State of Kenya: Saitoti in Naivasha PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by Updates   
Monday, 28 January 2008 08:20
T he government has deployed the military in areas of the Rift Valley in an attempt to control violence that took on a new high at the end of last week. [updates]

Media reports indicate that Nakuru, where rioters took to the streets, and Naivasha, where about nineteen people have been burnt in a house, were the most affected. These same reports indicate that the violence is retaliatory.

The East African Standard reports that at least 90 people have died over the weekend.

According to Reuters:

Violence since Kenya's Dec. 27 election has now gathered a momentum of its own -- linked to decades-old land disputes, wealth inequities and past British colonial rule -- and taken the death toll to around 800 people.

A Kisumu resident reports:

It was a peaceful morning, I even dropped my son off at school. It is only when I was in the town center  that I saw the chaos. I saw youth, young men, barricading roads and flushing passengers out of vehicles. This violence and mayhem, it seems is at the Kisumu bus stage and the roads leading into town and the highways. GSU [the government paramilitary forces- General Service Unit] are literally camped here in Kisumu, there is so many of them. They disperse the youth and as soon as they leave, these young men get back on the streets! Matatus are not running today.

From here [Milimani], I can hear gunshots coming from Nyalenda.

And now the school has refused to release children until everything is calm.

Over the weekend, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visited violence-struck areas in the Rift Valley. He later met with both the government opposition leaders.

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Latest  reports have Interior Security Minister George Saitoti visiting Naivasha and insisting on equal protections and equal treatment of criminal elements.

In Naivasha, a 1,000-strong group of mainly Kikuyus brandishing axes, sticks, machetes and hammers confronted several hundred Luos -- some also armed -- who wanted safe passage out of town, a Reuters witness said.

A handful of riot police kept the groups apart as they threw rocks at each other near the Lake Naivasha Country Club, and a military helicopter kept watch from above.

"We want these Luos to go back home. They chased and killed our people. Now we want the same thing to happen to them," said Kikuyu protester Joseph Maina, holding a plank of wood.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti arrived later and was booed loudly when he urged people to drop their weapons: "We shall not tolerate any kind of disorder in the country ... we will treat Kenyans as Kenyans, not as tribes." 

Meanwhile, published here is a report by IRIN on hate speech in Kenyan media.  It includes details of inciteful messages from across the spectrum but particularly from vernacular radio stations that may have urged the country towards the present ethnic violence,

Handa heard Kalenjin callers on Kass FM making negative comments about other ethnic groups, who they call "settlers”, in their traditional homeland, Rift Valley Province.
 
"You hear cases of 'Let's reclaim our land. Let's reclaim our birthright'. Let's claim our land means you want to evict people [other ethnic communities] from the place," said Handa.
 
One difficulty in monitoring such stations is that the language used is often quite subtle and obscure.
 
On Kass FM, there were references to the need for "people of the milk" to "cut grass" and complaints that the mongoose has come and "stolen our chicken", according to Kamanda Mucheke, senior human rights officer with the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), which monitored hate speech in the countdown to the elections. 
 
The Kalenjin call themselves people of the milk because they are pastoralists by tradition and the mongoose is a reference to Kikuyus who have bought land in Rift Valley, Mucheke said.  On another occasion, a caller emphasised the need to “get rid of weeds”, which could be interpreted as a reference to non-Kalenjin ethnic groups.  

Please send any media tidbits, news or updates from where you are to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .                                                

 


Written on Monday, 28 January 2008 08:20 by Updates

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written by Nolongerneutral , January 28, 2008
For the first time, a Somali family has suffered the ugly face of the ethnic strife.

A close family relatives have been attacked in Naivasha and their house burnt down. The elder son is currently in Kenyatta intensive care undergoing treatment from serious burns.

May God help Kenya.
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The desired things
written by mkosakabila , January 28, 2008
Thought to share this with you.

Peace!
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written by aeichener , January 28, 2008
I see two collectively guilty groups within the Kenyan population as a whole, beyond all ethnic groupings:

- The open hate-mongers, the reckless fanners of interethnic aggression, of blind prejudice and egoistic negative ethnicity. The more edjumacated, the worse.

- The hypocritical peace-mongers, who wail when police defend themselves or innocent victims, the pseudo-humanitarians who are the most reliable allies of the murderers, arsonists and rapists.

Alexander
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Fruits of Violence
written by observer , January 28, 2008
I am getting this feeling that Kenyans really want to see this violence thing though. We have heard of it, seen it in acted out at our next door neighbors and now we really want to see what this violence thing can bring us.
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re: Fruits of Violence
written by aeichener , January 28, 2008
I am getting this feeling that Kenyans really want to see this violence thing though. We have heard of it, seen it in acted out at our next door neighbors and now we really want to see what this violence thing can bring us.


I sincerely hope you are wrong.
Because if you were right, the only solution would be to declare a status of Emergency, call for British troops, and restore order by force.

It worked then, it will work now. Be determined, be ruthless, and restore calm and order.

Alexander
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written by observer , January 28, 2008
Alex,

I too hope that I am wrong; however, I feel that the protagonists and their supporters feel there is much to be gained politically from the violence. They are not quite ready to give up yet on it yet. Both sides feel that they can use violence to strengthen and force though their positions. I am not sure that Kenyans have learnt our lessons yet, we are like a small kids that is fascinated by fire.

I spoke to someone form the former Yugoslavia over the weekend and there was an freighting similarity to what is going on in Kenya. She spoke of increased ethnic nationalism, the rewriting of history, ethnic victim hood coupled with the use of violence. Her deepest regret was that they ended up fighting not to win but not to loose as much as the other side.
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written by Kalindi , January 28, 2008
Oh, behave!
Mod. Eds
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written by D , January 28, 2008
I disagree. Not all Kenyans want this violence and I would like to believe that majority of Kenyans are not picking up a weapon. The concern is how long will this last. The government and the opposition have to ACT now.. they should have acted during that first week. But they both kept making stupid comments in the media and calling press conferences to push THEIR agenda yet no one spoke for what Kenyans wanted.

Ruto went to Eldoret to call for peace but at the same time criticized the police for shooting people. I am sorry, but people are being killed and evicted from their homes. Equal force needs to be implemented by the police in order to quell the violence.. otherwise, these gangs get more confident that they can just create impunity. There must be LAW AND ORDER in a country or it seizes to exist. Therefore, I am supporting the police and the armed forces as they attempt to protect Kenyans.

Saitoti told people at a camp in Naivasha to go home. Talk about being detached. Where are they supposed to go to? Their burnt property to be attacked again!!???

Where are the 206 MPs that showed up on time to be sworn in so that they could get their hefty salaries. They need to leave their comfortable mansions in Nairobi and head to their constituencies immediately!!! This is not a time for cute and casual comments and irrelevant media campaigns. The election ended in December. It is no longer about ODM or PNU but about Kenya.
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written by politicalscientist , January 28, 2008
There is a saying but I can't remember the quote "there are no winners in war, only people who lose less". Something to think about.
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Last Updated on Monday, 28 January 2008 18:34