Kenya witnessing “genocide on a grand scale.”
Raila Odinga with Kenya’s opposition Orange Democratic Movement called the recent “alleged” political killings by the ruling government there “genocide on a grand scale.” Various reports out of Kenya have children piling up in morgues and I remember hearing reports from local priests this week (Tuesday maybe?) of children setting churches ablaze with scores of people trapped inside and stalking the capital of Nairobi with machetes. The BBC had reports this morning of people being “machete-ed” to death. Now, I’m not going to sit here in my office with my dog laying beside me and pretend I’ve seen it all, but there is nothing more frightening that a drug-crazed teenage boy juiced up on aggression and god knows what else circling a hut with a machete looking to get his rocks off. But I digress …
Apparently, Odinga feels the same way, though, telling journalists “what we have just seen defies description” (he’s referring to the children’s bodies piled up I’m assuming from the church blaze earlier this week). This comes as Odinga was preparing for a large rally against the apparent vote fraud by incumbent President Mwai Kibaki. I was following this during the weekend. Friday, Odinga had a huge lead, by Saturday it was down slightly, but on Sunday the Election Committee in Kenya called it in Kibaki’s favor, so who knows what’s going on with that. So, anyhow, Odinga was preparing for this huge protest, but decided against it in the face of roving police on horseback intimidating gathered citizens and firing live rounds over everyone’s heads. “There are fewer protesters here than there are guards,” said one journalist. Now Odinga hopes to reassemble in Friday in protest of the election results.
Washington is paying lip-service to the issue by sending Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer to put pressure on officials to stop the escalating conflict. Oooh! Say it isn’t so! Not the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs! Now, I realize there are loads of these guys and some of them have some damn impressive backgrounds, but lip-service is lip-service regardless of its originating kisser. I don’t want to put too much credibility into cries of genocide in Kenya, which until recently served as a model for African development, but I also have my International Diplomatic brackets all drawn up for January madness waiting for someone in Brussels or New York to start up with the “never again” speeches. We have someone crying genocide while observing dead babies piling up in the morgue, widespread condemnation of the election results and a whole lot of blather. Someone! Please – send a team in there and let’s get this resolved before the fit hits the shan.
Ya know, I was talking to a colleague once on several things here. One is this theory that this sort of thing is natural for an emerging nation. The United States did it to the Indians, the French did it to themselves, Germany gave it a go and on and on. We will see a Sudan on par with, say, oh, Lebanon in a decade? I can live with that. Another question raised here is the notion of child soldiers. On one hand, it’s pretty vile how these warlords conscript these kids with heroin and all that (ever see Blood Diamond?), but one also has to consider these kids are getting married at 11, so an “adult” in Africa for all intents and purposes is a 14-year-old kid. But still, that doesn’t make seeing one of them wandering around wielding a machete any less frightening, and I suppose that level of exploitation and terror is exactly the point.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Is the entire continent of Africa just hopeless? Seriously I really do wonder. I mean that entire continent has been in the news either about starvation, “genocide” (the new buzz-word for civil war it seems), disease or all three since I was a kid (36 now). Other places in the world have had moments of madness but they’d always settle down relatively quickly.
Is Africa simply incapable of being civilized? Or (perhaps more accurately) is it that the continent has been abused by others for its resources for so long that it has become so difficult to civilize. Because slaying people, especially civilians and rioting because they don’t like a government or elections is not the sign of a civilized society. Politically incorrect to say I know but dangit someone has to just say it like it is.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Thanks for the response. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Is Africa simply incapable of being civilized? Precisely the opposite, that’s my argument. If you look at all of the world’s leading nations, at some point in their history of ascent, they have the black stain of mass atrocity. I see Africa going through its growing pains. Look at Sierra Leone or the Charles Taylor arrests as evidence. I think things like Kenya et al are signs of the struggle for emergence. I mean, you certainly have a valid point regarding imperial abuse, and of course you can look at things like a serious lack of political will (that means you, W), but I think taken in context, I see Africa — or at least certain parts of it — on a (long) path to emergence. It’s taken us nearly 20 years now for Yugoslavia to get past Milosevic, and it may take Africa a bit longer to get past Rwanda.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I was just reading your comments, and being a Indian Kenyan, and neutral in my comments based on observations, i have to respond. As much as Raila Odinga says the govt is carrying out genocide, he very nicely forgets to omit that its his supporters that are carrying out the killing in the name of rigged elections. His people have been targeting people who belong to the Kikuyu tribes. the Kenyan govt has actually informed the police to use minimum force in handling Railas followers, so as not to make the situation worse.
The Kenyan Govt has been very stable for several years, till Raila, who is power hungry, came into the picture. I have heard his supporters insist on getting rid of asians, and killing people if they dont get their way. genocidal people like Raila, who may not even be in power, need to be brought to justice.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am
And just to add on, based on your comments on rigging. It was eveident to all people in Kenya both sides were rigging. Yes, raila was leading the election, as the areas where he is strong got the vote results in first. As soon as the results from Kibakis strongholds starting coming in, and he started catching up, and passed raila, all hell broke loose.
There is an age old animosity between Kikuyus (Kibaki) and luos (Raila). And this has surfaced. As for there being more police than demonstrators, that was because the govt over estimated the Raila following, and instead of very large masses of people, only few turned up, just to add to the proof that Raila is way overrated.
January 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hey, thanks again for taking the time to share things. That’s great that you have such intimate background to share here.
I guess I’ll just add the general comment that you show me a politician who is a saint, and I’ll show you a rose scented lump of ___. I understand this really tears at the heart of some of the post-colonial issues plaguing many regions, but I have to go back to my initial comments that it seems that’s part of the package of emerging as a nation. They are saying Kenya was once the model system in Africa, but regional spill over and the ripple effect that these conflicts seem to have reached even the more pristine systems in Africa. I don’t mean to sanction any side of the argument at all because I simply lack the resources to delve into an analysis of ethnic conflict, but let’s hope Kenya can recover from this in due time. It may make the nation stronger at the end of the day.
As far as the election goes, I was just covering the Georgian elections Sunday and the OSCE sanctioned those as going off with only minor problems. Where’s the scrutiny here? In general, there seems to be a lack of will on the part of the international community to step into these election allegations and make sure everything conforms for modern criteria for a free participatory system. I mean, hell, look at the Russian elections. My dog could have called that one a week ahead of time. Like I said, let’s get some folks in there and get them in there now before the situation spirals out of control and the whole region descends further.
March 5th, 2008 at 12:09 am
[…] Please see my esteemed colleague Dan Graeber’s post’s Kenya descends and Kenya witnessing “genocide on a grand scale.” […]
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 am
As a citizen of the world, I want give a suggestion to the both opposite. as soon as possible stopped the war. We can’t get anything from the war. but we can anything from peace.
Indonesian Peoples.