More and more Kenyans believe that military soldiers methodically cleaned
out the Westgate mall, and that the barrages of gunfire ringing out for days were
being directed not at the last of the militants but at safes and
padlocks to blast them open. Some business leaders even question whether
the Kenyan Army deliberately prolonged the crisis by saying that
shooters were still in the building when they were actually dead, to
give themselves extra time to steal.
Witnesses said
that the most they saw militants loot was a couple of cans of soda, and
shopkeepers cited no instances of panicked shoppers helping themselves
to merchandise as they ran for their lives, leading to the widespread
conclusion that the security forces must have been involved.
Even though Kenyans are accustomed to corruption, the evidence of looting amid a national tragedy has
been too much for many to take. “It’s disgraceful,” said Maina Kiai, one of Kenya’s best-known human rights defenders. “It’s part of a nasty culture where power means everything , where you take what you can, you do whatever you want, and there’s no accountability.”
The Kenyan military said Thursday that it was “committed to get to the
bottom of this” and appealed to the public for any information about
soldiers who might have looted.
No comments:
Post a Comment