By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya risks a repeat of post-electionviolence if the government and international community ignoreits roots and again fail to punish those responsible, a rightsgroup said on Monday.
While some of the unrest was a spontaneous reaction toPresident Mwai Kibaki's contested victory, gangs also acted onorders of local leaders on both sides of the political divideoffering cash incentives, Human Rights Watch said.
"Foreign governments should remember that decades ofturning a blind eye to corruption, impunity and mismanagementby Kenya's governments has contributed to the recent crisis,"it said.
Western powers had looked on, the group said, whilesuccessive governments in Kenya failed to tackle land andpoverty issues at the root of the trouble, exploited bypoliticians to incite violence without fear of real punishment.
"Without much tougher standards demanded from outside, therewards of corruption and gangsterism in politics will remainfinancially high and the penalties comparatively few, withtragic consequences," the group said.
Kenyan politicians and their backers have orchestratedviolence at every election save one since the return ofmulti-party politics in 1991, but this time was the worst.
The bloodshed -- which saw militias burn people alive,forcibly circumcise foes, behead and hack victims withmachetes, and face off with bows and arrows -- made thetwo-month crisis Kenya's darkest moment since independence fromBritain in 1963.
The world was shocked at the chaos in a country that hadpreviously been seen as a stable business hub in a dangerousregion, and many leaders helped pressure Kibaki and Odinga intoa February 28 power-sharing pact.
'HIGHLY COORDINATED'
More than 1,000 people died in riots and attacks thatbroadly pitted tribes seen as supporting opposition leaderRaila Odinga against members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group.
"The young Kalenjin and Kikuyu men we spoke to told us theywere partaking in the violence knowing that the leadership wassmiling on them, that they were happy and that they were awareof what they were doing," said HRW researcher Ben Rawlence.
"It was highly coordinated."
In its 88-page report "Ballots to Bullets: OrganisedPolitical Violence and Kenya's Crisis of Governance,"U.S.-based HRW said those leaders must also acknowledge someresponsibility for the turmoil.
It urged foreign governments to back reconciliationmeasures like a proposed truth and justice commission, and tomake future aid conditional on human rights benchmarksincluding the prosecution of individuals responsible for theviolence.
HRW accused police of causing "hundreds" of deaths throughthe use of what it called excessive force, especially inopposition areas like Odinga's western stronghold of Kisumu.
Children were shot fleeing, bullets ricocheted throughflimsy slum shacks, and lethal force was quickly used inopposition areas but restraint shown when facing pro-governmentgangs, the group said. The police deny any wrongdoing.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Ntungicimpaye; Editing byBryson Hull)
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