180,000 Kenyans Displaced

[AbdiWahab252]

Kenya's humanitarian crisis grows

The UN says half a million Kenyans urgently need help

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At least 180,000 people have been displaced by unrest as the humanitarian crisis grows after last week's disputed election in Kenya, say UN officials.

Some have been housed in makeshift camps while others have sought refuge in police stations or churches, fleeing violence that has claimed 350 lives.

In badly-affected western Kenya nearly all the refugees are hungry, and several children have died of exposure.

A top UN official in Nairobi says about 500,000 Kenyans need urgent help.

The UN World Food Programme said it was scrambling to bring food to 100,000 displaced people in the Rift Valley area.

'High hatred levels'

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is set to distribute the food, issued an international appeal for aid.

See Kenya's ethnic divisions by province

"The level of hatred is very high. Violence of tribal origin is the worst - it knows no limits and is extremely difficult to quell," said Alexandre Liebeskind, deputy head of ICRC operations for the Horn of Africa.


We are profoundly alarmed by the reports of incitement to racial hatred and the growing frictions between the different ethnic groups in Kenya
UN rights experts' statement

Can Tutu heal the wounds?
Diplomacy falters
In pictures: After the violence

Opposition protests appeared to falter on Friday while the government said it might accept a fresh election, but only if it was ordered by a court.

The officially-declared results of the 27 December presidential poll - giving victory to incumbent President Mwai Kibaki over opposition rival Raila Odinga - unleashed a wave of violence.

Protesters furious at alleged electoral fraud, went on the rampage, killing scores of people and torching churches, businesses and homes.

A statement by a group of independent UN rights experts on Friday said: "We are profoundly alarmed by the reports of incitement to racial hatred and the growing frictions between the different ethnic groups in Kenya."

The BBC's Karen Allen in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret says the Catholic Church is now spearheading a co-ordinated relief effort to get blankets, tents and food to around 30,000 local people who have been made homeless.

'Blackmail'

The secretary-general of Mr Odinga's opposition ODM party called on Friday for fresh polls within three months and said the current electoral commission should not be involved.

"The current crisis is not caused by the Kenyan people - it is caused by Kibaki and his henchmen, who messed up the result after the Kenyan people had voted," Anyang Nyongo told the BBC.

On Friday 4 Janaury, relatives transport a woman who broke her leg during the violence in Nairobi
Kenya has been dogged by ethnic tensions since independence

A Kenyan government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said Mr Kibaki was not in principle opposed to fresh elections but said the opposition's three-month deadline smacked of "blackmail".

"We would accept even another election, as long as the constitution is followed," he told Reuters news agency.

The opposition had earlier dismissed the prospect of taking its complaints to the courts.

Flexibility

The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Nairobi says both government and opposition are now trying to show more flexibility.

After a meeting with Mr Kibaki, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the president seemed prepared to consider a national unity government.

"The president was not averse to the idea of coalitions - but clearly there has to be an acceptance that there is a governing authority," Mr Tutu was quoted as saying by Reuters.

In other developments:

* Top US diplomat Jendayi Frazer arrived in Kenya for talks aimed at bringing the two sides together

* French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he believed the Kenyan elections had been rigged

Tourists queue at Mombasa's international airport on Friday 4 January
The unrest hits Kenya's tourism as visitors cut short holidays

In Nairobi on Friday, the security forces appeared to have succeeded for a second day in blocking a planned opposition rally from happening. They sealed off Uhuru (Freedom) Park, the venue for the proposed protests.

Thousands of police were deployed around the city, though fewer than on Thursday, when tear gas and water cannon were deployed against protesters.

And with traffic back on the streets, some shops and businesses have re-opened, as the city attempts to return to something like a normal life.

While the recent trigger for the troubles was the election, Kenyan politics has been dogged by ethnic tensions since independence in 1963.

Mr Kibaki depends heavily on support from the largest ethnic group, the Kikuyus, while the western Luo and Kalenjin groups - who are seeking greater autonomy - back Mr Odinga.

[zulaika]

Somalia should close its border to the fleeing flock of displaced Kenyans. .lol.

[AbdiWahab252]

Zulaika,

Most definately.

I do feel sorry for all those Tanzanian Qaxootis in Xamar who fled Zanzibar in 2003. Just when they settled down in Somalia, the Ethiopian invasion has displaced them.

More Kenya News:


Kenya violence: University living in fear
Caesar Wamalika, chaplain at the University of Eastern Africa in Baraton, in Kenya's Rift Valley, spoke to the BBC to give a personal account of how a crowd of more than 1,000 people threatened to storm his campus unless some ethnic groups left.

Caesar Wamalika
Caesar Wamalika says he and his colleagues are threatened daily
It all began soon after the election results were announced. A number of groups from the local community broke into war songs and raided the shopping centre next to the university.

They looted all the shops that belong to Kikuyus and Kisiis. Then they broke into the rented off-campus houses of some students and then a crowd of about 1,000 people surged to the university gate and shouted that they wanted to storm the university.

They demanded that all Kikuyus, Kambas, Meru, and Kisii people leave the university within two hours. That was the only way to save the university from being stormed.

They said they would stay at the gate until their demands were met. Three armed policemen arrived and spent time negotiating with the crowd. Finally the police advised us to evacuate the named ethnic groups.


All of them are armed with machetes, bows and arrows. Some are drunk and others baying for blood

We put those specified faculty and students, numbering about 250, into three university vehicles and they were taken to Kapsabet Police station under police escort. They have been there for four days. Several attempts have been made to take them home.

The police tried and take them to Eldoret international airport but there were too many road blocks set up by different gangs and so they had to return to the police station. There is no way anyone can get out.

The situation at the police station is not good. There is no food or clean water, but their worst fear is the possibility of the station being stormed, as such threats have been made. The police are few and overstretched.

There are about 300 faculty members from the Luo and Luhyia community, international workers and students who are still holed up within the campus with me.

We have been having daily threats from the crowds of people outside the campus. On one occassion, we had to give a bull for them to slaughter to guarantee us peace.

It is a nightmare to meet them. All of them are armed with machetes, bows and arrows. Some are drunk and others baying for blood. I have never seen anything like this. One needs to be diplomatic when speaking to them.

Protesters in Nairobi
Violence swept the country after the elections
We have managed to succeed in pleading with the militia to allow us transport to send food to those at the police station. It took three hours to go through road blocks to reach Kapsabet, which is only 15 km away.

There has been a change of heart from some commanders and militia leaders who have the university's adminstration. They said that on humanitarian grounds, the faculty with children and pregnant mothers should be allowed to return to the campus.

They also told us students of the other communities should also be allowed back. It sounded like good news. We shook hands. We asked them to transport food to Kapsabet. They agreed and used their own vehicles.

Locked in

But the food never arrived. We then found out that the militia who were escorting the food had been beaten and their vehicles smashed by another group.

That is the problem we are facing - having to negotiate with different militia groups who all have their own separate terms that we have to try and fulfil. The roadblocks are manned by between 100 and 500 people - in some major road blocks you will have a thousand.

This morning, as a political rally was announced, the crowd came again to the university gate, this time demanding that we join them in a mass demonstration. We feared being put on the front line and probably be first to face the armed police.

Our University public relations officer managed to negotiate with them to leave - but they have chained the main gate, locked it and gone away with the key. No vehicle can get in or out of the campus now. We pray that they don't come again to force us out.

There is a shortage of essential items. Nowhere to buy food, we don't have telephone calling cards and there is no fuel. The market is deserted and shops are closed. While the situation is calming down, there is still fear of what the next day might bring. We are still making efforts to escort our faculty safely away from the police station.