Action Alerts

Monday, February 25, 2008

poetical musings from madibaland

Who will talk for Kenyans in the negotiations

Wario Chege

Since the December 27th announcement of the disputed presidential elections, we have been held hostage in our own country. We all came out in large numbers to vote for a better and more prosperous Kenya for all. Sorry, for our kinsmen to the most. This was not to be and we are now at level zero and our votes no longer matter. The only thing that matters is which politician will get what, and how much he will get for his tribe and so forth. 

Whowilltalk.pdf

A short history of land settlements in the Rift Valley

Since the outbreak of post-election violence in the Rift Valley, there have been numerous reports in the local dailies claiming that the root cause of this conflict is ‘the land question’. Without exception, these reports fail to inform and educate precisely because of their misrepresentation of history. Given the scale and the urgency of the current crisis and its repeated association with the so-called ‘land question’ it is time for a complete unpacking of the history behind colonial and post-colonial settlement in the White Highlands. Only then will we determine with certainty whether land is at the centre of the ongoing systematic evictions in the Rift Valley.

Special Brief on Civil Society Responses to the Kenyan Crisis from the Kenya Human Rights Institute.

Kenya has rapidly descended into a state of near anarchy following the announcement of flawed presidential election results at the end of the December 27, 2007 General Election. The violence flared up following the December 30th declaration by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) that Mwai Kibaki, the Party of National Unity (PNU) presidential candidate, had won the presidential election amidst protests of irregularities by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila Odinga. Reports by local and international election observation groups, human rights groups, the media and statements by the ECK itself suggest that the presidential election was fatally flawed. With Kenya teetering on the brink of chaos, the search for both domestic and international solutions to the crisis continues. However, armed groups as well as the police continue to perpetrate serious acts of violence and human rights violations.

This brief presents views shared by 15 human rights and governance specialists at the Kenya Human Rights Institute Roundtable Discussion on Civil Society Responses to the Kenyan Crisis held on February 1, 2008. The half-day forum discussion was organized under the Institute’s Peace and Security Program.

Special_Brief_-_Civil_Society_Responses_to_the_Kenyan_Crisis.pdf

News Roundup 25 February 2008

Taskforce to Assess Damage in Kisumu
A task force has been set up to evaluate the damage in Kisumu town, caused by the post-election violence.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250505.html

Rise And Fall of Country’s Democracy
Regarded as a beacon of hope and democracy, the world is struggling to come to terms with events in Kenya.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250504.html

Power Deal Must Cater for National Interests
Since the 1990s, Kenyans have yearned for a new constitutional order for people to participate and enhance human resource development.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250435.html

Nakuru Park Catches Fire
Lake Nakuru National Park was on verge of total destruction Friday as a wild fire, which broke out on Thursday, continued unabated for the second day.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250441.html

Kenya at Crossroads
THE Kenya government has agreed in principle to create a prime minister’s office, raising hopes for a government of national unity. Both sides are yet to agree on what powers it will hold.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250574.html

Group Warns of Looming Crisis
Chief mediator Kofi Annan should not let the Government and the Opposition postpone the tough details of a power-sharing agreement as this could see the country plunge into a fresh wave of violence, the International Crisis Group warns.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250444.html

Githongo - Corruption to Blame
Grand corruption could have played a key role in last year’s discredited General Election, a former anti-corruption czar has said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250506.html\

Athletes Threaten to Boycott National Duty
Kenyan athletes have threatened not to represent the country in any competition citing security concerns following allegations that they bankrolled ethnic clashes in the vast Rift Valley triggered by the disputed presidential election results.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250437.html

KENYA: Nowhere to go
Source: IRIN More than 10,000 displaced people, who have moved to their “ancestral lands” in western Kenya to escape ethnic violence, face an uncertain future in what is, for many, a foreign country.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c4dfed2e3af07134e5aec0aaab80e4e8.htm

Kenya: Power Deal Must Cater for National Interests
Since the 1990s, Kenyans have yearned for a new constitutional order for people to participate and enhance human resource development.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250435.html

Kenya: Opposition Cries Foul as Passaris Axed
The much expected nomination of the Adopt-A-Light proprietor, Ms Esther Passaris, as a councillor in Nairobi was dealt a body blow when her name went missing from a list gazetted by Local Government minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250321.html

Kenya: Meeting of Kibaki With His Team Delays Annan Talks
President Kibaki held a meeting with the Government team of negotiators Friday morning, delaying mediation talks being chaired by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250328.html

News.Life In Displacement Camp In Kisumu
02/25/08
BY Jeff Otieno Kisumu City
Post election violence in Kenya has resulted into various problems among the most notable one is the internally displaced people who live in camps for fear of attacks from their aggressors.
Entrenched animosity seems to have taken centre stage among various communities who have co-existed for ages as brothers and sisters and [...]
http://www.publiceyesite.org/blog/?p=1836

Kenya: Whether We Like It Or Not, the U.S. Must Undo the Gordian Knot
In the third century, Greek and Persian empires shared the then known world and enjoyed complete duopoly of military and economic power.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250265.html

Kenya: This Insatiable Lust for Land Must End
As we engage in political acrobatics at the House of Peace with Mr Kofi Annan and his team, a few unscrupulous people are subverting the public interest.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250264.html

Kenya: There is No Such Thing as Reigns of State
A recent Nation piece urged President Kibaki to share “the reigns of state” with Raila Odinga. But - as the Shakespearean asks in King Henry IV Part I - “Can England brook a double reign” (between Harry Monmouth and Harry Hotspur)?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250271.html

Kenya: Githongo Tells of Fights With Ministers
Former anti-corruption tsar John Githongo has talked of how he differed with Cabinet ministers appointed by President Kibaki on the best way to fight corruption when the Narc Government came to power.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250262.html

Kenya: Current Doublespeak Has a Vital Message for Citizens
Doublespeak is when one says what one does not mean and when one does not mean what one says. And silence can be doublespeak.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250269.html

Kenya Consults Kagame Over Power-Sharing Tips
President Kenya’s Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday met with President Paul Kagame as the East African nation continues to search for a solution to the post-election crisis there.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250151.html

Kenya - Odinga in Lagos, Gives Conditions for Peace
Kenya opposition leader, Raila Odinga yesterday said he was ready for a power sharing arrangement in the government of President Mwai Kibaki.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250153.html

Here’s How to Deal With the Feeling of Trauma After Post-Poll Violence
Since the December 27 elections, people all over the world have either read newspaper articles or watched images on television of Kenyans who have been brutalised, killed or displaced from their homes. Official estimates put the death toll at 1,000 and 400,000 displaced.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250090.html

Kenyan political foes resume crisis talks
Kenyan leaders were due on Monday to resume power-sharing talks to end the political crisis in the East African state that has sparked violence which has claimed more than 1 000 lives. The negotiations on a power-sharing deal have stalled on the term and powers of a would-be prime minister, a position that currently does not exist.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=333205&referrer=RSS

What a Prime Minister Might - And Might Not - Do
A fifth week of talks to end Kenya’s violent election dispute is scheduled to begin Monday, with the extent of power to be exercised by a new prime minister one of the key items on the agenda.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250002.html

Fresh Urgency as Talks Resume
The talks must now assume a serious sense of urgency and conclude a political settlement within this week, mediators were told on a day Party of National Unity (PNU) threw another tantrum over the ongoing mediation.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250007.html

Fresh Dispute Over Prime Minister Deal
The Government and ODM Sunday differed over the number of concessions made so far in the talks aimed at ending the post-election political crisis.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802250009.html

For Kenya’s Human Rights Chairman, an Environment of Fear
Threats Shadow Critic of Election And Its Aftermath
It was a telephone call that drove home Maina Kiai’s worst nightmare.
Kiai, the head of Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights, had appeared on television during a dinner party in January in one of Nairobi’s wealthy neighborhoods. Since the disputed presidential elections the previous month, he had been denouncing rights violations by all factions in Kenya, highlighting in particular the government’s alleged meddling in the vote and police brutality.
“This man has a few more days to live,” a former government minister attending the party told the guests, according to a person who was there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/24/AR2008022402050.html?nav=rss_world

Odinga Presses Obasanjo to Act on Kenya
Nigeria may have been urged to quietly join the efforts to return peace to Kenya.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802240001.html

Saturday, February 23, 2008

The last hurdle to new prime minister

Story by SATURDAY NATION Team
Publication Date: 2/23/2008
Only a constitutional amendment seemed to stand in the way of the long-awaited settlement to the country’s post-election crisis Friday after a day of long talks and factional consultations. 

Armed And Dangerous

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
22 February 2008
Posted to the web 22 February 2008
Nairobi
Kenya is at risk of plunging into a new wave of violence, despite progress in negotiations to end a political crisis, because several armed groups are mobilising on all sides of the country’s ethno-political divisions, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.

Firearms are much less widely available in Kenya than in neighbouring countries. In the context of this article, “armed groups” include those using machetes, spears, poison arrows and clubs.

BLACK STUDENTS SET TO RALLY THIS TUESDAY

For Immediate Release
Friday February 22nd 2008

BLACK STUDENTS SET TO RALLY THIS TUESDAY
Student Group Board Set on Fire, Anti-racist Material Destroyed

Last week a bulletin board belonging to Ryerson’s East African Students group was set on fire. Material put ablaze included a series of campaigns under the slogans of “United to End Racism,” “Education not Occupation,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Boycott Israeli Apartheid,” and “De-Colonize Ryerson.” Petitions on the board calling for university-based ESL provisions and equitable access to refugee students were also put to flames. Toronto Police have launched an investigation.

AU chief urges Kenya political deal

AU chief urges Kenya political deal

Ping says negotiations to end the Kenya impasse are moving forward in the right direction [AFP]

Africa’s most senior diplomat has urged Kenya’s feuding parties to come to a deal after the government agreed to a power-sharing deal to help end a deadly post-election crisis.

Jean Ping, the newly elected African Union chairman, said in Nairobi: “The weekend will be crucial.

“We hope that next week we’ll have something which can be agreed.”

Ping, elected at an AU summit in Ethiopia in February, is the latest in a succession of high-powered visitors who have pushed Kenyan leaders towards common ground.

Kenya talks to resume Monday

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-23 15:27

NAIROBI - Mediators trying to resolve Kenya’s political deadlock adjourned talks on Friday night without clinching a political settlement on the post of prime minister which is one of the options for a political settlement.

Chief mediator Kofi Annan said while some progress had been made during Friday’s discussions on governance structure, the parties felt there were still some issues on which they need to consult their principals.

“I have asked them to consult over the weekend and return on Monday prepared to conclude an agreement,” the former UN chief said in a statement released last night.

He reminded the negotiators of the urgency of the talks and the high expectations of the people of Kenya, the East African region and the world.
Annan urged both President Mwai Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to give their negotiators clear instructions so that talks can move swiftly to conclusion when talks resume Monday.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Africa’s top diplomat pushes Kenya rivals to agree

Africa’s top diplomat pushed Kenya’s feuding parties on Friday to reach a speedy deal after the government agreed in principle to create a prime minister’s post to help end a deadly post-election crisis. “The weekend will be crucial. We hope that next week we’ll have something which can be agreed,” newly-elected African Union chairman Jean Ping told a news conference in Nairobi. The opposition has demanded a powerful role as executive premier for their leader Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the December 27 poll. Kibaki’s team says he won fairly, and accuses the opposition of instigating riots and ethnic violence that killed 1,000 people, displaced 300,000 and wrecked Kenya’s image as a stable business, tourism and transport hub.

ODM wants parliament reopened

ODM Thursday asked President Kibaki to re-open Parliament next week so that MPs can address the key issue of growing insecurity in the country. Party secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o said the House was the best placed institution to deal with the issue, which was sparked by the disputed presidential elections. “Parliament is the only body that could speak on behalf of all Kenyans on the rising cases of insecurity,” Prof Nyong’o said.

The ODM official said President Kibaki should summon Parliament urgently because the situation on the ground is grave. But in case the President ignores their plea, Prof Nyong’o, who is the Kisumu Rural MP said, it would show that the Government was not concerned about the safety and lives of all Kenyans.

Cotu calls for review of Constitution

The workers umbrella body Thursday joined calls for a minimum review of the Constitution to break the political impasse in the country. Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) secretary-general Francis Atwoli warned that taking hardline positions would only plunge the country deeper into chaos. “Let them (negotiators from both sides) be told that if Kofi Annan is to leave the country without a solution, they will not be an exception this time round. No one will be safe,” he said.

Mr Atwoli urged ODM leaders to stop calling for mass action, saying Kenyans wanted to rebuild their lives. “Workers are tired, the business community is also tired. No one is interested in going to the streets.” He urged the National Dialogue and Reconciliation team to visit displaced persons and see the suffering for themselves. “After visiting these camps that they might come to terms with reality. It is then they can negotiate soberly,” he said. Mr Atwoli said 500,000 people had lost their jobs as a result of the post-election violence and warned that investors might consider moving to neighbouring countries if an agreement was not reached soon.
Daily Nation

Mass action call cited at Annan mediation

The ODM threat to call mass action was part of the agenda in the mediation talks. On Thursday, both sides agreed it was reckless to issue intimidating statements. But religious leaders and the civil society were divided on whether ODM was justified to call for mass action. Civil society said mass action was legitimate against an obstinate Government.

But Vice-President, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, asked ODM to be patient. “We urge our colleagues to let (Dr Kofi) Annan conclude the talks without calls for mass action. Let us collectively give the talks the impetus and a chance to succeed,” he said.

Kenya can’t solve it alone

By Wangari Maathai*

The post-election crisis in Kenya remains unresolved. The damage being done to the country’s economy is severe: tourism, horticulture, and other industries that depend on trade beyond the Kenyan border are reeling. Thousands of livelihoods, along with investments throughout the region, are threatened and collapsing. As the situation in Kenya escalated - with murders, rapes, burning of property, looting, and the displacement of thousands of people throughout the country - the international community was urged to help. Many countries responded, providing essential humanitarian assistance and logistical support. For this, I and many other Kenyans are very grateful.

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This site has been established by Fahamu to provide regular Action Alerts. For further information, see Pambazuka News, the authoritative pan African electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa.

Monthly Archives

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Most recent entries

• In Kenya, U.S. Added Action to Talk of Democracy
• Teams seek long-term solutions
• How Annan magic worked to seal Kibaki-Raila deal
• Leaders Welcome ODM-PNU Pact
• Kenya can turn corner in six months-Odinga
• Letter of Solidarity with the Women of Kenya from
• Agrement on the principles of partnership of the coalition government
• ACHPR Statement on Kenya violence
• Power-sharing deal reached in Kenya
• No transfers, rules varsity
• EU to act on those who stall mediation
• Kibaki’s coalition proposal over post dismissed
• Resettlement of Displaced Strains Families, Society
• “It Will Not Be Machetes and Arrows Any More, But Firearms”
• Annan Talks Shift to Raila And Kibaki

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