Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Kenya violence and its politics

Just wanted to let you know what's going on here.

First, I am still perfectly safe. I am completely secluded in the mountains (Taita Hills) surrounding Voi. Complete hell could break out in Kenya and I wouldn't notice a thing. If it does the peace corps has good evacuation plans, so don't worry.

As for the rest of Kenya, things have gotten worse... The death toll I think is over 200 with at least 74,000 displaced. "President" Kibaki has not given any indication that he will relinquish power and Raila (his opponent) is not letting up either. And why should they? It's obvious that both sides took part in rigging the vote, so it's hard to tell who won. None of the western powers recognize either leader.

I have colleagues in Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu and Nairobi. Some of them are stuck right now. They have heard gunfire and grenades outside of the hotels where they are staying.

On Thursday Raila has called for a march on Nairobi, and although both leaders are asking that all demonstrations be peaceful, there's a good chance that things will get even worse.

So, it's pretty tough to say what will happen from here. In the last election Kibaki won with almost no opposition. There was rioting for two weeks. I don't know when the current rioting will end. If things get too bad, of course, I will have to come home. Needless to say I'm pretty bummed out about that possibility. I mean, there are very few people that I've talked here (and I like to talk a lot about politics) that have any decent grasp on the politics. If Raila says he will give jobs to all the young people, they believe it. They are completely delusional and now they are ruining this country (and my job) because of it.

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