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thatcrazycajunMy Songbird singing_phoenix called late last night to tell me what some of you may by now have read or heard elsewhere: that even as talks began between the opposing factions in the ongoing dispute over Kenya's presidential election last month, a member of the Kenyan Parliament—Mugabe Were, of defeated(?) challenger Raila Odinga's ODM party—was shot dead in front of his home. ODM partisans are already charging the government with conspiracy in his death. NPR and BBC's websites both have more details on the assassination and on the inter-tribal/party violence it has kicked up at least a couple of notches in the past day.
Then she called later to say she had been forbidden by the security guards in the compound where she lives to leave for work, due to violence erupting in the massive Kibera slum, which lies between her home and her office in Nairobi. They felt her safety could not be assured in transit and so refused to allow her driver to take her to work. She was forced to call in and explain to her boss why she wouldn't be in that day.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is brokering peace talks, in which NPR reported this afternoon that both parties are engaged and dealing in apparent good faith. Both Odinga and his chief opponent, incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, publicly called for their supporters to cease and desist tearing each other and the nation apart. So far, not many appear to be listening, though, as long-standing hatreds between the two dominant Kenyan tribes, the Luo (or Loa, of which Odinga is a member) and the Kikuyu (to which Kibaki belongs), and between them and lesser tribes, boil to the surface. These are old, old hates, passed down generationally and fueled by decades of resentment over economic and social inequities that followed the end of colonial British rule decades ago, and by the suffering of so many in the slums like Kibera, in farm country and smaller towns like Kisumu, not far from Nairobi. CDC had a team in Kisumu that the Birdie tells me have now been evacuated as it becomes one of the most dangerous areas in the country. Nationally, hundreds are already dead, and a full quarter million have been dislocated from their homes and businesses.
SP fears that the MP's killing may well be a tipping point that pushes the chaos past the point of no return. So far, aside from one day's confinement to home, she has not personally been impacted much; today an all-hands meeting at the Nairobi office was scheduled to determine what action CDC should take going forward to ensure the safety of its personnel.
If you believe, pray. If not, send whatever positive energy you can eastward across the Atlantic, that the political dispute be resolved quickly and the violence brought under control or ended soon. She's not the only one gnawing on her nails...
There is no way to peace; peace is the way. —A. J. Muste
singing_phoenix called late last night to tell me what some of you may by now have read or heard elsewhere: that even as talks began between the opposing factions in the ongoing dispute over Kenya's presidential election last month, a member of the Kenyan Parliament—Mugabe Were, of defeated(?) challenger Raila Odinga's ODM party—was shot dead in front of his home. ODM partisans are already charging the government with conspiracy in his death. NPR and BBC's websites both have more details on the assassination and on the inter-tribal/party violence it has kicked up at least a couple of notches in the past day. Then she called later to say she had been forbidden by the security guards in the compound where she lives to leave for work, due to violence erupting in the massive Kibera slum, which lies between her home and her office in Nairobi. They felt her safety could not be assured in transit and so refused to allow her driver to take her to work. She was forced to call in and explain to her boss why she wouldn't be in that day.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is brokering peace talks, in which NPR reported this afternoon that both parties are engaged and dealing in apparent good faith. Both Odinga and his chief opponent, incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, publicly called for their supporters to cease and desist tearing each other and the nation apart. So far, not many appear to be listening, though, as long-standing hatreds between the two dominant Kenyan tribes, the Luo (or Loa, of which Odinga is a member) and the Kikuyu (to which Kibaki belongs), and between them and lesser tribes, boil to the surface. These are old, old hates, passed down generationally and fueled by decades of resentment over economic and social inequities that followed the end of colonial British rule decades ago, and by the suffering of so many in the slums like Kibera, in farm country and smaller towns like Kisumu, not far from Nairobi. CDC had a team in Kisumu that the Birdie tells me have now been evacuated as it becomes one of the most dangerous areas in the country. Nationally, hundreds are already dead, and a full quarter million have been dislocated from their homes and businesses.
SP fears that the MP's killing may well be a tipping point that pushes the chaos past the point of no return. So far, aside from one day's confinement to home, she has not personally been impacted much; today an all-hands meeting at the Nairobi office was scheduled to determine what action CDC should take going forward to ensure the safety of its personnel.
If you believe, pray. If not, send whatever positive energy you can eastward across the Atlantic, that the political dispute be resolved quickly and the violence brought under control or ended soon. She's not the only one gnawing on her nails...
There is no way to peace; peace is the way. —A. J. Muste
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Date: 2008-01-29 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 10:02 pm (UTC)Good thuoghts going out for everyone's safety (but especially hers!)
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Date: 2008-01-29 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:44 am (UTC)Your lady has my prayers hon.. *hugs you*
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Date: 2008-01-30 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 01:48 pm (UTC)For what it's worth
Date: 2008-01-30 03:38 pm (UTC)