[NYTr] International community pushes for stability in Kenya

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Channel 4 News - Snowmail (UK) - Jan 2, 2008
http://www.channel4.com

International community pushes for stability in Kenya

There's a big diplomatic push underway to try to get the two men who
control Kenya's biggest political factions to negotiate. The violence
has left some 300 dead and tens of thousands are fleeing their homes
fearful of what could happen next.

The spectre of what happened in Rwanda may seem a world away from
Kenya, but the international community is desperately keen to keep this
country as stable as possible. So the African Union Chairman is on his
way and Britain has offered to mediate, calling for some kind of
government of national unity.

There's little sign that Raila Odinga will settle for that idea just
yet. He's due to hold a mass rally on Thursday, which has been
officially banned. I'll also be talking to the Kenyan High
Commissioner. 


Channel 4 News - Jan 2, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/387ke9

Kibaki makes a stand against unrest

By Channel 4 News

President Mwai Kibaki has accused Raila Odinga's party of "genocide" in
Kenya as the death toll from violence over the election passed 300.

Thousands of the President Kikuyu tribe were fleeing the Rift Valley
today, running across the wastes of an ethnic battleground few Kenyans
can believe is their country.

Thousands have taken shelter in churches and police stations across
Eldoret town, the main city in the fertile Rift Valley about 300 km
(190 miles) north of Nairobi, prompting a humanitarian crisis as food
and water run short.

"We've been sleeping outside of the airport. Can you imagine how cold
they were?" asked children's home operator Patrick Kariuki, gesturing
to 23 youths with him. I never thought Kenya could be like this.
They're killing us because we voted for Kibaki. Maybe the election was
rigged. Why don't they go to court instead of inciting?"

Police estimate that roughly 75,000 Kenyans have fled their homes. Some
have crossed into neighbouring states - a reversal for a nation that
for decades has accepted the victims of neighbouring conflicts like
Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia.

A local international rights group accused Kenyan security forces of
having "bloodily repressed" protests by opposition supporters.

"As a reaction, some protesters are responsible for the assassination
of Kikuyus," added the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the
International Federation for Human Rights.

And in an apparent chain reaction, there were growing examples today of
revenge killings by Kikuyu militants, including the notorious Mungiki
gang, on members of pro-opposition tribes.

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 December 27
election.

British Foreign Minister David Miliband and U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice called for an end to violence and "an intensive
political and legal process" to end the crisis.

African Union chairman John Kufuor was planning to fly to Kenya and
start mediation, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was on the
phone to both sides.

In a dramatic move Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki today invited all
members of the new opposition-dominated parliament to a meeting at
State House in Nairobi, in an apparent attempt to soothe post-election
tempers.

Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) saw 20 ministers lose their
parliamentary seats. It won just over a third as many seats as Raila
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which came in with nearly
100.

Even with allied parties that will roughly double his voting power,
Kibaki will still face an opposition-led parliament.

Nonetheless, Kenya's president still has a number of constitutional
powers to coerce and coax legislators, including the power to appoint
opposition members to his cabinet.