Kenya Unrest

Stories

Stories 1 - 20 of 59

1 2 3 Next >>

April 2009
- Kenyan Women Use Sex Strike to Sway Politics
  
  Associated Press | Apr 29, 09 12:23 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Kenyan women are withholding sex in hopes of forcing an end to the squabbling that threatens to break the government's fragile coalition and plunge the nation into chaos, the AP reports. Thousands of members of 11 women's groups are participating in the week-long strike, and they have asked the wives of the president and prime minister to join them. More »
- Fierce Rivalries Shape, Threaten Kenyan Politics
  
  Economist | Apr 25, 09 4:54 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Election violence in 2007 gave way to an uneasy coalition between Kenyan PM Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki, but that move seems only to have transformed the fighting on the streets into squabbling in the capital. Now, "Kenya does not have a functioning executive at all, just an unholy alliance of fierce rivals," reports the Economist. More »
February 2009
- Kenya Mourns Double Tragedy That Killed 136
  
  BBC | Feb 2, 09 6:23 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenyans are blaming the government for poor public safety and emergency response as they mourn the loss of 136 people in back-to-back fires at a Nairobi supermarket and on a rural highway. Emergency crews were slow to respond to yesterday's fuel tanker explosion, which came as they were still searching rubble from the market fire three days earlier, the BBC reports. "There was no response by any disaster team because there is no such team," said Prime Minister Raila Odinga. More »
April 2008
- Kenya Announces Shared Cabinet
  
  BBC | Apr 13, 08 2:11 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Calling for Kenyans to "put politics aside and get to work," president Mwai Kibaki named chief opposition leader Raila Odinga prime minister today in a move to end political strife with a power-sharing cabinet. The 40-member cabinet, including two deputy PMs, was divided evenly between the two parties, though the BBC notes that key positions remained with Kibaki loyalists. More »
- Deal Reached in Kenyan Crisis
  
  BBC | Apr 12, 08 7:18 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s election crisis may finally be over. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga today reached a deal on a new cabinet, the BBC reports, ending the dispute that has long delayed a February power-sharing deal. The new cabinet will be announced tomorrow and should be in place before the parliament returns on Tuesday. More »
- Riots Flare as Kenya Talks Stall
  
  New York Times | Apr 9, 08 6:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Riots erupted again in Kenya yesterday as opposition leaders suspended talks with the government over a stalled power-sharing pact, reports the New York Times . Dozens of men in a Nairobi slum lit bonfires and hurled rocks at police, chanting, "No cabinet, no peace!" The violence marked the first major riot since February, when Kenya's president and his main rival agreed to form a government together. More »
March 2008
- Tough Work Awaits Kenya Lawmakers
  
  New York Times | Mar 6, 08 4:53 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya's parliament reconvened today, the New York Times reports, and was immediately given the task of putting into law the power-sharing deal that ended the startling wave of violence that followed December's disputed election. "You must now become the ambassadors of peace and reconciliation,” President Mwai Kibaki told legislators. “Please forget the history of what has happened." More »
- Kenya Gov't Linked to Militia
  
  BBC | Mar 5, 08 2:15 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya's government might have played a direct role in sanctioning recent ethnic violence. A source tells the BBC that senior officials met with the violent Mungiki militia, with the aim of recruiting the outlawed group as a "defense force" to help protect the ethnic Kikuyu population. In January, Mungiki thugs allegedly used machetes to attack non-Kikuyu in the Rift Valley. More »
- Poisoned Arrows Riddle Kenya
  
  Time | Mar 1, 08 7:58 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya has struck a peace agreement, but its people are still stockpiling a new weapon of choice: poisoned arrows. A primitive arms industry is supplying ethnic warriors with the projectiles to replace their time-tested machetes, Time reports. “This is obviously something very wrong and very new,” said one former police commander. More »
February 2008
- Kenyan Rivals Sign Peace Deal
  
  New York Times | Feb 28, 08 4:43 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s rival political leaders signed a power-sharing deal today in a ceremony that brought jubilant crowds to the streets of Nairobi, the New York Times reports—a change from the violence that followed December's disputed election. The agreement creates a powerful prime minister position for opposition leader Raila Odinga, with cabinet positions filled by the parties of both Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. More »
- Kenyan Leaders Reach Deal
  
  BBC | Feb 28, 08 8:12 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s feuding leaders have finally reached a power sharing deal, Kofi Annan announced today after a four-hour meeting. Annan said he could not yet release details, but the deal is expected to spell out duties for the prime minister position to be created for opposition leader Raila Odinga, the BBC reports. Though the violence that swept Kenya after the election has waned, tensions remain high. More »
- Annan Suspends Kenya Talks
  
  Associated Press | Feb 26, 08 11:09 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Mediator Kofi Annan is suspending the talks to end the bloody crisis in Kenya. In lieu of the negotiations, the ex-UN Secretary General says he will speak personally to rival leaders Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, reports the AP. "I hope people will understand this is a move intended to speed up action," Annan said. More »
- Kenya Stalemate Frustrates Negotiators
  
  BBC | Feb 26, 08 3:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya's peace talks have ground to a standstill and the task of coaxing the country's two rival parties into an agreement is beginning to try even the patience of former UN secretary-general and lead negotiator Kofi Annan, reports the BBC. The two sides cannot agree on a power-sharing deal and aides say an increasingly exasperated Annan is beginning to feel like a "prisoner of peace." More »
- Kenya Agrees to Create PM Post
  
  Reuters | Feb 21, 08 9:43 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s government agreed today to create a prime minister position for opposition leader Raila Odinga—the narrow loser in a disputed election for president in December—in an effort to prevent a new round of violence from tearing the African nation apart. The details are still being hashed out, but a government negotiator promised the position would have real power. “We will not give anybody a hollow shell.” More »
- Kenya Airways Halts Flights from Paris
  
  Reuters | Feb 20, 08 6:05 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Plummeting tourism in the wake of January's post-election violence and France's sweeping advisory against travel to Kenya have emptied airline seats, triggering the cancellation of all Kenya Airways flights from Paris to Nairobi. The cancellation, which begins Feb. 26, will disrupt travel to other African destinations, including Congo and Rwanda. More »
- Bush Praises African Success
  
  Associated Press | Feb 16, 08 7:31 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - President Bush is keeping things positive on his five-country African tour, focusing attention on “success stories.” But at the same time, he says, his efforts are addressing conflicts ravaging the continent. “When you herald success, it helps others realize what is possible,” he said during a stopover in Benin. And though he won’t visit the troubled Kenya, Condoleezza Rice will on Monday, the AP reports. More »
- Kenyan Rivals Make Deal for Election Review
  
  Associated Press | Feb 15, 08 5:08 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s president and opposition leader today unveiled an agreement to examine the hotly contested Dec. 27 election, but the sides have made no progress on a deal to share power, the AP reports. "There is real momentum," said mediator and ex-UN chief Kofi Annan. The deal also calls for the drafting of a new constitution within a year. More »
- Kenya Talks Make Progress; Caution Urged
  
  Reuters | Feb 11, 08 2:00 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Talks between the Kenyan president and the leader of the opposition are going well, and the parties have agreed in principle to a power-sharing agreement, Reuters reports. "We are making progress. Indications are that we can see some light at the end of the tunnel. We are very optimistic," an MP said of negotiations between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. More »
- Kenya's Quiet Casualty: Flowers
  
  Economist | Feb 9, 08 6:25 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The violence in Kenya has come at the worst possible time for an industry quietly flourishing in the warmth of the nation's long, sunny days—flowers. Kenya supplies 25% of Europe's cut flowers, making it the third-largest industry behind tourism and tea, the Economist reports. Roses are the main crop, and with Valentine's Day around the corner, growers are struggling to keep workers safe and shipments moving. More »
- Kenya Rivals Edge Closer to Power-Sharing Deal
  
  Reuters | Feb 8, 08 10:53 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya’s two parties are close to a power-sharing deal that could end the national bloodshed in the wake of the disputed December election, Reuters reports. The details were still being hammered out, but one opposition legislator said, “We have finally agreed that there is a problem in the country and neither side can proceed on its own.” More »