Kenya in Crisis Day 30: The Black Hole of Violence

The violence continues in Kenya and the death toll has now exceeded 800. It is unclear to me who is counting and whether or not the group is accurate. I believe that there is too much chaos in the country to give an accurate count, however there is no doubt that a lot of folks have died...

Gangs of youths armed with machetes and clubs fought running battles with police on Sunday and burned tribal rivals alive in their homes in western Kenya, pushing the death toll from a month of escalating ethnic violence to nearly 800.


Sunday marked exactly one month since the Dec. 27 disputed president election which sparked the violence that has transformed this once-stable African country, pitting longtime neighbors against each other and turning towns where tourists used to gather for luxury holidays into no-go zones.

In response to one of my previous entries, I received this comment

Three of the happiest years of my life were spent living and working in Kenya, I now live in northern Uganda but keep close ties with my Kenyan friends. I disagree profoundly with your description of the current crisis as being merely tribal and something therefore peculiarly African.

It is important to understand that this crisis is not merely anything. The commenter says that they spent time there and they go onto give very good detail of the roots of this crisis. This crisis is very complicated and has elements of class, politics, as well as criminality. My point is that the people of Kenya have chosen tribalism over nationalism. Right now, neighbors are killing neighbors based on tribal affiliation. In other words, very few consider themselves Kenyans now. Instead they consider themselves Kikuyu or Luo or anyone of about twenty tribes that are in Kenya.

This was certainly a difficult concept for me to initially understand myself however tribes have no national identity. The same tribes that are battling each other in Kenya can be found throughout the continent of Africa. Their leaders are likely located in other countries. The two so called leaders, Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki, don't control their respective tribes, Kikuyu and Luo. In fact, the opposition is made up of a collection of tribes. Right now the tribal warfare pits the Kikuyu against most of the other tribes in the nation.

In order to bring this violence under control all those folks with machetes need to see someone they see as a leader call for an end to the violence. Neither of the two men can claim that mantle. They can claim leadership to the country of Kenya but right now that country is more and more in name only.

As the country decays further and further into chaos it grows closer and closer to genocide. The turmoil continues.