Kenya crumbles after election

[Bravo]

hundreds of people have been killed, including 50 people burned alive in a church (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-church3jan03,0,4040595.story?coll=la-home-world) after riots following an election.

good background info here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7165962.stm

[William Haskins]

heart-wrenching stuff...

some blogs i've been following this week:

http://www.mashada.com/blogs/

http://www.kenyaunlimited.com/aggregator/

http://kumekucha.blogspot.com/2008/01/kenya-killings-what-you-can-do-to-help.html

http://www.kenyanpundit.com/?p=401

http://www.thinkersroom.com/blog/2008/01/what-really-happened-part-2-exodus/

http://gukira.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/new-from-home/

[blacbird]

The really scary part of this is that Kenya was the one country in the region that seemed to be working fairly well.

caw

[III]

My SIL lives in Africa and is part of an organization called the Amani ya Juu Foundation (http://www.amaniafrica.org/). They help marginalized women in Africa. We received this letter from them today. If anyone is looking for a way to help those suffering in Kenya, I can personally vouch that this is a completely trustworthy organization working directly with those who need it most.



January 3, 2008

Dear friends of Amani –

Greetings from Amani in the New Year. We never dreamed we would meet the new year with violence in Kenya over the disputed elections. Kenya has always been a haven of peace for refugees for many years. Never did we imagine that Kenyans would become refugees in their own country. Hundreds have been killed, 75,000 people have been displaced, millions of dollars worth of property has been destroyed – all because of tribal differences.

We are on the brink of a civil war. The images seen on TV are frighteningly similar to Rwanda and Liberia. Kenyans are carrying machetes, wielding clubs with nails and burning people inside churches as they carry out their ethnic cleansing rampage.

Some of you have asked about the Amani women and we thank you for your concern. Many of the areas around the city where the women and their families live have erupted into violence. A number of the women are afraid to venture out of their homes for fear of being caught up in the mayhem.

Ruth, who works at the Amani Café, was robbed at gunpoint when she left her home to look for food. The thugs told her to give them all her money or they would shoot her. The husband of Simprosa, who is the sales clerk in the Amani Boutique, tried to go to the local market to buy food but was accosted on the way. Thieves threatened to beat him if he did not part with his watch and money. A sister of Mary Karanja, Amani’s finance administrator, had to move from her house in the middle of the night. She had received word that gangs were going door to door killing people of her ethnic community. We have not heard from Mama Alice, an Amani cook, who lives in Kibera (a slum area on the outskirts of Nairobi where heavy loss of life and property has occurred) and are very concerned about her well being.

Fuel and food, if available, has skyrocketed in price. A head of cabbage, for example, has jumped from 25 cents to $1.25. The women can not afford to buy food at these exorbitant prices so many have gone for days already without food in the house. We need to get food to them urgently not knowing how long this crisis will drag on.

We have put a food distribution plan together and are collecting food from the productive farms north of the city, where it is affordable and available, and transporting it to the Amani center in Nairobi. Today, with $100, we were able to buy enough food to feed 10 families for two days. If you would like to help in this distribution program you can send a gift to:

Amani Foundation
P.O. Box 28133
Chattanooga, TN 37424
*please write "food distribution" on the memo line of your check.

Or donate on-line at http://www.amaniafrica.org/shop/item.php?itemID=63

The whole purpose of Amani is for the women to learn how to work and live together in harmony and become promoters of peace in their communities. During this darkest hour of Kenya’s history may the women shine as lights of God’s peace.

In the power of God’s peace,
Becky Chinchen
Director, Amani ya Juu

[Bird of Prey]

Tutu in Kenya to broker peace
2008-01-03 07:18:00.0

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 3, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu arrived in Kenya Thursday to begin an attempt to restore calm to the African nation torn apart by post-election violence.

Tutu, a Nobel laureate heading up a delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches, said he would meet with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odina of the Orange Democratic Movement, SABC News reported. After arriving in Nairobi, Tutu said the group had hopes of reaching an acceptable agreement to save the country and its people, the news service reported on its Web site.

An estimated 300 people have died in wanton violence across the country since the closely contested elections Dec. 27 in which Kibaki won re-election by a slim margin.

The Orange Democratic Movement reportedly was planning a demonstration at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. A large contingent of police and army soldiers had been deployed, SABC said.


URL: www.upi.com

[SC Harrison]

I've been following this story (mostly) via NPR and the BBC, and it appears that

An estimated 300 people have died in wanton violence across the country since the closely contested elections Dec. 27 in which Kibaki won re-election by a slim margin.

this violence originally started from the "My choice for President is slightly less corrupt than yours" point of view, but now it's devolved into a "solving old disputes" opportunity, and I'm not sure Tutu can do much to solve that.

[Bird of Prey]

If the UN sits by and watches this horror get worse by the day - particularly in the wake of Rwanda - then I am adamantly supporting its dismantling. It's the machetes all over again. I can hardly believe what is being reported on the news.

Second Kenyan politician killed this week
2008-01-31 08:06:00.0
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 31, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A Kenyan opposition member of parliament was gunned down Thursday in a western town by traffic police, the party told media.


David Too of the Orange Democratic Movement was driving from Nairobi when he encountered a police roadblock at the western town of Eldoret, a party spokesman told the BBC. Few other details were available about the incident, the report said.

Tuesday, gunmen killed another ODM member, Mugabe Were, outside his Nairobi home.

The country is embroiled in tribal violence following disputed election results from the Dec. 27 vote. Nearly 900 people have been killed and 250,000 displaced to escape violence, the report said.

Meanwhile, talks brokered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan began Thursday in Nairobi with three representatives of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on one side and three others for ODM leader Raila Odinga on the other, BuaNews reported.

Tuesday, Annan gave the sides two weeks to come to agreement and one year to get the agreement implemented.


URL: www.upi.com

Or what? What good does this do? Annan is just rhetoric and he's not the head of the UN.

The UN needs to protect people. This is becoming a horror.

[Jcomp]

Goddamn black people. We'll be extinct by the 22nd century...

[Bird of Prey]

Goddamn black people. We'll be extinct by the 22nd century...


Wow. That's optimistic. I didn't give the whole human race til 2075.

Edit: All right, I do. I have great faith in humanity, despite the bleak moments.

[Jcomp]

Wow. That's optimistic. I didn't give the whole human race til 2075.

Edit: All right, I do. I have great faith in humanity, despite the bleak moments.

Wish I had that faith, but alas, I don't. If anybody, God forbid, really set their mind to wiping black folks off the map we've given them such a head start we'd be completely helpless to protect ourselves. And relying on others... well... that's where that whole lack of faith in humanity comes in...

[Bird of Prey]

Wish I had that faith, but alas, I don't. If anybody, God forbid, really set their mind to wiping black folks off the map we've given them such a head start we'd be completely helpless to protect ourselves. And relying on others... well... that's where that whole lack of faith in humanity comes in...


Not true, JComp. Not true. Butchery is no more prevalent among black people than white people or Asian people, etc., and nobody with a conscience allows it to proceed. People vent with the tools that they have, and what we are seeing is a mob mentality, which happens anywhere and everywhere. But, poverty, fear and lack of education are the real enemy. And we can fix all of that. And we will. But we have to stop the violence first which takes an international effort.

[Jcomp]

While I agree that it happens among all races, the extreme poverty and dearth of significant military or economic prowess seems to make Africa especially susceptible to being torn apart, internally or externally.

[Bird of Prey]

While I agree that it happens among all races, the extreme poverty and dearth of significant military or economic prowess seems to make Africa especially susceptible to being torn apart, internally or externally.


Agreed. But that's why we need UN intervention, and we need it now.

To allow people to be massacred in this number is appalling. If the government cannot handle it, we need international intervention. But the majority of Kenyans, no doubt, would be grateful for that intervention.

It's a kind of madness. That's what this brutality is and I've witnessed it; and I can only say that desperate people ignite into something unrecognizeable to a well-fed, well-off complacent world.

[Bird of Prey]

UN, African leaders press Kenya factions to end bloodshed by Jean-Marc Mojon
Thu Jan 31, 12:56 PM ET



ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon and African leaders gathered in Ethiopia urged Kenya's leaders Thursday to find a peaceful way out of the post-election unrest that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives. [url]
We tell all the protagonists to stop, stop, stop. If you burn Kenya, what will be left for you to govern?" said African Union commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.

"Kenya means so much to us that today there is an emergency to douse the flames," Konare told a summit of the 53-member, pan-African body.

In a speech opening the meeting, Ban called on President Mwai Kibaki, who was present, and opposition leader Raila Odinga to do their utmost to bring an end to the fighting and find a political solution.

"Kenyan leader President (Mwai) Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga ... have a special responsibility to solve the crisis peacefully," Ban said.

The UN secretary general met Kibaki on the sidelines of the summit and announced he would travel to Nairobi to bolster mediation efforts led by his UN predecessor Kofi Annan.

"Tomorrow, I will go to Nairobi. I will meet Mr Odinga and some representatives of civil society," he said.

Odinga insists Kibaki rigged his way to re-election in December presidential polls, triggering a deep political crisis and violence that has left around 1,000 people dead.

Japan, a special guest of the summit and represented by former prime minister Yoshiro Mori, also voiced its concern over the crisis and urged the rival leaders to work together.

Odinga's movement had protested that allowing Kibaki to attend the summit in Addis Ababa was a de-facto recognition of his election, despite widespread international concerns over flaws in the vote count.

Also on the summit's agenda are Africa's other conflicts, as the six-year-old grouping fights to acquire credibility on the international scene and shake off its tag as yet another toothless regional body.

The AU dispatched troops to Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur in 2004 but has failed to make an impact on the ground.

Since January 1, it has shared responsibility with the United Nations for a more robust force known as UNAMID, which has yet to fully deploy.

The pan-African body is also struggling to fulfil its pledge for 8,000 peacekeepers in war-torn Somalia, where only 1,600 Ugandan troops and a few hundred Burundian troops have been sent.

"It is crucial that both Chad and Sudan exercise maximum restraint, refrain from cross-border incursions," Ban said, adding: "2008 must be the year of peace in Darfur."

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who was voted to the rotating chair of the African Union to succeed his Ghanaian counterpart John Kufuor, urged the continent to take its future in its own hands.

"We are sometimes ashamed of hearing about conflicts in Africa all the time ... We should admit that the responsibility is ours," he said. "Our continent's future is in our hands".

While Africa is attempting to take the lead in solving its own conflicts, it remains constrained by lack of experience and equipment.

The UN Security Council's permanent members are also reluctant to relinquish control over missions they largely fund. In his opening address, Ban urged greater cooperation between the UN and African Union.

Also expected to feature prominently on the summit's agenda will be internal leadership issues, including the renewal of the position of AU commission chairman.

Konare has been at the helm of the organisation since 2003 and while he was successful in putting the body on the international map, he has also been criticised for failing to reform it.

The frontrunner in the succession race is Gabon's foreign minister, Jean Ping. . . . .


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080131/wl_africa_afp/africanunionsummit

Quit the bs and send troops and food.

[Sheryl Nantus]

Agreed. But that's why we need UN intervention, and we need it now.

To allow people to be massacred in this number is appalling. If the government cannot handle it, we need international intervention. But the majority of Kenyans, no doubt, would be grateful for that intervention.

It's a kind of madness. That's what this brutality is and I've witnessed it; and I can only say that desperate people ignite into something unrecognizeable to a well-fed, well-off complacent world.

unfortunately the UN has already proven itself to be incompetent in dealing with things like this... unless the US runs in and wants to be front and center (taking all the risk, paying all the bills and all the criticism while the UN takes all the credit for the success) nothing will happen.

the UN is a paper tiger without even enough growl to scare a mouse.

:(

[Gary]

I think it's a perfect opportunity for the EU. They don't have anything on their plate at the moment.

[small axe]

I keep hearing the hostile refrain about how the USA presumes to think "it's the world's policeman" etc ...

Here's an example where, dammit, somebody needs to be the damn world's policeman, okay?

You can discuss political correctness and national sovereignty forever ... but here's the deal: the UN should put some blue helmets with humanitarian aid on the street, and some tanks and some spine to back them up. If not the UN, then the Oraganization of African States. And if not them: I dunno, wasn't Kenya a Brit colony? And if not the Brits, then heaven forbid (sarcasm there) the USA should dare to say "We maintain the right to protect peace-loving humans where ever humans are being slaughtered by Very Bad People. Not that we'll shoot first, but don't suppose we won't shoot back ..."

All you gotta do is watch those movies HOTEL RWANDA or SOMETIMES IN APRIL, where the UN had armed troops able to point guns at murderers waving nothing but machettes, and so save hundreds of innocent pleading for their lives and UN protection ... but the UN abandoned those pleading people to be massacred, out of political correctness and humanitarian cowardice ...

If the world has criminals and murderers, the world needs police.

I hear how the USA or the UN dares not "choose sides" in "civil wars" ...

You don't need to choose sides, you just need to make it clear that we'll put a bullet through murderers' heads, whoever they are. Then let the individual decide whether they want to be standing in a mob waving machettes at their neighbor.

Yeah, between watching HOTEL RWANDA, and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL ... I'm pretty clear who the "good guys" are, usually.

The good guys don't shoot first. And the good guys aren't afraid to shoot back.

Tell the mother who's seeing her children threatened with murder rape and torture ... whether she cares what uniform the soldiers are wearing when they save her family from murder rape and torture.

On the other hand, if Mitt Romney wins the election, ;) you guys better have some of those Gort robots ready to chill me the heck out. Cause I'll be ready to spill!

[Bird of Prey]

The next week or so will tell the story as to whether the government of Kenya can get this under control. And if it can't, and the only hope left is the UN, and it does not intervene, then it has proven itself utterly ineffective and should be abandoned. I already resent the fact that these diplomats live like royalty in Manhattan and are above the law. Enough is enough.

[oswann]

I think it's a perfect opportunity for the EU. They don't have anything on their plate at the moment.


Good informed comment.

Os.