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US Rips Kenya Opposition Over 'Ethnic Cleansing'

Envoy calls for probe, warns aid under review

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 30, 2008 8:19 AM CST
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(Newser) – The top US envoy to Africa today accused supporters of Kenya's opposition of "clear ethnic cleansing" after violence in the Rift Valley killed hundreds of Kikuyus, who support embattled president Mwai Kibaki. "The aim originally was not to kill, it was to cleanse, it was to push them out" of the valley, Jendayi Frazer told reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia. Now, "killing may be the object," she added.

Frazer said the US is reviewing its $540 million in aid to Kenya and is "calling for an investigation" into the violence. There have been charges that some killings between the Kikuyos, and the Luos and  Kalenjin—who support opposition leader Raila Odinga—have been carefully planned. "It's basically everybody versus the Kikuyu now," one man told the Guardian. "Nobody can afford to sleep because of the fighting." Frazer accused both sides of not doing enough to stop the bloodshed.

Kenyans mainly from the Luo tribe, one armed with a machete, enforce a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. The town of Kisumu is now almost completely ethnically cleansed of Kikuyus, and mobs armed with makeshift weapons erect burning roadblocks and search for the few Kikuyu targets...
Kenyans mainly from the Luo tribe, one armed with a machete, enforce a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. The town of Kisumu is now almost completely ethnically cleansed of...   (Associated Press)
U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, right, and the Catholic Bishop of Eldoret, Cornelius Korir, left, walk through a camp for displaced people in the grounds of the cathedral in Eldoret, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. The Catholic bishop of Eldoret, one of the towns worst hit by the ethnic clashes...
U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, right, and the Catholic Bishop of Eldoret, Cornelius Korir, left, walk through a camp for displaced people in the grounds of the cathedral in Eldoret, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 8,...   (Associated Press)
U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, center, and the Catholic Bishop of Eldoret, Cornelius Korir, left, walk through a camp for the displaced in the grounds of the cathedral in Eldoret, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. The Catholic bishop of Eldoret, one of the towns worst hit by the ethnic clashes...
U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, center, and the Catholic Bishop of Eldoret, Cornelius Korir, left, walk through a camp for the displaced in the grounds of the cathedral in Eldoret, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008....   (Associated Press)
Surrounded by security personnel, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, third left, and U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger, right, arrive in Baidoa, Somalia, Saturday, April 7, 2007. Frazer, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa made a surprise visit to Somalia Saturday...
Surrounded by security personnel, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, third left, and U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger, right, arrive in Baidoa, Somalia,...   (Associated Press)
Kikuyu men shout and gesture at Luo tribe members as they are evacuated by the police, after they sought shelter at the Kenya Research Forestry Institute in Kikuyu Town, just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. On Wednesday, hundreds of young Kikuyu men blocked the main highway west...
Kikuyu men shout and gesture at Luo tribe members as they are evacuated by the police, after they sought shelter at the Kenya Research Forestry Institute in Kikuyu Town, just outside of Nairobi, Kenya,...   (Associated Press)
A Kenyan man sits in the cab of a destroyed truck used as a makeshift roadblock while a tire burns on the roof, as he and others enforce the roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. The town of Kisumu is now almost completely ethnically cleansed of Kikuyus, and...
A Kenyan man sits in the cab of a destroyed truck used as a makeshift roadblock while a tire burns on the roof, as he and others enforce the roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. The town...   (Associated Press)
A police officer dismantles a burning barricade after members of the Luo tribe sought shelter at the Kenya Research Forestry Institute in Kikuyu Town, just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. On Wednesday, hundreds of young Kikuyu men blocked the main highway west out of Nairobi at Kikuyu...
A police officer dismantles a burning barricade after members of the Luo tribe sought shelter at the Kenya Research Forestry Institute in Kikuyu Town, just outside of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Jan. 30,...   (Associated Press)
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