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Kenya: Ethnic revenge brings
more chaos
Posted on Monday 28 January 2008 - 17:56
Munene Kilongi, Nairobi, Kenya
One person was shot dead and several injured Monday in chaos that
has erupted in more than seven towns as residents react to reports
that the Sunday clashes in Naivasha targeted their communities.
A journalist returning from Naivasha saw groups of youths hefting
crude weapons which include clubs and machetes manning illegal
road blocks in the Nairobi-Naivasha road demanding identification
cards from all vehicles.
Police stood between two groups of nearly 500 Kikuyu youths on one
side and another of nearly 400 from different tribes outside the
Lake Naivasha Country Club who were baying for each other's blood
in revenge killings that have stunned this peaceful east African
nation.
Motorists heading to western Kenya had to change route after gangs
manning the Naivasha-Nakuru highway flushed out passengers from
certain communities and hacked some to death.
Government officials and watchdog, Human Rights Watch accuse
opposition leaders of organising attacks against Kikuyus in the
Rift as the opposition ODM says that criminal gangs have been
dispatched against their supporters.
" What is now emerging is that criminal gangs on a killing spree
working under police protection are part of a well orchestrated
plan of terror to spread and escalate the levels of violence," a
statement from Raila Odinga sent by his media team said.
More than sixty people have been killed in post-election violence
in Nakuru and 30 more in the town of Naivasha over the weekend.
Unconfirmed reports put the figure at more than 100 dead in the
latest violence that has sucked in this tranquil and picturesque
tourist town.
The latest skirmishes pit the Kikuyu, President Mwai Kibaki's
tribe against other smaller tribes who reside in this town and who
mostly voted for the opposition, Orange Democratic Movement.
Both Naivasha and Nakuru districts are dominated by the Kikuyu.
According to media reports, more than 10 people most of them women
and children were burnt to death yesterday in a house torched by
youths in Naivasha.
Police Commissioner Hussein Ali told reporters in Nairobi that
police had arrested 159 people in Nakuru and Naivasha for
possession of crude weapons and suspected involvement in the
murders.
" We will pursue the perpetrators regardless of how long it takes.
Impunity will not be allowed to exist," Ali said.
He added that he will soon be charging some 28 people with murder
for their roles in the post-election violence.
The chaos has largely gone on unabated as an overwhelmed police
force backed by the army helplessly looked on amid claims of
police partisanship towards members of their tribes.
Once one of Africa's most stable nations, Kenya has witnessed
unrelenting chaos since the disputed re-election of President Mwai
Kibaki last month.
But the anarchy currently being witnessed is now taking a form of
its own as communities turn on each other in revenge killings that
have generally overshadowed former UN head, Koffi Annan's
mediation efforts .
In an editorial, the leading daily, The Nation said: “ What we are
witnessing is not just raw anger triggered by irregularities in
the presidential poll tallying. Even if it was, the crisis has
taken a life of its own and there is no knowing how bad it will
get.”
Deep wounds created by the British colonial government as they
cobbled up 42 distinct tribes into a nation have been festering
for the last 44 years of independence.
The British used divide-and-rule policies to disenfranchise
certain communities while turning communities against each other
for political expediency.
Since independence in 1963, Kenyan politicians have used the same
methods to keep a grip on the nation.
Serious land issues created by the colonialists after they
uprooted natives from their ancestral lands while grabbing the
best went on with the Kenyatta, and Moi governments.
In 2003, the new Kibaki-led government commissioned a report to
address the problem. The 'Ndung'u Report' as it's called, came
with recommendations on how to tackle the land problem. It has
never been made public or acted upon to date.
It is said it touched on top politicians both in government and
opposition.
The winner-takes-it-all style of government is also seen by most
analysts as part of the problem. It is seen here that the ethnic
community that holds the presidency benefits most while other
ethnic groups have to wait for their turn to 'eat'.
Despite a more than 6 percent growth in GDP, analysts also believe
the quagmire the country finds itself in is mostly influenced by
the unequal distribution of resources that has seen the rich-poor
divide grow with every new leader.
Kenya is one of the most unequal countries in the world with
majority of citizens subsisting in the fringes of the economy.
More than 250,000 people have been displaced and hundreds more
keep streaming into IDP camps every day.
Negotiators led by Annan have told the Kibaki, and opposition
Raila Odinga, camps to select four representatives each to study a
blueprint for further talks.
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