[Onthebarricades] Global resistance stories: Kenya Timor Uganda Papua Chiapas

[Andy]

KENYA:  Escape, uprising at prison
EAST TIMOR:  Revolt by supporters of dissident
UGANDA:  Police murder child during opposition demonstration
WEST PAPUA:  Subdivision will lead to abuse, argues student activist
CHIAPAS:  Land conflict escalates

http://allafrica.com/stories/200703050737.html

Kenya: Riot in Prison After Five Convicts Escape




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The Nation (Nairobi)
March 5, 2007
Posted to the web March 5, 2007
Michael Njuguna, Simon Siele and Francis Mureithi
Nairobi
A riot broke out in Nakuru Prison yesterday morning after four death row 
convicts escaped from their cells.
Trouble started when warders began searching prisoners for a gun reported to 
have been stolen after the dramatic escape.

A Nakuru prison wader (centre) is rescued by colleagues after he was stoned 
by inmates during a fracas following the dramatic escape of four death row 
convicts early yesterday morning. Photo/JOSEPH KIHERI.
The prisoners resisted the move and started pelting the warders with stones, 
injuring at least two.
Police, who arrived minutes after the riot started, fired tear gas canisters 
before they finally subdued the prisoners, stripped them and herded them 
together in pairs.
The inmates sang in Kiswahili "Bado mapambano" (the struggle continues) as 
prison warders and police moved in with tear gas.
The escape prompted a big man-hunt mounted by police and prison warders 
around Nakuru and Prisons Commissioner Gilbert Omondi rushed to the town 
from Nairobi to chair a crisis meeting at the jail.
Foil the escape
Mr Omondi emerged from the prison after a four-hour meeting to announce that 
six warders had been interdicted to pave the way for investigations as they 
had failed to foil the escape.
"We have decided to suspend six officers pending investigations by the 
police and the prisons authority," he said.
However, Mr Omondi denied knowledge of a stolen gun, saying he had not been 
informed and that the claim should be treated as mere hear-say.
He added that four of the escaped prisoners were on death row and one was 
serving a long sentence.
The Rift Valley Prisons Commandant, Mr John Macharia, also refused to give 
any information relating to the escape. He would also not comment on reports 
that a senior officer had lost his Ceska pistol during the commotion.
However, sources at the prison said the prisoners grabbed the pistol from 
the officer as they were being searched for the tools used to cut grills 
before the convicts escaped.
There was a commotion when the prisoners resisted the search and refused to 
be locked in their cells. On sensing trouble, prison authorities called for 
reinforcements from regular police and the Flying Squad to help quell the 
riot. One of the warders was hit on the head with a stone.
Mr Nyaga Kinyanjui was taken to Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, 
where he was treated and discharged. Another warder was given First Aid by 
his colleagues at the prison.
The rioting inmates retreated as more security officers poured into the 
compound, armed with guns and tear gas canisters.
Should be transferred
They handcuffed the prisoners in pairs as the authorities contemplated 
whether or not they should be transferred to Naivasha maximum security 
prison.
The five prisoners made the daring escape shortly after 2 am. They fled from 
the prison, situated on a hill next to Menengai Crater, four kilometres from 
Nakuru Town.
They dodged a burst of gunfire from a sentry who was manning one of the 
watch-towers.
Two of the escapees were convicted for the murder of a Nakuru taxi operator 
and another was a notorious highway robber.
They sawed off the iron bars in one of the blocks holding condemned 
prisoners.
Mr Macharia confirmed they were among 11 inmates in a cell where they 
allegedly cut the grills with a hacksaw before using a blanket to scale one 
of the walls and jump out.
They dashed through an open ground between the holding blocks and offices 
undetected, then went over the chain-link perimeter wall which is reinforced 
by a keiapple fence.


Warders told reporters that the sentry spotted one of the prisoners climb 
over the fence, which is about eight feet high, and then jump over, landing 
on an earth road next to the Prison Chapel.
According to the warders, four of the prisoners had by then escaped when the 
sentry saw the silhouette of the last one.
The stretch of the fence between the prison's main gate and the watch tower 
situated at a corner about 150 metres away has no lights, which made it 
difficult for the sentry to see the escapees.

The section of the fence where the prisoners broke through to freedom is 
about 40 metres from the watch tower.
"These lights have been dead for years, the sentry would have been able to 
pick out these men with his shots if there was light," one warder said.

The five prisoners ran across the chapel compound which is ringed by a low 
barbed wire fence and then jumped over and ran down an old fault line.
The warders suspected that the five men either ran towards the Nakuru Golf 
Club or the nearby Menengai Hill Forest. Other warders said that a vehicle 
whose lights were seen as it sped down the road near the golf club could 
have been used by the prisoners to escape.
The section of the fence the prisoners broke through has three strands of 
barbed wire, one of which was sagging when the Nation visited the scene.
A warder with his gun at he ready outside the Nakuru Prison yesterday after 
five prisoners escaped at night. Photo/JOSEPH KIHERI .
Parts of the keiapple fence were broken but there was no evidence of blood 
stains in spite of the sharp thorns.
Taking positions
When reporters arrived at the prison yesterday morning, warders armed with 
guns, batons and sticks were taking positions outside the gates as prisoners 
were heard singing in defiance.
Policemen, some in riot gear, arrived at the prison and some were seen 
entering the compound. At least two of the officers were carrying a box full 
of tear gas canisters.
According to the warders, the condemned prisoners were defying an attempt by 
prison officials to search for a pistol that had been snatched from a senior 
officer by some of the condemned prisoners.
The prisoners who had been released from the cells for search stoned the 
warders and at least one of them was admitted to the Rift Valley Provincial 
General Hospital with multiple injuries.
Another was seen limping after he was hit in the legs.
"We blame the Kenya Human Rights Commission for being partisan. (Maina) Kiai 
speaks for prisoners. He will not speak for our colleagues who are injured 
by these dangerous criminals," a warder said.
Mr Kiai is the chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
The warders said the condemned prisoners had caused extensive damage inside 
the holding blocks by removing ceiling boards which are reinforced with mesh 
wires.
"They should all be taken to the Naivasha Maximum Prison which is more 
secure," one of them added.
The Nation learnt that some of the death row prisoners were taken to the 
prison last week when the Court of Appeal sat in the town for a whole week 
to hear appeals.
During a visit to the prison last week by the Nation, most of the capital 
offences remandees complained that the hearing of their cases had taken too 
long.
One of them claimed he was charged in 1999, but only three witnesses had 
testified against him.
The Nakuru GK Prison, which was designed to hold 800 prisoners, has 1,929 
inmates, including those convicted and the remandees. Warders said there are 
between 200 and 300 death row prisoners at the Prison.
Mr Omondi ruled out the transfer of the convicts to Naivasha, saying this 
would not solve the problem.
He admitted that the Prison Department had many problems, which include 
congestion but said they were being addressed. He said Nakuru Prison is not 
supposed to hold condemned prisoners but they were forced to accommodate 
them there as they await court hearings.
Isolated case

He described yesterday's incident as an isolated case. Some of the gains so 
far realised include training of inmates as well as provision of basic 
necessities such as the recent sinking of a bore hole at the Nakuru prison.
Two months ago, about 40 prisoners and remandees escaped on the Njoro-Molo 
highway after the lorry they were travelling in to attend court was sprayed 
with bullets during a highway robbery.
During the incident, the lorry driver was shot dead by highway robbers who 
had ambushed a private security van and stolen more than Sh22 million.

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=359&objectid=10427169
Timor rebel's furious supporters riot in Dili
Email this storyPrint this story 5:00AM Tuesday March 06, 2007



Australian troops stand guard in Dili. Picture / Reuters
Watch Video: East Timor protesters take to the streets after rebels raided
East Timor unrest
Ex-minister found guilty over arming East Timor hit squads
NZers advised to leave East Timor, but embassy staff to stay

DILI - Thousands of angry supporters of East Timor rebel leader Alfredo 
Reinado burned tyres and threw stones in the capital yesterday to protest 
against a raid by international troops on the fugitive's hideout.
The deteriorating security situation prompted the Australian Government to 
announce late last night plans to evacuate any diplomatic staff and their 
families who wanted to leave.
Reinado, who led a revolt that plunged the fledgling nation into chaos last 
year, escaped Saturday's raid on his Same base by Australian-led 
international peacekeeping forces in which four people were killed.
Supporters gathered in the heart of Dili, shouting "Long Live Alfredo", and 
denounced President Xanana Gusmao, who ordered security forces to arrest 
Reinado following claims the former army major led a raid on a police post 
and made off with 25 automatic weapons and ammunition last month.
Armed peacekeepers patrolled the streets to disperse the crowds, with 
Reinado's supporters replying with threats to continue protesting until 
Gusmao withdrew his arrest order.

"You better go back to your country instead of making people suffer," said 
one of Reinado's angry supporters, pointing to Australian peacekeeping 
troops.
Streets emptied as international police moved to secure the city and 
protesters blocked roads with wrecked cars, preventing government officials 
from going to work.
The protest broke up in the afternoon and Gusmao called on the people of 
East Timor in a televised broadcast not to do anything that could destroy 
the nation's unity.
He that added the presence of international forces was necessary ahead of 
next month's presidential elections.
Troops are still searching for Reinado, who has been on the run since he 
escaped from jail in Dili in August with 50 other inmates. He has denied 
that any of his men were killed in the raid.
After Saturday's raid, Gusmao urged Reinado to surrender, saying the 
Government would treat him with respect. But Reinado has said he will not 
surrender to international troops.
Australia, which has 800 troops in East Timor, said Reinado was a threat to 
Timor's security and should surrender.
"It is preferable that that threat be neutralised. But the objective 
obviously is to take him into custody," Prime Minister John Howard told 
Australian television.
Reinado has made several appearances since the escape, including a meeting 
with the country's military chief. Security forces did not make any attempt 
to arrest him.
The standoff between Reinado and the troops has raised fears of violence 
ahead of the presidential election.
East Timor voted in a 1999 referendum for independence from Indonesia, which 
annexed it after Portugal ended its colonial rule in 1975. The country 
became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.
But an east-west divide in the nation erupted into chaos and gang violence 
in May following the sacking of 600 soldiers.
Earlier yesterday, the Herald's Australia correspondent, Greg Ansley, who 
has reported from Dili on a number of occasions, said that although United 
Nations officials claimed the situation in the country was returning to 
normal, Reinado's cult status had created a focus for the anger and 
discontent that has scarred the impoverished country since it achieved 
nationhood.
Violence has continued since the collapse of order last year that saw as 
many as 37 people killed, 150,000 flee to refugee camps, and thousands of 
homes incinerated.
Reinado was a key player in the clashes, leading gun battles between rebels 
and Timorese army troops that at one stage erupted around Australian and New 
Zealand diplomats obtaining authorisation for military intervention by the 
two countries.
Operating under an extended UN mandate, there are now 150 New Zealand 
peace-keepers and the 800 Australian troops in the country. There are also 
more than 1000 international police officers.
- REUTERS
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http://somalinet.com/news/world/East%20Africa/8209
Uganda: Child dies of teargas effects in Kampala riot
Tue. March 06, 2007 10:26 am.- By David Odoki. - Send this news article






(SomaliNet) Riots broke out in the Ugandan capital yesterday as police fired 
teargas canisters at crowds and fought running battles with opposition 
demonstrators on day one of the judges' strike action.

A child choked to death after police fired a teargas canister into a fully 
packed Mitsubishi Coaster Reg No. UAE 849U.

Policemen fired a teargas canister into a crowd of FDC supporters, which 
ended up exploding in the fully packed Coaster. A stampede ensued as all 
hell broke loose. A baby lay dead after succumbing to the explosive 
irritant.

The fracas sucked in opposition leader of Forum for Democratic Change leader 
Dr Kizza Besigye whose grand showing at Parliament elicited a stern response 
from scores of policemen in riot gear as they attempted to block the 
two-time presidential candidate from entering the House's precincts.

The bizarre occurrence was the direct result of a verbal confrontation 
between Ugandan Riot Police and a section of FDC supporters who were 
demonstrating against last Thursday's High Court siege by scores of armed 
policemen that led to the re-arrest of six bailed rebel suspects of the 
People's Redemption Army. (The Monitor)
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Papua students say autonomy causes graft
Posted at 04:11 on 09 March, 2007 UTC
A student activist in Papua says the establishment of autonomous regencies 
and provinces in the Indonesian province is designed to serve the interests 
of the political elite.
The Jakarta Post reports that the head of the Indonesian Central Papua 
Highland Alliance, Markus Haluk, made the comment while addressing a crowd 
of 200 students at the Papua gubernatorial office.
He told the throng that Autonomous regions will only enrich a certain group 
of people and lead to greater corruption.
According to Mr Haluk, the political elite and government officials are the 
ones who favour the creation of more autonomous regions.
Six areas in Papua have so far petitioned the central government for 
autonomous status.
Mr Haluk also says that the creation of autonomous regions would also lead 
to human rights violations and environmental destruction by investors 
exploiting an area's natural wealth.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ww4report.com/node/3294
Chiapas: charges in jungle massacre; land conflicts escalate
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Tue, 03/06/2007 - 02:47.
Diego Arcos Meneses, an indigenous Chol Maya campesino, has been arrested by 
Chiapas state police and charged with murder in connection with November's 
massacre at the rainforest settlement of Viejo Velasco. The Chol campesino 
organization Xinich protests his innocence. The Xinich statement says Arcos 
Meneses, 42, is a health promoter and Jesuit "catechist" (lay worker) at the 
settlement of Nuevo Tila, Ocosingo municipality. "Regrettably in our country 
such human gestures can be dangerous: solidarity is criminalized while 
repression walks with impunity," says Xinich, the group believed by rights 
observers to have actually been targeted in the attack. (Xinich statement, 
March 4)
Meanwhile, land conflicts in the Chiapas rainforest are rapidly escalating, 
and the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights 
(OPDDIC) is emerging as an aggressive new force. This is the group which 
both Xinich and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) say was really 
behind the Viejo Velasco massacre. Especially at issue are lands claimed by 
OPDDIC as "Ejido Mukulum Bachajon," now home to the Zapatista "autonomous 
municipalities" 17 de Noviembre, Vicente Guerrero and Olga Isabel. The lands 
were taken by the EZLN in the 1994 rebellion, but the Zapatistas say their 
supporters had earlier been forced from those same lands by adherents of the 
then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). OPDDIC, which is in the 
PRI camp, is now supporting the claims of these ejiditarios (collective 
farmers), who have apparently won title to the lands by the agrarian reform 
bureaucracy, despite the expulsions and the fact that the lands have been 
occupied by others for 13 years.
The Zapatista community of El Nance in 17 de Noviembre autonomous 
municipality told reporter Hermann Bellnghausen of the daily La Jornada that 
they anticipate an imminent attack from OPDDIC following a decision by the 
authorities upholding the rival claim to the lands. (La Jornada, March 5)
The Agrarian Reform Secretariat (SRA), reviewing the case on behalf of 
OPDDIC, has ruled for the ejiditarios, finding the Zapatista families who 
have been on the land since 1994 are "invaders." The local Center for 
Political Analysis and Socio-Economic Investigation (CAPISE) accuses the SRA 
of partiality in the case, and complicity with land expropriations. (La 
Jornada, Feb. 28)
According to the SRA ruling, "the ejido Mukulum was created in September 
2002, by request of the National Council of Indigenous Peoples (CNPI). It 
comprises a surface of 1,764 hectares, duly regularized and certified in 
December 2005 by the Certification Program of Eijdo Rights and Urban Lots 
(PROCEDE). The PA [Agrarian Prosecutor], in its character as defensor of the 
rights of the agrarian subjects, has and will proceed with all legality to 
find a viable solution to this conflict." The ruling did not mention that 
the plaintiff in the case is the OPDDIC. (La Jornada, March 2)
OPDDIC's attorney, Beltran Ruiz Chacón, reportedly argued to the SRA that 
the ruling Zapatista body in the region, the Good Government Junta Corazón 
de Arcoiris de la Esperanza, based at the settlement of Morelia, "does not 
exist." (La Jornada, Feb. 26) But the ruling is now in question, as the SRA 
has opened an investigation into Ruiz Chacón following revelations in the 
press that he is an employee and union leader at the SRA's Agrarian Tribunal 
in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the Chiapas state capital. This is considered a 
conflict of interest under SRA regulations. (La Jornada, Feb. 28) 
Furthermore, CAPISE claims evidence that many of the names officially listed 
as members of Ejido Mukulum Bachajon are invented or are not actually those 
of local campesinos. (La Jornada, March 3)
Good Government Junta El Camino del Futuro at La Garrucha settlement reports 
similar conflicts over lands recuperated in 1994 at autonomous 
municipalities Ricardo Flores Magon, Francisco Villa and others. These lands 
are claimed by Ejido Egipto, under the control of the PRI-aligned campesino 
group URCI. It is not said what URCI stands for, but the Junta statement 
charges it is an arm of the notorious paramilitary group Paz y Justicia, 
which was responsible for the displacement of thousands of pro-Zapatista 
peasants in the 1990s. The statement claims Zapatista families have already 
been threatened at gunpoint and been fired on by armed URCI invaders. (JBG 
El Camino del Futuro, March 2)
Meanwhile, civil authorities called for military assistance when some 400 
hectares were destroyed by forest fires at La Sepultura ecological reserve 
on Chiapas' Pacific coast. The fires are believed to have been started by 
local campesinos clearing land to plant crops. (El Universal, March 3) State 
authorities say some 40 fires have destroyed nearly 1,000 hectares of forest 
in Chiapas this dry season (November-March). (La Jornada, March 3) President 
Felipe Calderon recently announced that army troops will be mobilized to 
police Mexico's protected areas.