Kenya Unrest

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February 2008
- Fighting Scars Smallest Kenyans
  
  BBC | Feb 3, 08 3:43 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The violence in Kenya is separating droves of children from their parents—sometimes forever, the BBC reports. One Nairobi orphanage is currently hosting 60 displaced children; some wait for their parents to find them, but most know their mothers and fathers are already dead. "It's been a traumatizing experience for them," says one Red Cross activist. More »
- Kenya Leaders Agree to Peace Talk Structure
  
  Reuters | Feb 1, 08 2:27 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya's rival leaders have agreed on an outline for peace talks, Kofi Annan said today. Larger problems could take a year to iron out, but the ex-UN chief said the most pressing issues--ending the killings, aiding those hit by the turmoil, and fixing "immediate" political woes--could be solved within the next 7 to 15 days, Reuters reports. More »
January 2008
- Kenya Upheaval Could Reach 'Catastrophic Levels'
  
  Reuters | Jan 31, 08 11:29 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenya's political turmoil continues to wreak havoc, and it is "threatening to escalate to catastrophic levels," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today. After the killing of another member of Raila Odinga's opposition party yesterday, the country faced renewed violence, Reuters reports. The death toll has reached 850 since late December as political disputes have opened old territorial conflicts. More »
- 2nd Opposition Lawmaker Shot Dead in Kenya
  
  Associated Press | Jan 31, 08 5:37 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A second Kenyan opposition politician has been killed in the country's troubled Rift Valley, only two days after the murder of one of his colleagues. The lawmaker, who won a seat in parliament on the ticket of Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement in December's contested elections, was fatally shot by a traffic cop at a roadblock. The police claimed the killing was part of a lovers' quarrel, but the party says it was a political assassination. More »
- Slain Kenyan Pol a Key to Peace
  
  New York Times | Jan 30, 08 11:25 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Kenyan opposition lawmaker who was dragged from his car yesterday and shot to death could have been key to ending the ethnically charged turmoil, reports the New York Times, but his assassination instead further plunged the country into violent chaos. Melitus Mugabe Were had been working toward peace, able to bridge ethnic divides because of his Kikuyu wife. “Whoever did this has killed the dreams of many,” one friend said. More »
- US Rips Kenya Opposition Over 'Ethnic Cleansing'
  
  Associated Press | Jan 30, 08 8:19 AM CST
  
  (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. More »
- Pol's Death Sparks Kenya Battles
  
  BBC | Jan 29, 08 3:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Army helicopters fired on crowds to protect Kenyans fleeing bloodshed and mobs torched homes and people as violence escalated today in the wake of the killing of an opposition politician, the BBC reports. At least four people were killed in a Nairobi slum after a member of opposition leader Raila Odinga's party was apparently killed in his home nearby in the ethnic violence ripping apart the nation. More »
- 'Sickening Brutality' Spreads in Kenya
  
  BBC | Jan 27, 08 10:06 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Ethnic violence and revenge killing continued unchecked in western Kenya today, with at least 17 more people beaten, hacked, or burned to death by mobs engaged in what the BBC correspondent calls "sickening brutality" since last month’s contested presidential election. The death toll is nearing 750, the BBC reports, as former UN chief Kofi Annan spent a sixth day in the conflict-ravaged country trying to negotiate a peace deal. More »
- River of Blood Runs in Kenya
  
  Associated Press | Jan 27, 08 7:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenyans were burned alive and hacked to death with machetes as raging ethnic violence in western Kenya claimed another 69 lives in the latest bloodshed since last month's controversial presidential election. Houses were in flames in the tourist getaway of Naivasha today and bodies were stacked up in the morgue in Nakuru, the provincial capital where clashes erupted Thursday and continued through the weekend. More »
- In Kenya, Annan Denounces Violent 'Abuses'
  
  BBC | Jan 26, 08 11:25 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kofi Annan, in Kenya to mediate a settlement to the brutal conflict rocking the country, condemned the "gross and systematic abuses of human rights" he had seen on a tour of the country's worst flashpoints, the BBC reports. Dozens more gruesome deaths were reported today. Annan spoke of displaced families and called on Kenyans to break the cycle of revenge. More »
- Runners Are Targets Amid Kenya Strife
  
  Associated Press | Jan 24, 08 9:29 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Some of the world's best runners have been receiving death threats as conflict continues in their native Kenya, where rumors circulate that the athletes were involved in stirring up ethnic killings. Top Kenyan runners are meeting in the town of Eldoret to discuss their response, the AP reports. "I am scared. We are scared," says a Kenyan athletics official. More »
- Former UN Boss Tackling Kenya Crisis
  
  Reuters | Jan 22, 08 2:57 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan will fly to Kenya today to try to mediate the nation's political crisis and stop the violence. He faces a difficult task. Members of President Mwai Kibaki's cabinet are hostile to mediation, and opposition leader Raila Odinga is in no mood to back down. "I'm the rightful elected president. Kibaki stole his way into power," he told Reuters. More »
- Kenyan Killings 'Planned'
  
  New York Times | Jan 21, 08 5:38 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - As the death toll in Kenya's ongoing ethnic violence continued to mount yesterday, evidence indicates that some of the horrific bloodshed was carefully planned, the New York Times reports. Flyers warned of ethnic killings—now responsible for at least 650 deaths in the past month—even before December's controversial presidential election. Young men were armed by elders, politicians inflamed tensions in speeches, and tribal leaders report holding meetings to plot attacks. More »
- 3 Dead In New Kenya Violence
  
  Reuters | Jan 20, 08 9:40 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - At least three people were hacked to death with machetes and homes were set ablaze in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence in Kenya today between President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuya group and opposition backers of Raila Odinga, Reuters reports. The deaths bring to 31 those killed since Odinga's supporters began three days of anti-government rallies last week. More »
- At Least 13 Dead in Kenyan Protests
  
  Reuters | Jan 18, 08 11:35 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - At least 13 people were killed today in Kenya as police fired into crowds of protesters and rival tribes attacked one another in a continued response to the disputed presidential election, Reuters reports. Today marked the third and final day of oppositional political protests, which were met with lethal force. Police deny they have shot unarmed protesters. More »
- Kenyan Police Fire on Protesters
  
  BBC | Jan 17, 08 8:39 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Kenyan police clashed with protesters in the streets of Nairobi today; opposition leader Raila Odinga claims seven were killed as police fired on angry crowds protesting president Mwai Kibaki’s disputed reelection. One witness said police fired live rounds “indiscriminately,” despite assurances that only batons and teargas were authorized. The BBC confirms at least two deaths in the second of three days of planned protests; four were killed yesterday. More »
- Kenya Braces for More Violence
  
  Reuters | Jan 16, 08 11:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Tensions are rising in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi as angry opposition supporters prepare for three days of protests over the re-election of President Mwai Kibaki in an allegedly rigged ballot. Opposition protests have been banned by the Kibaki regime, triggering concerns that rallies could spark major clashes. Some 600 people have already been killed since the Dec. 27 vote. More »
- Kenyan Prez Lost Vote, Says US Exit Poll
  
  McClatchy Newspapers | Jan 14, 08 2:10 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A US-backed exit poll of voters in last month's Kenyan presidential elections found that incumbent Mwai Kibaki lost resoundingly to challenger Raila Odinga. The poll hasn’t been publicly released yet for unknown reasons, but sources say Odinga came out 8 percentage points ahead—well above the margin of error—throwing further doubt on Kibaki’s already suspicious victory, McClatchy reports. More »
- African Union Can't Resolve Kenya Crisis
  
  Reuters | Jan 10, 08 4:48 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - An attempt to broker an end to the Kenyan crisis failed today when an African Union mission couldn't get opposing sides to agree on how to end the violence, Reuters reports. AU head John Kufuor pressed opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki to settle; after talks disintegrated into finger-pointing, the rivals agreed to work with a panel headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan. More »
- Ethnic Gangs Rile Kenyan Slums
  
  Newsweek | Jan 10, 08 1:37 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The ethnic violence that has ripped through Kenya since December's disputed election is particularly gruesome between gangs in the slums of Nairobi, Newsweek reports. On one side is the self-proclaimed “Taliban,” a group dedicated to protecting their Luo tribe, and imposing order and justice much like their Afghan namesake. Their enemies are the Mungiki, a Kikuyu gang rumored to drink blood during ritualized killings. More »