Experts: Torture common in East Africa, Congo

NAIVASHA, Kenya (AP) — Despite progress in five East African countries and Congo in ratifying the United Nations Convention against Torture, human rights abuse is still prevalent as governments are reluctant to draft and implement local laws, human rights experts said Tuesday.

Successful prosecutions of perpetrators of torture, who are mostly state agents, are still unlikely and in cases where the courts have awarded compensation to the victims of torture, governments appear loath to pay, said the experts who gathered for a conference in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, 92 kilometers (57 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.