Human rights activists to hold demos in London against Uhuru visit

A group of human rights activists based in the UK are planning to stage demonstrations outside the venue of the British-Somalia Conference to protest the presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the country.
The human rights activists are angered by the UK government’s invitation of President Uhuru to attend the meeting to discuss Somalia’s future.
The Kenyan Human Rights Activists has been urging their counterparts in UK to stage the protests outside Lancaster House to send a message to Prime Minister David Cameron that they are unhappy with Britain’s sudden U-turn from their earlier stand on President Kenyatta.
The Kenyan chapter is engaging Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and the Africa Centre and Universities Equality and Human Rights organizations.
They feel that the invitation undermines the cases of thousands of families affected in the 2007/2008 violence due to the fact that President Uhuru is considered a suspect.
Prior to the March 4 elections, the UK amongst other western countries had maintained that in the event of a Jubilee coalition victory, they would only maintain essential contact with Mr Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto.
The UK government however insists that having Mr Kenyatta at the conference “is seen as essential” since Kenya plays a pivotal role in Somalia and also the fact that they have a substantial number of troops in the country.
A source at Whitehall pointed out that Uhuru and Ruto have reiterated that they will continue to co-operate with the International Criminal Court ICC and they “take them at their word”.
The Head of State will also hold bilateral meetings with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and other UK government officials during his three day visit.”
Uhuru left for London on Sunday for the Somalia Conference starting at Lancaster House to be held on Tuesday and will meet with Kenyans later in the evening at Inter-Continental Hotel – Parklane – London London W1J 7QY starting from 6.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. (Read: Invitation to Kenyans to meet with President Uhuru in London )