Kenya presidential elections violence situation report No. 25
Fresh protests erupted today after an Opposition ODM member of parliament was killed in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret in what was described by Police as a “crime of passion”. However, the Opposition described the killing as a “political assassination”. The two negotiation teams from the Government and the Opposition postponed their talks in the afternoon after news broke about the death of the MP. Talks were scheduled to resume Friday. The fatal shooting incident sparked fresh violence in Eldoret and police fired live rounds and teargas at demonstrators. According to news media, youths also began burning tyres and blocking roads in the western town of Kisumu and riots were reported in Kericho, Kisumu and Siaya. The rest of the country remained tense but calm.
Humanitarian response
Food
A four-month emergency food-for-work programme began 30 January in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, led by the NGO ACTED. The project aims to support local shops, improve food security and mitigate tensions among the different groups in Kibera, benefiting some 24,000 people. It is expected that the programme may employ 250 men and women per day.
WFP, Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), and their partners met in Nairobi yesterday and reviewed the distribution plan for Nairobi slums. A third round of distributions should be cancelled and replaced by a more targeted approach in Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho, and Dandora slums. The most vulnerable are being selected through criteria such as living with HIV/AIDS; orphans/vulnerable children; elderly; chronically sick; disabled; and displaced beneficiaries. The date of distribution is subject to the security situation.
Yesterday 30 January, 10 trucks carrying 260 metric tons of food were dispatched from Mombasa to different places in Kenya. One of the trucks carrying 33 metric tons of food was dispatched to Eldoret.
Health
An initial analysis of the Rapid Health Assessment done in southern Rift Valley by the Ministry of Health (MoH) showed that sanitation and hygiene were poor in the camps. About half of the camps did not have drinking water sources. 20 per cent of the camps had inadequate or unsafe water sources. 30 per cent of health facilities were closed due to staff displacements and insecurity and those functioning lacked essential drugs, delivery kits, Antiretrovirals (ARVs) and essential commodities. The top five most common diseases seen were respiratory tract infections, watery diarrhoea, Malaria, skin infections, and eye conditions. Of non-communicable diseases the most common were physical trauma, psychological trauma, malnutrition, diabetes and hypertension. The Ministry of Health plans mass immunization for all the IDP camps next week against Measles and Polio vaccines together with de-worming and Vitamin A supplementation.
In Eldoret a plan of action is being developed with the technical support of WHO to strengthen the communicable disease outbreak preparedness. In some of the IDP camps in Eldoret district a nutritional assessment showed that five per cent of the children under five were severely malnourished, 10 per cent moderately malnourished and 40-45 per cent being at risk.
On 30 January a WHO team in Nakuru visited five camps established in the Nakuru area between 25 and 30 January. The number of IDPs in the camps visited was: Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Offices 120; Afraha stadium over 5,000; Nakuru GK Prison 900 at day and 2000 and above at night; Holy Cross Church 1,000; and Hopewell School over 500 IDPs. The majority of IDPs are children and women. There are a few vulnerable groups i.e. those on Antiretrovirals (ARVs) and the elderly. No deaths have been reported in these camps however, two suspected cases of Measles were reported. Blood specimen has been collected for further investigation.
Kenya Red Cross Society teams provide medical evacuations, general treatment, de-worming, vaccinations, psychosocial support, as well as health education and promotion such as garbage collection in IDP camps.
MSF France and MSF Belgium have sent a team to Naivasha hospital consisting of an anaesthesiologist doctor, an emergency doctor and a nurse to assist the hospital. The team came with drugs and medical material to treat 50 wounded. The MoH has also sent a team of four doctors and supplies to Naivasha hospital.
Regional implications
Uganda border authorities have recorded few new arrivals from Kenya in the past week, OCHA in Uganda reports. The number of Kenyan refugees in Uganda remains approximately 6,500. 1,174 refugees have accepted to be transferred to the newly opened Mulanda transit centre as of 30 January, and the reception centres in Malaba and Busia in the border area have closed.
However, 300 additional Kenyan refugees have entered Uganda in the past two days, media reports. 109 refugees had been received at Malaba border point and were quickly moved to Mulanda.
There are new signs of fuel shortages in Uganda due to several days of blockade of main roads leading from Kenya to Uganda.
Following several reported attacks on truck convoys in Uganda in recent days, military escort, including helicopters, is now being used to protect convoys from Kenya to Uganda.
Contact:
Nasser Ega-Musa/UNIC Nairobi
Tel: 254 735 232539 ()
Jeanine Cooper/OCHA support to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
Tel: 254 722 720 944 ()
Inderpal Dhiman/ Assistant to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
Tel: 254 727 400 545 ()
ReliefWeb