The rift in Kenya's Rift Valley
Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, may seem calm, but anarchy reigns just two hours away.It is hard to find any good guys in Kenya right now. There is a reversion to primitive hatred along ethnic lines that are hard for outsiders to comprehend. Much of this violence stems from a corruption of the political process where people from all factions competed to stuff the ballot boxes. Apparently there is no voter ID either. The result is a loss of faith in the political process that talks have not been able to heal. The government seems to have lost its moral authority and cannot seem to find where it went.In Nakuru, furious mobs rule the streets, burning homes, brutalizing people and expelling anyone not in their ethnic group, all with complete impunity.
On Saturday, hundreds of men prowled a section of the city with six-foot iron bars, poisoned swords, clubs, knives and crude circumcision tools. Boys carried gladiator-style shields and women strutted around with sharpened sticks.
The police were nowhere to be found. Even the locals were shocked.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said David Macharia, a bus driver.
One month after a deeply flawed election, Kenya, despite international pressure on its leaders to compromise and stop the killings, is tearing itself apart along ethnic lines.
Nakuru, the biggest town in the beautiful but deeply troubled Rift Valley, is the scene of a mass migration now moving in two directions. Luos are headed west, Kikuyus are headed east, and packed buses with mattresses strapped on top pass each other in the road with the bewildered children of the two ethnic groups staring out the windows at each other.
In the past 10 days, dozens of people have been killed in Molo, Narok, Kipkelion, Kuresoi, and now Nakuru, a tourist gateway which until a few days ago was considered safe.
In many places, Kenya seems to be sliding back toward the chaos that exploded on Dec. 30, when election results were announced and Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner over Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, despite widespread evidence of vote rigging.
The tinder was all there, even before the voting started. There were historic grievances over land and deep-seated ethnic tensions, with many ethnic groups resenting the Kikuyus, Mr. Kibaki’s group, because they have been the most prosperous for years.
The disputed election essentially served as the spark, and opposition supporters across Kenya vented their rage over many issues toward Kikuyus and other ethnic groups thought to have supported Mr. Kibaki.
In the Rift Valley, local elders organized young men to raid Kikuyu areas and kill people in a bid to drive the Kikuyus off their land. It worked, for the most part, and over the past month, tens of thousands of Kikuyus have fled.
More than 650 people, many of them Kikuyus, have been killed. Many of the attackers are widely believed to be members of the Luo and Kalenjin ethnic groups.
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To the people of Kenya:
ReplyDeleteStop this tragic stupidity. I am addressing this particularly to young men, because you are the main perpetrators of violence and stand to lose your entire futures as potential leaders. Look around you, look at the Democratic Republic of Congo and its endless killing, decade after decade. Or Rwanda, where one tribe butchered another and brought shame upon itself. Is that what you want for yourselves, your families?
You are participating in a tired, old story: destroying your so-called enemies in your own country leading to shame and grief and the destruction of all. Your technique has never been successful. You'll gain nothing and lose everything - your jobs, your homes, friends, families, your beautiful country and the respect of the international community. Stop killing and burning and instead use your intelligence and strength to heal, to build, and to plan for a prosperous future.
Pressure your leaders to end their own stupidity and corruption by uniting, by demanding it in peaceful ways. Don't wait for them to be motivated to change their own hearts, because they won't - yes, we all know they want to hold onto power and influence, this is not unique to Kenya! Others have used non-violent means before you. It requires even more courage than violence, because you have to be creative and disciplined enough to put the good of your society above the temporary thrill of burning down your neighbors' homes.
May peace be with you soon and may you begin the hard work ahead.