MOTTAINAI TOPICS

Voices from Kenya

2008.02.15Kenya

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(Villagers showing around the burned-out church in rift valley state, Kenya)


President Mwai Kibaki and Mr. Raila Odinga, the opposition leader of “Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)”, who were conflicting recently over the Kenyan presidential election, have held direct talks in the capital city Nairobi and agreed to end the violence.

But no one knows what will happen next as the President’s side is rushing to accomplish the fact of victory, whereas the ODM side is appealing an illegal election and the confrontation seems not to end. I’m herewith reporting the current situation in Kenya and the recent activities of Dr. Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Laureate.
(Ken Yamamoto)


“When I visited Nairobi on January 2 on business, I saw many disputes among policemen and crowds arising throughout the city. In the area, there was a rumor that policemen were ordered to take a firm attitude towards the protesters, ready to shoot if necessary, and the city was filled with tensions.”

Mr. Hiroyuki Yamashita, an audiovisual creator who works in Mombasa, a city of southeast Kenya, explains the situation. “I saw houses burned in Nairobi. There are slums in the city, holding people flew in from outside city and Kibera in Nairobi is known as one of the largest slums in Africa. A lot of violence is occurring as the number of protesters increase”, he says.

Taking the result of the election announced on December 30 last year, Mr. Odinga has accused of the illegal vote and insisted the re-election, whereas President Kibaki is claiming the election is legitimate. As the claims from each side are opposed, riots arose in many parts of the cities by anti-President factions.

Rift Valley in the west saw the biggest confusion. Because of the fact that an ethnic group Kikuyu moved into the area where the other tribes were living, the exclusion movement of Kikuyu by the other tribes became big in the confusion and houses and stores were attacked. Further, the neighboring provinces of Nyanza and Coast including Mombasa suffered damages. The report says that nearly 700 people were killed in the riots.

　President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga held talks on January 24 at the President’s official residence in Nairobi, having Mr. Annan, a former UN secretary general, as a go-between and agreed to end the violence and continue negotiations. But they failed to settle the fundamental confrontation over the election result and the tension is still building up.

　There are over 40 ethnic groups living in Kenya and even the largest group Kikuyu constitutes only 20% of the whole population. But Kikuyu has economically succeeded in their living and the antipathy towards them, hence the confrontation between Kikuyu and anti-Kikuyu group, is being the background of the disputes. In the area, not only Kikuyu but many people refrain from going out to avoid being involved in the confusion.

　Some sees the situation from a different viewpoint. A Japanese man who has worked in Nairobi in an education field for years says, “I see some are injured or killed in the protest rally, but it hasn’t expanded to the chain reaction of bloody hostility or hatred involving the whole ethnic groups. Such confusion caused by the protesters is also occurring in the slums other than Kibera, but not every slum in Nairobi.” He assumes the riots are limited to some areas.
　He also says, “Children from the slums are inculcated from adults the discriminatory attitudes, but schools teach them to live as Kenyan citizens beyond the ethnical prejudices.
（Extracted from Mainichi News Papers, the morning edition）


++Featured news of supporting fund++

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(Prof. Maathai making a remark in front of cherry in full bloom in Japan, April 30 2007)


The Mainichi News Papers MOTTAINAI Campaign Office is raising fund to support Kenyan society under confusion. The fundraising deadline is the February end. The money will be sent to “Peace Tent” to support refugees, which program was started by the NGO group, Green Belt Movement (GBM), led by Dr. Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Laureate. The fund account is set at the postal office. The transfer account is ; 00180‐3‐2800 The Mainichi News Papers. When sending money, please write in the correspondence column "The fund for supporting Kenya".


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