• Ambassador Kimani says the fact that the truth in Bucha is contested is the surest sign the world stands on the precipice of more widespread abuses of human rights.
• Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of “civilian massacre” in the town of Bucha, with images of bodies scattered all over emerged after Russia troops withdrew on Saturday.
Image: KENYA MISSION UN
Kenya has warned that the situation in Ukraine risks replicating the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Kenya’s Permanent Representative to UNSC Martin Kimani on Tuesday said the fact that the truth in Bucha is contested is the surest sign the world stands on the precipice of more widespread abuses of human rights.
“In April 1994, even as genocide engulfed Rwanda, there were members of the Security Council contesting the horrifying truth that a million people were being murdered.
"We should stand warned that the inability of the Council to establish the facts, and accordingly attribute responsibility, may enable the risk of escalation into far worse crimes,” Ambassador Martin Kimani said in his address to the UNSC.
Kimani noted that while Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described to the council “the horrifying suffering of civilians in Bucha and other towns and neighbourhoods in Ukraine”, his account of the atrocities is in stark contrast to that of the Russia ambassador to the UN.
Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of “civilian massacre” in the town of Bucha in Kyiv Oblast, with images of bodies on the streets emerged after Russia troops withdrew on Saturday.
Russia, however, denied the accusations, saying footage and images in Bucha were "yet another provocation" by the Ukrainian government.
Russia Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya on Monday claimed events in Bucha, as presented by Ukraine, were staged.
"The footage that was being presented in particular, in Bucha, on which I spoke does not give us any doubt that this was staged," he said at a news conference. "We will present more evidence."
But Ambassador Kimani maintained that beyond Bucha, Kenya was “extremely worried” about the safety of civilians trapped in other besieged cities and villages such as Mariupol and Kherson.
“Our actions today should seek to prevent what we have witnessed happen in Bucha, from also taking place in Mariupol and Kherson.
“While we debate who is responsible for the horrors of Bucha, it is incontestable that what started as a special military operation is now a war. And that what begun with reassurances of limited aims, not targeted at civilians, has led to thousands of dead civilians and millions of refugees and internally displaced,” Kimani said.
He added that there can be no doubt that there are “flagrant violations of international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter underway in Ukraine”.
The envoy also said the conflict was accelerating food and energy prices, plunging millions into worse forms of poverty.
He retaliated that Kenya condemns the abuses committed in the past few weeks, and those in the eastern provinces of Ukraine during the years the conflict has raged.
“Madam President, the war in Ukraine is today’s most dangerous threat to the maintenance of international peace and security. It is the latest assault by the most powerful states against the multilateral order. Their continued abuse of the Charter created growing cracks in the global security order,” he said.
In regards to the humanitarian crisis, Kimani said millions of refugees are being churned, and there will be many more as the economic effects of the war produce and intensify conflicts elsewhere. He regretted that the UN as a forum for solutions to humanity’s most pressing problem is losing prestige and its historical standing.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 10 million people have now fled their homes in Ukraine. Of these, at least four million have left for neighbouring countries, while another estimated 6.5 million are said to be displaced inside Ukraine..
Kimani warned that even negotiations that are not properly structured to protect the people and sovereignty of Ukraine could be the prelude to a wider war.
He said Kenya calls for an impartial and prompt UN investigation into the atrocities in Bucha and other towns.
“This calls for an immediate end of all hostilities to guarantee unfettered access by the investigating teams,” he said.
UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday also called for a war crimes investigation into Bucha.
He also urged that the conflicting parties to immediately make clear to their military personnel they will be held to account on the basis of command or superior responsibility, if they violate the international laws that regulate warfare.
Kimani also called on the Security Council to handle other conflicts with renewed vigour.
“The humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Haiti, the Horn of Africa, the unfolding situation in the Korean Peninsula, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar, Palestine/Israel, Syria, Yemen and the Sahel deserve our urgent attention,” the envoy said, further reaffirming Kenya’s recognition of the “inviolable rights of Ukraine to its sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence”.