Kenya election sparks riots
by John Syratt

In the last few days of 2007, the east African nation of Kenya exploded in a convulsion of ethnic violence following claims of a rigged election.

The chaos erupted after candidate Raila Odinga and his supporters accused incumbent President Mwai Kibaki of falsifying the results of the Dec 27 presidential election.

What began as a political protest rapidly boiled into something much more sinister: ethnic conflict. The election was also a competition between the country’s two largest ethnic groups – the Luo, who support Odinga, and the Kikuyu, who back Kibaki.

TIME magazine reported that the two groups have been wary of each other since Kenya achieved independence from Britain in 1963, and the Luo have never held the presidency. With their candidate leading in early polls, the Luo were poised to celebrate a historic victory. Instead, Odinga’s nearly 1 million-vote lead vanished amid reports of improbably high voter turnout in Kibaki strongholds. Kibaki was hastily sworn in.

In the ensuing turmoil on the first day of 2008, angry mobs rampaged in the Rift Valley’s Kiambaa village near the town of Eldoret, attacking the Kikuyu tribe of the President.

The mob shut dozens in a church, blocked the door with a mattress and set the church on fire, residents said. Up to 50 people, many of them women and children, burned to death while the attackers chased others into the surrounding fields, hacking at them with machetes.

In the aftermath police officers helped clear bodies from the church and surrounding area. "God help us," muttered one officer, shaking his head.

One witness who was hiding in the fields nearby said later, "We couldn’t do anything, there were too many."

At first there were major concerns among Christian missions groups that the violence would be directed at them. Some pastors and missionaries did have to leave the area for safety reasons.

Murray Schmidt, a former Medicine Hat, AB pastor who’s been serving with his wife and children as missionaries with Africa Inland Mission in Kenya, wrote, "... people in Canada should be assured that missionaries and other expatriates are not the target of any of this violence even though, as you have seen, some churches have been burned."

Schmidt went on to ask that Christians in Canada be mobilized to pray for Kenya.

The price of food and gasoline has risen, as goods have slowed coming from Mombasa port due to possible insecurity. And many are still afraid to leave their homes, as thieves threaten to break in and take what little they have. So many are without money because no one has been able to work during the uproar and are therefore without food.

In a recent statement, the head of the World Council of Churches, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, a Kenyan, called on Kibaki and his opponent Raila Odinga to "put the interests of the nation and the surrounding region above other concerns."

Kobia also urged churches in Kenya to "do their part in pursuing the common good of their communities and country" by fulfilling their role "in ensuring respect for human life and seeking reconciliation between neighbors."

A Canadian aid agency, cbm (formerly known as Christian Blind Mission International), through its staff and regional office in Nairobi is providing emergency assistance to the humanitarian crisis in Kenya. The rioting has left over 500 people dead and it’s estimated that around 500,000 people have lost their homes through the widespread violence.

"There is an urgent need of food, shelter and health services, and cbm will provide immediate financial assistance through our partners to help people in the region," announced Dave McComiskey, Executive Director of cbm Canada.

"Experience tells us the longer the crisis continues, the greater the long term consequences to people’s livelihood," McComiskey continued. "People with disabilities are often those who suffer the most as they are unable to flee from danger, find food when it is in short supply, and they suffer greatly from the longer term economic repercussions of civil unrest."

Intercede International, another Canadian Christian aid organization, has received urgent appeals from four indigenous partner ministries in Kenya.

One of those pastors, Timothy Kinyua, leader of Kenya-based Cornerstone Evangelistic Ministries wrote, "Thanks for your faithful prayer for our beloved country. Normalcy is returning but many families are much affected by the after-election violence. Almost everyone in the country is affected in one way or another. I have never witnessed such violence before. God is answering prayers as calm is returning, although many people are living in great fear."

One positive outcome of these recent events is that people all across Kenya are attending church, praying for a peaceful end to the crisis that has swept through their country. Most want to get back to work and get on with their lives.