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Violence exposes Kenya's deep
ethnic fault lines
Mon 28 Jan 2008, 14:27 GMT
By Tim Cocks
NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - On a road in the lakeside town of
Naivasha, against a backdrop of vast mountains flanking Africa's
Great Rift Valley, two groups of men armed with machetes, hammers
and clubs taunted each other.
On one side, thousands of members of President Mwai Kibaki's
Kikuyus, the dominant ethnic group in this picturesque tourist
town. On the other, a few hundred Luos, the tribe of opposition
challenger Raila Odinga.
Barely 10 police officers separated the two and as the Kikuyu mobs
got increasingly angry -- lobbing stones at their targets and
telling them to "go home" -- officers fired shots into the air to
disperse them. Then they came back.
The violence since Kenya's disputed Dec. 27 election, which has
caused at least 800 deaths, has taken on a momentum of its own,
Rift Valley residents say, exposing deep ethnic fault lines in a
country previously regarded as one of the most stable in Africa.
A wave of looting, riots and ethnic clashes convulsed the country
after an election Odinga says was rigged, making about 250,000
people homeless, many of them Kibaki's Kikuyus.
In the worst attack for weeks, a Kikuyu mob set fire to a house
where Luos and Kalenjins were hiding on Sunday, burning at least
19 to death, police said, echoing a similar attack against Kikuyus
in a church in the Rift two weeks ago that killed 30.
Rift Valley Kikuyus say they do not want revenge but are
determined to defend themselves after their kinsmen were attacked
in violence orchestrated by members of other tribes supporting
Odinga.
"We're not saying it's them who are killing," said Steven Mungai,
21, gesturing to a retreating Luo crowd with his machete. He said
he would not rest until all Luos were chased out of town.
"We have no quarrel with them but with their tribe. Their tribe is
killing ours. Why should we let them enjoy life peacefully when
their people are causing havoc?"
As the ethnic killing has gathered momentum, it has pitted former
friends against each other, residents say.
"All these people fighting each other, we are neighbours," said
Peter Juma, an employee of a logistics company as he wondered how
he would get an armed escort out of town to escape the mobs baying
for Luo blood.
"We lived side-by-side, but politics divided us. We're so
polarised, I don't know if we'll live together again."
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