Kenya in Crisis Day 32: A Broken Record

There are more scene of violence with men carrying machetes butchering each other. Violence caused by machetes has now become an all too common occurrence in Kenya.

Kenyan military helicopters swooped to break up machete-wielding mobs on Tuesday as the killing of an opposition legislator stoked bloody protests across the
east African country.

About a dozen people were killed on Tuesday, bringing the toll to more than 850 since President Mwai Kibaki's disputed December 27 election triggered violence that has now taken on an ethnic momentum of its own.

Post-election protests have degenerated into cycles of killing between tribes who have never reconciled divisions over land, wealth and power left by British colonial rule and exacerbated by politicians in 44 years of independence.

The crisis has cost Kenya its reputation as a bastion of peace in a turbulent region, and dented its previously flourishing economy, east Africa's largest.

I think the last paragraph is the understatement of all understatements. At this point the last thing anyone should be worrying about is Kenya's reputation, and any story that makes a point of it, is in my opinion missing the point.

The latest flare up was spurned by the murder of an opposition law maker.

Gunmen killed an opposition lawmaker in Nairobi on Tuesday, triggering a new flare-up of the ethnic fighting that has gripped Kenya since its disputed presidential election and dimming hopes for negotiations to end the month-long standoff.

Mugabe Were, who was shot to death as he drove home, was among a slew of opposition members who won seats in the legislative vote held at the same time as the presidential election. The opposition, which won the most seats in parliament, accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the presidential vote.

As the murders become more rampant, more extreme, and more significant, the situation becomes more desperate. I still haven't seen anything that makes me believe that we are headed for anything but an all out genocide. All of the so called diplomacy from President Bush, to Senator Obama, to other world leaders appears to me to be window dressing. Case in point, the next paragraph.

Meanwhile, Kofi Annan has begun formal mediations.

Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday opened formal mediation to end Kenya's post-election crisis, pulling together both sides to strike a political deal and stanch violence threatening to spiral out of control.

Annan opened the meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi flanked by President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. Western nations have urged both sides -- who appear far apart -- to take the talks seriously or risk losing aid.

"There is only one Kenya," Annan said as he spoke to open the ceremony. "The crisis has a profound and negative impact on the social fabric of Kenya, on the Kenyan economy."

I will not make any crude and inappropriate remarks about Annan's ability to mediate this crisis and merely say I have my doubts about what he can accomplish. Odinga's quote is diplomatic however I am of the opinion that there is no more Kenya. There are only tribes, and Odinga doesn't lead any of them. By meeting with the leaders of each faction, it seems to me as though Annan is missing the basic dynamic of the crisis. I believe these two could walk into the middle of Nairobi and have tea together and it wouldn't do much. This is no longer political and mostly tribal. In order to stop it, the leaders of each tribe need to be mediated, and that isn't who Annan is meeting with.