successfully challenged the results while alleging irregularities, leading the Supreme Court to nullify the vote in a first in Africa.
The new allegations add to pressure on the government to investigate allegations of violence targeting opposition supporters.
