Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Halt return of killer gangs
The revelation by the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission that apart from the dreaded mungiki, other militias such as chinkororo and warriors from one community in Rift Valley are regrouping and training, while not shocking at this point of time in our country’s history, is a grim reminder that this country should quickly get back to its senses and stop the influx of gangs. Vigilante groups normally come to the fore when law and order has broken down entirely in a country. When civilians increasingly become victims of armed robbery, harassment, theft, thuggery, rape and other unspeakable offences, vigilante groups step in to fill the vacuum.
Britain states its stand on Kenya
The British Government has denied claims that it does not recognise President Kibaki and his Government. British Minister for African Affairs, Mr Mark Malloch-Brown, said his Government respects Kenya and has never at any one time said it does not recognise Kibaki and his Government, adding that Britain remains a great friend of Kenya.
MoreKibaki and Raila launch negotiations
President Kibaki and ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga, witnessed the launch of face-to-face negotiations spearheaded by former UN chief, Mr Kofi Annan. Meeting for the second time in a week, Kibaki and Raila reiterated their commitment to ending the current political impasse. The leaders spoke at the Annan-led ceremony held at the County Hall."We are here to join hands with our international friends led by His Excellency Kofi Annan to begin what I believe is a critical step in the path of national healing and reconciliation,” said Raila.
MoreIDP children falling through protection cracks
Violence in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru has seen the numbers of displaced at the town’s largest camp skyrocket, but camp officials say it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide security for the IDPs, and children are being particularly affected. “At the moment we have more than 5,900 IDPs in the camp, and more than 2,800 of these are children,” Jesse Njoroge, coordinator of the camp at the Nakuru showground, told IRIN. “Many children come in alone because of the haste with which these families have to leave their homes.”
32 to face court over killings
Twenty-four people will soon appear in court over the ongoing killings across the country.Police commissioner Hussein Ali said Monday that files of the suspects had been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s office after his officers completed investigations. However, Maj-Gen Ali declined to provide their identity saying “it would be premature” to release such information on suspects before they are charged.More than 600 people have been killed, thousands displaced and property worth millions of shillings destroyed after announcement of the presidential poll results.
MoreThe seeds of mistrust were sown decades ago, but this will not explode into genocide
As the situation in Kenya grows worse by the day – and the worst is almost certainly still to come – many people are drawing parallels with the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Pictures of gangs of young men carrying spears, clubs and machetes to cut down strangers in their area look like Rwanda ‘94. But the cause is very different. Rwanda has a social system unique to that region. Hutu and Tutsi are technically the same ethnic group. They speak the same language (indistinguishable even by accent), they are part of the same culture and worship the same gods. They are separated by race and caste, not ethnicity. Physically distinguishable (though the stereotypes are not always a certain guide), they had different roles in a single society.
MoreKenyans ‘forcibly recruited to fight’
A Kenyan (who wishes to remain anonymous) in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha describes how members of an outlawed sect - the Mungiki - are forcibly recruiting members of their Kikuyu ethnic group to kill non-Kikuyus - allied to the opposition. Law and order has broken down in the Rift Valley area since the disputed 27 December presidential election. Kenyan politics is polarised and because of this, when a community feels threatened, groupings or gangs arise in their defence.
MoreUN genocide adviser urges end to violence in Kenya, sends staffer there
The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide today called for an immediate halt to the destructive cycle of attacks and revenge attacks in Kenya, where post-electoral violence continues to claim lives, and announced plans to dispatch a staff member there. Francis Deng urged national and local leaders on all sides to publicly call for an end to the violence and to statements inciting violence, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York. Mr. Deng is dispatching one of his staff members to Kenya as soon as possible to examine the situation, Ms. Okabe added.
Understanding Kenya’s politics
Until late 2007, Kenya was considered one of the most stable countries in Africa. It has functioned as East Africa’s financial and communications hub, the headquarters of many international nongovernmental organizations, and a magnet for tourism. Analysts looked favorably upon its healthy and broad-based economic expansion under President Mwai Kibaki, which stood in marked contrast to the growth of countries such as Angola and Equatorial Guinea that depend on the export of a single commodity—oil. Yet disputed elections in late December 2007 spurred outbreaks of violence across the country that killed more than six-hundred people. That prompted some fears that Kenya would split on tribal lines and descend into prolonged unrest. Experts say such a scenario is unlikely, but also suggest that prior depictions of Kenya’s stability were premature. Kenya is a young democracy, they say, and its weak institutions—not inherent ethnic divisions—are at the root of the current political crisis.
Kenya’s problem goes beyond ethnicity and elections
There is more to Kenya’s post-election violence than a bungled vote count and so-called tribal rivalries. As protests degenerate into organised ethnic violence in Rift Valley towns and countryside, the root-cause of the unrest lies elsewhere. “We must tackle the fundamental issues underlying the disturbances—like equitable distribution of resources—or else we will be back here again after three or four years,” former U.N. chief Kofi Annan told journalists in Nairobi’s Serena Hotel Sunday, after talking to survivors of the violence which has claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced some 250,000 people since the December election.
Stanch the bleeding and change the constitution
Putting aside the political contestations and the protests that followed President Kibaki’s controversial re-election, the ethnic violence has acquired a familiar historical meta-narrative that does not seem obvious to this government, let alone the nation. The government, in its bid to defend its legitimacy, has married the political contestation by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to the ethnic violence in the Rift Valley.
Kenya clashes spill over to Busia, Malaba
Protests erupted in western Kenya as machete-wielding mobs faced off in the Rift Valley yesterday after scores of people were killed in ethnic violence, complicating mediation by former U.N. boss Kofi Annan. The flare-up in Kenyan violence also spilled over close to the Ugandan border points of Busia and Malaba. In Busia, a mob of youth attacked and dispersed people in a market early Monday morning -sending most of them fleeing to the Uganda side in fear of a possible escalation of violence. In Malaba, protests broke out in the afternoon, with rioters pulling down a bill-board with President Mwai Kibaki’s portrait. Some chanted; “This is not the Presiden, Raila is the President.¨
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