Rights Group Condemns Kenyans' Killing in Tanzania

NAIROBI - A Kenyan rights group said on Tuesday it would go to a regional court to seek redress over 11 Kenyans killed by Tanzanian police as suspected robbers.

The Oscar Foundation said the Kenyans were among 14 people shot dead at close range by police, working on shaky intelligence, near Mount Kilimanjaro on the Tanzania side of the border. Some of the bodies bore marks of torture, it added.

Tanzanian police said the 14 died in the shootout last Wednesday after defying an order to stop at a roadblock on their way to rob a bank near the northern town of Moshi.

But Oscar Foundation executive director Kamau Kingara said: "We wish to categorically state that the killings were occasioned by misinformation and lacked any intelligent information to justify the killings."

He added that the group would take the case to the Tanzania-based East Africa Court of Justice "to ensure the alleged perpetrators of the killings are brought to justice."

Extrajudicial police killings are common in many African countries, including Kenya, rights groups say.

The deaths of the Kenyans produced very different reactions in both nations. Many Tanzanians, who have a long-running rivalry with their northern neighbours, lauded the shootings as a necessary deterrent to Kenyan criminals crossing their border.

But in Kenya, many have called for more investigations.

"Those found to have acted against the law, used excessive force or executed Kenyans must face the full force of the law," Kenyan daily The Standard said in an editorial.

Tanzania has far less violent crime than Kenya, whose capital Nairobi has been dubbed "Nairobbery" by foreigners.

Both nations fear crime may deter tourism in a region famous for its game parks, beaches and mountain ranges.

Tanzanian police said they recovered grenades, assault rifles and bullet-proof vests from the suspected robbers.

But Kingara said post mortem results were suspicious.

"Preliminary autopsy results of the victims of this heinous crime shows that they were shot at close range and with a high velocity rifle," his statement said.

"We are also convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the victims were subjected to torture before being shot."

Kenya's ambassador to Tanzania, Boaz Mbaya, backed the police action. "There is no way Kenyan authorities can defend criminals. In fact, some of those killed last week were on the most wanted list of criminals back home in Kenya," he was quoted as saying in Tanzania's Guardian newspaper.