Kenya Unravelling
Events in Kenya are becoming increasingly more disturbing. It is, of course, difficult to focus on them without the genocide in Darfur creeping into the back of one’s mind, a catastrophe of considerable scope that has largely been disregarded. I suppose, when examining African conflicts, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. In 100 days in Rwanda in 1994, an estimated 800,000 people were massacred. While the Western world’s attention was on the Balkans, the United Nations hung UNAMIR, and its commander, out to dry, leaving the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi with free reign over much of the country until it was too late.
It is a terrible thing to admit that, with regards to what is transpiring in Kenya, we will have to wait and see what happens. One is hopeful that something of a horrific nature does not transpire, or commence, in the interim. Thus far, a quarter of a million people have fled their homes because of the violence.
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January 17th, 2008 at 10:30 am
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
I hope the world has learned.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:40 am
ONe of my people at work has only spoken to her family (on the phone) one time, for 30 seconds in three weeks. It’s sickening to know that she’s here and her family faces such peril.
CBC teleivised a Kenyian soldier firing shots from an AK 47 on her villiage. It’s a tough situation.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Sigh…
Honestly, you get your Kenyan news info from one source, and suddenly the country’s under threat of genocidal tendencies. And apparently ethnic cleansing and genocide are the same exact thing. (They’re both bad, of course, but you make it look like blackmailing and embezzlement are also the same thing as well with your logic).
A. The Rwandan genocide was the result of systematic planning months in advance. 95% of the killings were done by machete, to prove that point. There is no planning in Kenya going on that is immediately beyond the ethnic cleansing aspect, which is more forced movement than it is mass execution. And even that’s questionable.
B. Rwanda’s population is made up of two significant groups (Hutus and Tutsi), with one group having numerical superiority over the other. Same applies relatively to the Darfur scenario (Africans and Arabs). With Kenya’s population, about 71% of the country is made up of five groups, with no group exceeding 25% of the total population. The two primary ethnic groups involved in these riots, the Kikuyu and Luo, make up only 36% of the population. These numbers, and the groups’ sporadic placement, make it impossible for any group to wield enough control to commit such acts as genocide. And even if they could, they would fail.
Really, if anything, this is devolution to anarchy, similar to Somalia.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I just came back (on Sunday) from spending 6 weeks in Kenya (we were in Ngong, just outside Nairobi). I was there for the weeks before and after the election.
I hate that this is happening to such an amazing country. I just want everyone to know that this is not Kenya. Kenyans are the most amiable and kind people I’ve come across. And while all the footage in the western media is about the people who are dying, the Kenyan media begs for peace on air, shows stories about all of the pleas and prayers for peace by Kenyans. (I should say that while I was watching a lot of the news on the days following the elections, both Kenyan and CNN and BBC, I haven’t seen any TV news for the past 10 days)
I truly believe that 90 percent of the problems in the country after the election would not have happened if Odinga didn’t egg people on every step of the way. I understand that he is upset at the results. It is widely acknowledged that Kibaki rigged the vote. It is almost as
widely acknowledged that Odinga rigged the vote, too.
Odinga has staged rally after rally, he was calling for a million people to join him. Of course he should have had the right to do that (the government banned the rally), but come on! who doesn’t see what that turns into pretty quick? But he called the first 2 off, while people we’re streaming out of Kibera to the park.
Kibaki said nothing, for days; while the body count rose to over 500 people; the newly, if not elected then at least sworn in, president said nothing. I can forgive that easier than Odinga.
He allowed this to start cause he didn’t rig it well enough.
More people probably did vote for him, but his country was burning and did the least presidential thing by whining that he got screwed. When you are a leader and your country is hurting, you suck it up and do what you need to do for your country, right now. You go thru legal processes to contest the vote.
A huge portion on Kenya’s economy is built around tourism (having just been there I can see why. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place. It is Eden). But that tourism is built a lot on the fact that it is a stable, peaceful country. Even when peace is restored, the country will still hurt for a long time because this is what people will associate with it.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
A couple of weeks ago , I was getting swept up in the comparisons to Rwanda. Then I read this article by Stepanie Nolen. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080105.wnolen5/BNStory/International
What’s happening in Kenya is definitely disturbing, but I think it has more to do with political power struggles and gang violence and less to do with tribalism than Rwanda did. I think events over the last couple of days give weight to that angle
Also pertinent I think is this article from Gwynne Dyer.
http://www.straight.com/article-127707/president-mwai-kibakis-election-betrayal-is-root-of-kenyas-unrest-not-tribalism
January 19th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I remember taking a course years back in my first year as a history student called Violent Century, and it briefly surveyed a broad array of the violent conflicts that took place in the 20th century. It was the quintessential history course especially for all the first years who would never return to another history course, taking the course merely to fill in a context credit. For many students in university this bare minimum/ scratch-the-surface approach to learning international history is all they get, leading the quote that k-e-t left above all the more sad. After the Holocaust leading Western countries (including the US) agreed that they would never again allow a genocide. In that Violent Century course from back in first year, we talked about the fact that genocides continued to occur, quite often being knowingly ignored. My TA made the somewhat depressing comment that when conducting research on genocides and international events and especially the role the US chooses, it was always useful to look at the political situation at that time in America. Why? Because all too often US international action that takes place is done on the basis of public opinion. Can it be that the US public does not want to aid these poor people in Kenya? Or is it that the media is not informing the public of the dire situations that exist abroad? Maybe this is why history students prefer to discuss current events over drinks cause its where foreign policy discussions inevitably seem to drive you…
January 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Former President Clinton has stated his greatest failure as President was failing to act during the crisis in Rwanda. It would be interesting to see how Hillary or Obama would react to the current situation in Kenya…anyone heard anything from the media regarding this?