In the latest edition of Pambazuka News Firoze Manji gives an interesting perspective on the recent violent post-election clashes in Kenya, which is worth reading. What has instigated this unexpected conflict that has flared up so suddenly? Talk of ethnic cleansing and genocide raise concerns at ethnicity fuels this crisis. The key question is why are the Kenyans fighting?
Accounts indicate that more then 350 people have been killed and many Kenyans have been displaced from their homes. Many have fled to neighbouring Uganda.
International aid, specifically food from the World Food Programme, travels through Kenya, arriving at Mombasa port and then overland to neighbouring coutries including DRC, Sudan and Ethiopia. These aid shipments have been delayed or even halted given the current crisis in Kenya. As the conflict continues it has repercussions for the region, spilling over through trade and aid blockages, displacement and movement of people fleeing from the conflict. Kenyan’s tourism industry will in particular suffer from this recent crisis, as will its booming economy.
Revered by many anthropologists as the ‘cradle of mankind’ Kenya has for many years been seen as a positive example of a successful and developing African state. To many Kenya is the financial and commercial hub of east Africa. However, the current conflict arising from the 27 December 2007 election poses serious challenges for the citizens of Kenya, as well as those involved in politics, development and aid in Africa. The need for continued support and overseeing of election processes by international observers is crucial. Consolidating and supporting good governance is key, as is finding ways of reducing inequality.
Those marginalised, uneducated and frustrated living on the margins in the slums of Mathare and Kibera are at the forefront of clashes with police. In a post by Associated Press “War is happening here,” said 45-year-old Edwin Mukathia, who was among thousands of people who poured out of Nairobi’s slums to heed opposition candidate Raila Odinga’s call for a million-man march in the city’s Uhuru Park. The mobilisation of thousands of people in support of Odinga in opposition to the election results have fuelled the violence. The willingness of these disenfranchised, frustrated and angry protesters perhaps bears witness to long simmering tensions amongst the ethnically diverse people of Kenya. The propensity to use violence, and the speed with which this violence has spread, is particularly worrying for what seemed to be a beacon of growth and development in east Africa… on its way to becoming the “African Tiger”.
