I should title this ... and here we go again!

Just to please you all after our joyous little occassion of festivities yesterday after the naming of the extremely large cabinet of over 100 ministers (with 40 ministries and god knows how many assistants for each), and now with a heavy head I'm afraid this is what we've woken up with today ......


Dear Friends:

Following the skirmishes that were reported this morning, this is the current security update as at 1130 hrs from KK Security:

Situation in Nairobi
Runda / Ruaka / Ndenderu – The situation has normalized and public transport has resumed.

Thika Road – Police have the situation under control. Public transport has resumed. A security crackdown is underway in Mathare North.

Kikuyu – Transit goods trucks have blocked the road out of Kikuyu leading to traffic blockages. The trucks had their tyres deflated at Gitaru. Police are working to clear the road. Public transport has been disrupted. There are reports of roadblocks at Feed the Children Junction and at Dagoretti.

Kariobangi / Dandora / Juja Rd area – The area is a hot-bed of Mungiki activities and there have been reports of vehicles burnt. Police patrols have been intensified and there are reports of a security operation against Mungiki in the area.

Githurai / Zimmermann / Kahawa West – In the morning, the roads had been blocked. There was gunfire as police cleared the road. The situation has normalized and there are police roadblocks. Public transport has resumed.

Enterprise Rd – There were running battles between the Police and the Mungiki in the morning and there were gunshots heard, so far the situation has calmed down as it’s a game of hide and seek.


Situation across other Towns

At least 10 suspected Mungiki have been gunned down by police across Nairobi, Central and Rift Valley provinces. Nine have been killed by police, two by Mungiki.

• In Makadara a man was hacked to death overnight.
• In Kariobangi estate two suspects burning cars were shot dead.
• On Kirinyaga road, another suspect was killed
• In Eldoret, two suspects have been shot dead.
• Naivasha recorded one death. Another was killed on the Nairobi-Nakuru road.
• Two suspects were killed in both Ruiru and Murang’a.
• Thirty vehicles and a petrol station were set ablaze in Embakasi.
• In Nakuru, two vehicles were set ablaze in Bahati by Mungiki who barricaded the Nakuru-Nyahururu road.
  

Cause of Disturbances
Mungiki are reported to be protesting against the killing of jailed sect leader Maina Njenga’s wife and his driver last week. The protests are also to pressurize the government to release the sect leader from prison. This morning, a group calling itself the Kenya National Youth Alliance claimed responsibility for the disturbances.



More reports to follow as they come

Which way forward for Kenya?

Every day we wake up, we have to have some kind of optimism deep in our hearts that makes us want to drag ourselves out of bed and continue with this endless uncertainty that we have to live with, as it seems we no longer have a clue what each day may bring.

Just Thursday I met up with one of ex-staff who lives in Nakuru and when I asked her if everything was ok up her way, she said “Yes, she was very well, and where she lives they had had no trouble at all and it was only further north from her where things were bad.” Imagine what it was like for her waking up Friday morning, luckily still in Nairobi, but to hear that total mayhem had broken out in her home town and that she no longer had a home to return to.

One of my regular readers has his parents and younger sisters living in Nakuru town and had been trying all day Friday to get in touch with them but to no avail and was in turmoil. He finally got hold of his father and he left me this comment this afternoon that I hope he doesn’t mind that I share with you all as it really tells you what exactly is happening on the ground in Nakuru right now;

“nakuru is in a bad way. what people saw is scary. what they didn't is scarier i am told. mungiki have been sent up there to revenge. the luo and luhya are joining up with kalenjin militia(yes that word) who now have AKs and have also descended on the city. that i am told is the reason the army is out there. So both groups proceeded to wreck havoc in their tried and tested modus operandi…mungiki decapitating people in the town centre and kalenjins burning perceived kikuyu estates to flush out kyuks who were then either stoned, shot at with arrows and AKs. The one difference is the estates that were wiped out-bangladesh and githima (near total junction) are lower middle class estates. So it’s not just a slum problem as in nbi. and far as I know there are lots of asians in the former and lots of non kyuks in the latter-just collateral damage I suppose. where my parents live most of our neighbours are kyuks. Sitting ducks? needless to say my dad and us out here are kinda scared but we’ll keep praying.”

(To fill you in a little here to explain some of what he has been told – ‘mungiki’ are a Kikuyu gang that is well known for murder, extortion and racketeering, and ‘kyuks’ is the sheng name for the Kikuyu tribe of people.)

Kofi Annan went out early this morning and flew over the Nakuru, Eldoret and Molo areas in the western regions of Kenya where there has been the most trouble. He held a press conference when he got back into Nairobi and said he was heartbroken by what he saw. He said there were “gross and systematic human rights abuses” and he urged the government “to do all it can to increase security and ensure those responsible for perpetuating these acts are held to account.” He also asked the government to seek redress for the victims of this violence, compensate them and assist them to return to their homes. (All great ideas but surely we need to know which direction is forward first?)

On Thursday when Kofi Annan finally got Kibaki and Raila to meet face to face, I understand that one of the only things they really all agreed on was that the force used by the police in order to try and quell this violence was excessive. I now hear that in Nakuru the residents were complaining that the police did nothing to help save their homes and their people but just stood by and watched.

The thing is that, although I am certainly not endorsing the way the police have been reacting to try and control the violence that has been going on, I’m not really sure what they are now expected to do in these situations. I totally agree that in the beginning when there were protests, they really where mainly peaceful and I do believe the police did most definitely fire live rounds unnecessarily and innocent people lost their lives when they certainly shouldn’t have. But now this is completely different surely. I understand from a friend’s driver the other day who was in a bus being escorted by police, that when they were attacked by a mob of about 200 wielding machetes and bows and arrows, even when the police opened fire on them, they couldn’t care less and just kept running at them and actually hacked to death two passengers before the bus could get away.

So now the police are afraid to open fire, tear gas does nothing to disperse these people as they have all learnt that (apparently – please do NOT try this at home), if you put Vicks Vapour Rub under your eyes, it combats the effects of the tear gas, if they use their batons to beat anyone, chances are if they are that close to these perpetrators, they will be hacked to death or shot with a poisoned arrow, so how on earth do they stop this continuous murder?

What slightly worries me also, although I should probably not let thoughts like this come out of my head, lest they come true, but surely not all of the police force or army voted Kibaki for President, and if that is the case, there must be some disgruntlement within the ranks of who is right and who is wrong in all of this. Now if those who do disagree get together and fight back, what happens then?

Goodness I should stop all this speculating and not let these thoughts escape from the recesses of my brain, but hey if I can’t tell you lot, who can I say it to?

Please always remember that whatever I write here is just what I hear and what I think and I cannot verify anything apart from what I have seen with my own eyes (as I’m not sure the press always get its 100% either). It is entirely my own opinion and you may agree or disagree as you wish as I would like to say that as Kenyans, we shall live in a democracy no matter what these b…….s do to us!

Tribal warfare ....

This report has just come to me through Reuters, and it tells of what has happened just this morning;
I can't comment really except to say that I think we are begin to live our worst nightmares, and we need to plead with all our hearts to those leaders to help stop this NOW !



Violence in Kenya's Rift Valley kills 7

Source: Reuters

NAIROBI, Jan 25 (Reuters) -

At least seven people have been killed in ethnic clashes around Nakuru town in Kenya's volatile Rift Valley, witnesses said on Friday.
In the latest unrest since a disputed Dec. 27 election, members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group were fighting with Luos and Kalenjins perceived as supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga, residents said.
"We can no longer stand back and watch as our brothers are killed in Eldoret while the Luos and Kalenjins have fun in Nakuru," said bus conductor Dennis Kariuki, referring to past killings of Kikuyus around Eldoret town, also in the Rift Valley.
"We have vowed that for every Kikuyu killed in Eldoret, we shall kill two Kalenjins who are living in Nakuru town."
Another witness, Joel Okumu, said his house was targeted in the town on Thursday night.
"The attack was sudden and well planned as they knew which house to burn despite the darkness," he said. "
As I was escaping, I saw two bodies with deep cuts by the roadside and I am sure there are many more as the violence went on for the better part of the night."

(Reporting by Antony Gitonga; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Wangui Kanina)