Unraveling

18 January 2008



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Kenyan Police Kill Protesters

On December 27, 2007, President Mwai Kibaki either won re-election by a narrow margin, or he stole the election. The opposition leader Raila Odinga has refused to accept the result of that election, and his followers have protested. The government has responded by banning all street demonstrations. For the last three days, Mr. Odinga’s supporters in the Orange Democratic Movement [ODM] have ignored that ban. No fewer than 10 have been shot dead by the police since Wednesday, bringing the total to 50 killed by police.

In all, the government admits to 600 dead since the election results were announced. The ODM says it’s more like 1,000. Neither side has shown much flexibility. The president has named a cabinet including many hardliners, and the ODM has promised through spokesman Salim Lone, “Our rallies will continue until the government sits down with us and seeks a solution... calling off rallies would be admitting defeat.” The chant in the streets of Kenya’s cities has been “No Raila, no peace.”

In the meanwhile, the parliament has met, and in a boost for the opposition, the ODM candidates won the Speaker’s chair and the Deputy Speaker’s job. It took three hours and a few ballots for that to happen. During that time, William Ruto, a quite vocal opposition leader, shouted, “You went into the elections with secret ballots and you stole the vote!” From the government benches came the accusation, “Genocide!”

In the western town of Kisumu, the BBC says, “residents of the Kondele slum set up barricades on a main road, which officers have been trying to clear. TV footage of Wednesday's rally there showed a protester lying on the ground being kicked by a policeman. The man was found dead shortly afterwards with bullet wounds.”

Kenya’s The Nation newspaper editorialized, “When two bulls fight ... it is the grass that suffers. The grass here is the ordinary people of Kenya who have been reduced to expendable cannon fodder as the rich and powerful duel for political supremacy.” Mr. Odinga said yesterday that he would halt the protests if a recount showed Mr. Kibaki won the election. It’s the first sign that the bulls might just get off the grass.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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