Themes in the News: Kenya

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The Kenyan prime minister, Raila Odinga, today (Guardian, 30/06/08) called on African leaders to suspend Zimbabwe from the Africa Union rather than welcome Robert Mugabe to their summit in Sharm el-Sheikh

Kenya warns of Rwanda-style disaster in Zimbabwe
Kenya PM, Raila Odinga warned on Wednesday that Zimbabwe could descend into a disaster akin to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide if the world did not intervene rapidly to remedy the crisis (Reuters, 25/06/08)

Innovations: Community drug distributors; food aid by mobile phone
Across Africa, millions of adults and children die every year from treatable diseases. Sometimes all that is needed is one shot...or a single pill. But with the vast majority of Africans living in remote areas, the question becomes -- how to get these potentially life-saving treatments to the sick? A bold new endeavour may just be an answer (UN TV).

Forget truck convoys or cargo planes bringing sacks of food stamped with aid agency logos. In western Kenya's Kerio Valley, villagers get text messages on mobile phones to tell them they've been sent cash to buy food (Alertnet reprinted from the Irish Times). Irish relief organisation Concern is pioneering the idea in a region where food is in the market if you have cash to buy it. This system cuts out transport costs, reduces greenhouse emissions, lets people choose what food they want, and avoids dumping sacks of grain that would fill bellies but put farmers out of business. Concern has film footage available. Contact Anne O'Mahony in Kenya on +254 2037 55051  or Laura O'Mahony in Dublin on  +353 1417 7729.

Africa "primed for a descent into facism"
Executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, L. Muthoni Wanyeki says Africa has failed to address its governance problems: "From Ethiopia to Uganda to Nigeria to ourselves and, of course, to Zimbabwe, we should have halted the cycle of reversals caused by cynical manipulation of the electoral process in Africa. Why didn’t we? Because, as our own senior advocate Pheroze Nowrojee has uncompromisingly pointed out, we are, in effect, being primed for a descent into fascism — the idea that increased economic growth rates and improved efficiency on various fronts is an adequate compensation for limitations on basic freedoms and rights (The East African, 02/06/08).

Comment: Nowrojee's remark could apply equally to China, although a desire for economic growth should not be dismissed out of hand as greed since growth can pull millions out of poverty as it has in China. Wanyeki is perhaps too hard on Africa - failures of collective responsibility remain endemic among individuals and states worldwide. Related: 'Despots Masquerading as Democrats' (February, 2008).

World leaders’ beliefs on genocide badly mistaken - expert
An expert on genocide prevention, Dr. David A. Hamburg, has challenged what he said was "a widely accepted belief among political leaders that genocide cannot be detected until the last minute, and then the only recourse is a large scale military response that no country or organization is willing or able to undertake".

"But", continues Hamburg, "research shows that early signals of a dangerous trend toward mass violence always provide ample time, years or decades." Whether or not such mass violence might take the form of genocide is harder to predict but he is not "greatly moved by whether it is genocide you’re preventing, or something close to genocide." He described as "so cockeyed that it’s almost beyond imagination" the view of one world leader who told him: "You never can know until a few days in advance" (Foreign Policy Association, 15/04/08, read/watch).

According to Hamburg, genocide arises from organized state policy that requires the cooperation of many people over a period of years. "Achieving this support takes time, and makes the progression of events toward genocide gradual. Small but frequent and consistent harmful acts become familiar and more acceptable, especially if they meet no vigorous response from inside our outside the country. Then, larger harmful actions begin, and at this late stage, can move very rapidly, as in Rwanda in 1994." The first serious outbreak of Hutu/Tutsi killing was in 1959. Hamburg personally encountered the results of Hutu/Tutsi tension in the early 1970s when 60,000 refugees from Burundi appeared at his research camp overnight. He reported it to the US State Department but "nobody paid any attention."

In May 2006, the UN set up The Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention, chaired by Hamburg. President emeritus of the Carnegie Corporation, Hamburg was speaking at a Foreign Policy Association event and launch of his new book, "Preventing Genocide: Practical Steps and Effective Action" (Paradigm, April, 2008). It is the first on the subject.

Dr Hamburg outlined "nine commandments" for genocide prevention. The moderator, Robert C. Orr, said it was striking how many applied to the recent violence in Kenya. In answer to a question on role of the media, he said that they persuaded CNN to do a number of programmes on places where trouble was brewing "instead of just covering the violence, which they’re very proud of". However, he is not aware of anyone who does that now (see Q&A session in transcript/video).

COMMENT: Fighting for equal opportunity corruption in Kenya
In Kenya, the new cabinet may now cost $1 billion a year, about one-eighth of expected government revenue (Economist, 17/04/08). It's a reminder that sectarian conflicts blamed on ancient hatreds or historical injustices (whether in the Balkans, the Middle East or elsewhere) are often orchestrated, prolonged or fanned by leaders with prosaic rather than ideological motives. However, any entity where power or wealth is divided along ethnic lines is particularly prone to conflict.

Kenya’s violence - were media to blame?
In some minds, the role of the media in Kenya’s violence has revived the spectre of the role of Radio Milles Collines which instigated widespread violence during the Rwandan genocide. It has also raised questions of whether media can be too free in fragile states such as Kenya.

A new policy briefing from the BBC World Service Trust [PDF] dismisses such conclusions and - while highlighting the abuses that did occur - argues that the crisis demonstrates that a free and plural media are as much an answer to Kenya’s democratic deficit as they are a problem (BBC World Service Trust).

A report last month praised the Kenyan media for not stoking the post-election violence that killed 1,000 people but criticised it for not reporting fully on the political crisis and violence that followed last 27 December’s presidential election (Reporters Without Borders, 06/03/08).

In January Cape Times reported that Kenya's media had been careful to avoid inflaming tensions. The main TV channels are refraining from mentioning the ethnicity of the victims or the culprits of violence. The Media Council of Kenya has warned foreign reporters against naming tribes. However, some observers argued that the media has failed in its duty to inform (Cape Times, 10/1/08).

Hundreds flee from homes in Kenya as power-sharing fails to halt mob violence
Kenya’s much heralded power-sharing agreement between President Mwai Kibaki and his bitter rival, Raila Odinga, has failed to end the violence in the country’s Rift Valley region (The Independent, 07/03/08).

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed a power-sharing agreement in Kenya but said the country now faced challenges to ensure economic stability and growth (AlertNet, 06/03/08).
Comment: Not all the challenges are new. Kenya gives $364 million each year to the rich world in debt payments. Despite an average income of less than 1 euro per day, it is not eligible for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative or the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

Should we buy Kenyan flowers?
Kenyan flowers have been in the news in Ireland recently due to concerns about the environmental costs of air transport as well as damage done to the local environment in Kenya. Understandably, Kenyan flower growers are not too happy, as Aoife Kavanagh reports (RTE, 4/3/08). The Irish Examiner's Juno McEnroe produced a series of articles (funded by the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund) relating to concerns for the state of the Kenyan environment, particularly Lake Naivasha, and the impact of flower production.

Kenya peace talks reach impasse
The African Union Commission chairman has urged Kenya’s government and opposition to reach an agreement to end weeks of post-election violence (BBC, 22/2/08). Government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo told Reuters: "We should reach a deal by Wednesday latest" (Reuters, 23/2/08). That now looks in doubt as talks have reached an impasse (BBC, 25/2/08). The opposition ODM has threatened to relaunch mass protests on Thursday if a political deal is not reached.

Even if the talks are successful, other problems remain. Kenya gives $364 million each year to the rich world in debt payments. Despite an average income of less than 1 euro per day, it is not eligible for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative or the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

More than 10,000 displaced people, who have moved to their "ancestral lands" in western Kenya to escape ethnic violence, face an uncertain future in what is, for many, a foreign country (IRIN, 25/2/08).

Kenyans drink to Obama
Kenyans are also focussed on another election, that involving US presidential election candidate Barack Obama, whose late father was Kenyan Meanwhile, US presidential candidate Barack Obama, whose late father was Kenyan (and a Luo). Senator Keg beer is known simply by drinkers as "Obama". The beer became an instant hit when it was launched in 2004 at about the same time as Barack Obama was elected as senator of Illinois. It is safer and less alcoholic than home brews but as it is cheap, there are some fears it could contribute to a rise in alcoholism in Kenya (BBC, 21/2/08).

"We cannot sit here with our hands folded" - AU Head
African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya. African Union (AU) commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said, "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow" (BBC, 31/1/08). Kenya’s political crisis dominated discussions as the African Union Summit opened (Daily Nation, 2/1/08).

The top US envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said the forced removal of people from Kenya’s Rift Valley after last month’s disputed presidential poll was ethnic cleansing (BBC, 30/1/08). However, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack distanced himself from that claim (AP, 1/2/08). He also told reporters in Washington that the US is reviewing its allocation of “several millions of dollars” in non-humanitarian aid to Kenya. In Nairobi, a group of 12 MPs from Kibaki's Party of National Unity described Ms Frazer’s statement that the crisis in Kenya required an external solution as threatening and uncalled for. Their spokesperson likened it to the forced regime change in Iraq (NationMedia.com, 31/1/08).

Machete-wielding gangs turn shanty village paths red writes the Examiner's Juno McEnroe from Kenya (31/1/08).

UPDATE: Kenya election violence. MP killed. Helicopters open fire.
MP’s killing sparks Kenyan unrest (BBC, 29/1/08). Timeline (Reuters, 28/1/08).

Helicopters open fire to save Kenya refugees (Reuters, 29/1/08). See also Helicopters open fire above Kenya town, 13 die in fresh clashes (Reuters, 29/1/08)

In an eyewitness account, Salome Mbugua writes in Metro Eireann (17-23/1/08) of her fears for her home country. Her cousin "fights for his life, having been attacked by a mob... for no other reason than the fact that he was a Kikuyu who bought some land and lived and conducted business outside of the traditional Kikuyu lands." However, she believes the international press has not fully reported the equally "indiscriminate" retaliation by Kikuyu and is grossly underestimating the numbers killed. Mbugua is director of AkiDwA, the African Women’s Network in Ireland (Tel: 00 353 (0)1 814 8582).

Kenya’s opposition says it will boycott companies run by allies of President Mwai Kibaki (RTE, 18/1/08) in protest at the outcome of last month’s presidential election. The Orange Democratic Movement’s (ODM) change of tactics came as police shot five dead on a third day of rallies.

IN FOCUS: Kenya election violence
Last month we reported that hundreds were dead as Kenya's elections went down to the wire amid criticism of the government by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). The disputed results mean that the violence has continued.

Hundreds dead as Kenya's elections go down to the wire
The European Union’s chief election monitor in Kenya on Friday (Reuters, 21/12/07) condemned clashes that have killed hundreds and displaced thousands in the run-up to a December 27th presidential and parliamentary election. It's down to the wire according to the Economist (19/12/07).

Kenya faces a huge moment in its history when its people go to the polls. Pambazuka News has some of the best coverage of the Kenyan situation, including a lengthy and impassioned analysis from the novelist Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (from the Foreign Policy Association Blog).

State funds ’abused for Kibaki’ (BBC, 18/12/07). The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights lists 16 ministers and says they should pay for their use of state cars and aircraft for campaigning. Last week, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) accused the state broadcaster, KBC, of skewed coverage in favour of Mr Kibaki. Mwai Kibaki's main rival seems to be Raila Odinga. Comment: The open criticism by two separate Kenyan bodies is a positive sign at least. Parallel story: Chirac also faces allegations concerning the misuse of public funds.

Earlier Kenya stories

In 'Kakuma: The Forever Refugee Camp' (listen; 25m - ffwd to 5:00) (RTE Worlds Apart, 4/12/07) Rodney Rice reports on the limbo that is life in a Kenyan camp for refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and elsewhere.

"Forget tomatoes"
Kenyan Mildred Ngesa discovers "amidst thousands of prospering Kenyans where the economy is said to have recorded a growth of 6.5 per cent annually," what it is like for those living on less than $1 a day.

Kenya’s bus stop cartoonist
Along Jogoo Road, a busy highway in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, one bus stop shelter stands out in the hustle and bustle of daily traffic. Humphrey Barasa, a young, innovative artist, has turned the bus stop into his very own daily cartoon strip.

Health Minister fights with police
Kenyan Health Minister Charity Ngilu has clashed with police for arresting a women’s rights activist.

Ms Ngilu forced her way to the police station where the activist and three others were being held and freed her, despite resistance from policemen (BBC, 01/08/07).

Simpsons win over Kenyan carvers
A group of carvers in western Kenya are looking forward to the first Simpsons movie hitting big screens around the world, even though they are unlikely to see it (BBC, 26/07/07)

On July 1st a bigger killer than AIDS was banned in public places
On Sunday July 1st, a smoking ban in enclosed public places in England came into effect. The BBC News Website traces the recent wave of smoking bans around the world as governments seek to improve the health of their populations:

Kenya is currently drafting legislation. Smoking generates 5bn shillings ($65m) for the Kenyan government but costs five times as much in disease, disability and death.

UN appeals to Kenya to allow food into Somalia
The United Nations food relief agency today appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow assistance for more than 100,000 people to be trucked into Somalia, where piracy is hampering deliveries by sea.

(Captain Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the International Maritime Bureau, analyses the threat posed by pirates on Morning Ireland, 29/06/07.)

Chaotic Somalia is one of the world's toughest places to deliver aid [Blog]. If you find a way to bypass pirates to get supplies into the country, you're doing well. Then you've got to run the gauntlet of looting militias and the chance you'll be asked for hundreds of dollars to use the roads. After that you might find the roads aren't passable anyway, or farmers don't want you there.

Food aid sent to Somalia to combat one of the world's largest malnutrition crises has been criticised by Somali elders for causing violence - and for being delivered at the start of the harvest season. "For we farmers it is a big problem," said farmer and former policeman, Musa Yusuf Ahmed. "The food will benefit the people with no money but it will hurt the farmers."

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes urged the international community not to turn its back on Somalia at a time of desperate need. But there may be a chance for peace to finally come to the country…

Mobile Phones Revolutionize African Banking (05/07)
Mobile phone banking is expanding across the region from South Africa to Kenya and is putting the poor directly in control of their own finances like never before.

Kenya sets world first with money transfers by mobile phone (03/07)
Kenya has kickstarted a banking revolution with the world’s first ever mobile phone transactions

‘Slum tourism’ stirs controversy in Kibera (02/07)
Residents of Kibera, Kenya’s largest shanty town, are getting worried about the increasing number of tourists visit to observe African poverty and the patronising image it portrays of the people of Kibera. Could this be the return of the 19th century fashion of ‘slumming’?