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Big Problems in Kenya

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by rocketsjudoka, Jan 2, 2008.

  1. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Member

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    Kenya in recent years has been one of the most stable countries in Africa and also has had a surging economy but it looks like all of that could change with post election fighting. On a personal note a friend of mine just left for Kenya this morning to attend a wedding and go on a safari. I talked to him an hour before he left and he had said that there wasn't travel warnings up yet but it looks like things could change fast.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22469578/

    Kenya post-election riots kill more than 300
    Government, opposition accuse each other of inciting tribal violence

    MSNBC News Services
    updated 51 minutes ago
    NAIROBI, Kenya - International pressure mounted on Kenya's leaders Wednesday to end post-election violence that has killed more than 300 people, including dozens burned alive as they sought refuge in a church.

    The killing of up to 50 people from the Kikuyu tribe Tuesday as they sheltered in a church in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret fueled fears of deepening ethnic conflict in what has been one of Africa's most stable democracies.

    The U.N. cited Kenyan police as saying 70,000 people had been displaced in five days of violence. Around 5,400 people also have fled to neighboring Uganda, said Musa Ecweru, that country's disaster preparedness minister. Several hundred people also have fled to Tanzania, officials there said.

    Much of Nairobi was quiet and deserted Wednesday, though clashes continued in the city's giant Mathare slum.

    Government spokesman Alfred Mutua downplayed the violence, saying it had only affected about 3 percent of the country's 34 million people. "Kenya is not burning and not at the throes of any division," he said.

    Mutua said the security forces had arrested 500 people since skirmishes began.

    Accusations of genocide
    The independent Kenya Human Rights Commission and the International Federation for Human Rights said in a joint statement that more than 300 people had been killed since the Dec. 27 vote.

    President Mwai Kibaki's government accused rival Raila Odinga's backers on Wednesday of responsibility for an explosion of tribal violence over a disputed presidential poll that has plunged Kenya into turmoil.

    Odinga's supporters, drawn mainly from his Luo tribe, have made similar charges against Kibaki, whose Kikuyu have dominated political and business life in East Africa's biggest economy.

    Western powers have called for calm and Britain has urged the African Union and Commonwealth to try to reconcile Kibaki and Odinga, whose parties accuse the other of vote-rigging during the election.

    "There are independent reports of serious irregularities in the counting process," said British Foreign Minister David Miliband and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a joint statement. They called for an end to violence and "an intensive political and legal process" to end the crisis.

    As young men armed with machetes manned roadblocks in rural areas, a trickle of office workers in the capital Nairobi made it through police cordons to begin the new working year.

    "They call this democracy," said a central bank worker, delayed by police as he tried to get to work. "They should stop instilling fear in us and let us go back to our work," he said, asking not to be named.

    The turmoil caused delays and confusion in local markets.

    Currency trading was postponed for several hours, stocks opened a few minutes late, and both tea and coffee auctions were being postponed. "If some normality comes back, we will resuscitate the business," a tea broker told Reuters.

    On Tuesday, dozens of Kikuyus died when a mob set fire to a church where they had taken sanctuary in the western town of Eldoret, reviving memories of the slaughter in churches of hundreds of thousands in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

    The Eldoret attack was one the worst episodes of violence that has uprooted nearly 100,000 Kenyans, many of them fleeing across the border to Uganda. It sparked reprisal attacks.
    Disputed election
    Adding to the chaos, Kenya's electoral commission head Samuel Kivuitu was quoted as saying: "I do not know whether Kibaki won the election." The comment by Kivuitu, who pronounced Kibaki the victor on Sunday, could not be immediately verified.

    Western powers have warned their citizens against visiting a popular tourist destination that was regarded as one of the most stable democracies on a volatile continent.

    Pictures of the Eldoret area from air showed plumes of white smoke billowing blazing homesteads. Youths with machetes, rocks and bows and arrows could be seen manning crude checkpoints.

    There was early calm in Nairobi slums on Wednesday but residents said Mungiki, a gang with roots in traditional Kikuyu rites, dropped leaflets warning of reprisals against Luos.

    In Naivasha town in Kenya's Rift Valley, scores of people were injured in revenge attacks for the church killings, and about 300 terrified locals spent the night camped at a police station and prison for safety.

    "We had to seek refuge in the only safe place we know," said Agnes Alouch, in the prison hall.

    Kibaki was sworn in on Sunday after official election results showed he had narrowly beaten Odinga. The EU's observer mission said the poll had "fallen short of key international and regional standards for democratic elections."

    The United States first congratulated Kibaki, then switched to expressing "concerns about irregularities."

    In remarks in the Standard newspaper, Kivuitu said he was pressured by Odinga and Kibaki's party colleagues to announce the poll results immediately. Four members of Kivuitu's team have said they would call for a judicial review.
     
  2. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    Is there oil in Kenya?
     

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