Refering to the above article in teh Nation, I congratulate the author for being able to speak up and say what many Kenyans think should happen. We are all tired of the injustice that has engulfed our beautiful nation. A peaceful nation torn to shreds by the political ambitions of power hungry individuals looking to better their salaries while the rest of the Kenyans starve to death or are hacked to death. It took millions of Kenyans to build our nation to what is was and only a few hundred to destroy it. If anyone has any idea how we can implement the author's suggestion, please do share it! It may be our last hope!

taz,

we got extremly bad news this afternoon:

armee helicopters started fireing into demonstrators in naivasha. this was the first time that the armee got involved - so the news agency.
seems kibaki plays all cards now..............

Slaying of lawmaker sparks further chaos

January 29 2008 at 10:39AM

By Sophie Nicholson

Nairobi - The slaying of a Kenyan opposition lawmaker sparked mayhem Tuesday across the country already reeling from spiralling violence set off by disputed elections a month ago.

Police fired tear gas and hundreds took to the streets of opposition strongholds in western Kenya and Nairobi's slums to protest the murder of opposition MP Mugabe Were from Nairobi's Embakasai constituency.

Heavily-armed police patrolled two recent western Rift Valley flashpoints of violence, the lakeside towns of Nakuru and Naivasha, where scores have died in gruesome attacks in recent days, pushing the overall death toll since the December 27 election to more than 900.

'This is a very dark day for our country'
Plumes of smoke rose from Naivasha's slums and machete-wielding youths burned houses and roamed the streets, an AFP correspondent said.

Amid the chaos, a mediating team led by Kofi Annan, which has been in Kenya for a week, said it would launch formal dialogue between President Mwai Kibaki and his opposition rival Raila Odinga at 4.00pm (13H00 GMT) in Nairobi.

Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement appealed for calm and restraint following the death of their lawmaker which police said was probably linked to the dispute over Kibaki's reelection.

"This is a new kind of violence but let's call again on people to be peaceful and to only respond to this kind of violence by shunning violence," said Salim Lone, spokesperson for the ODM of Raila Odinga - who claims he was robbed of the presidency.

"This is a very dark day for our country," he added after the first killing of a lawmaker or government official since the clashes began.

Were "was shot outside his house" by gunmen, a police commander, who asked not to be named, told AFP earlier.

"It appears it is linked to post-election violence, but we are investigating," he added.

Police fired tear gas and live rounds in Kisumu, Odinga's western stronghold, where hundreds gathered to vent their anger.

"First they started killing the ordinary people like us, now they are killing our leaders, we won't accept it," one demonstrator, Justus Othieno, told AFP.

Hundreds also gathered to protest on the streets of Were's Embakasi constituency.

Thousands continued to flee their homes in western Kenya fearing ethnic reprisals, adding to more than a quarter of a million people already displaced in the first clashes set off by the widely-contested election.

Initial political protests have since been confused with latent ethnic, economic and land disputes, shattering the image and economy of the east African nation in some of the worst violence since independence in 1963.

Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe suffered heavily in the first wave of violence from members of Odinga's Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, but have since carried out numerous revenge attacks.

As mediation efforts were undermined by the spiralling violence, US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said Monday in Washington that Kenyan leaders must work together to reach a political agreement before the chaos goes "from bad to worse."

The European Union warned it would cut aid to Kenya unless Kibaki and Odinga showed they were seeking a solution to the crisis.

Commonwealth chief Don McKinnon said he was disturbed but said most members wanted to help Kenya out of its turmoil rather than suspend it from their club.

He admitted that "clearly real problems" persisted despite Annan's mediation efforts but told AFP in an interview in Washington: "No one who has been there so far has made any difference."

Kenyan police have been heavily criticised by the public for failing to stop the upsurge in tribal violence in the Rift Valley.

"We want to remove the Luos from this place because they have removed us from Kisumu and Eldoret (western towns where Kikuyus were attacked in the first wave of violence)," one young Kikuyu said as he fought Luos armed with planks and sticks on the lakeside of Naivasha, a tourist spot famed for its wildlife.

"They've said 'no Raila, no peace', now we are saying 'no Kibaki, no peace'." - Sapa-AFP

www.iol.co.za

Yes, it it true that the helicopters were used and yes, a MP was murdered.
It will take a lot more than just dialogue by the two parites to bring about peace in this nation again.

Taz:

These men have both shown that neither is deserving enough to lead Kenya forward. Neither are their associates who keep egging them on.

The thing that bothers me the most is what it has done to the people, not only with the killings and rapes, but with everything, no homes, no jobs, no food, no medicines, no freedom. Even if the fighting were to stop immediately, it will take a long, long time for Kenyans to again start to trust one another and be willing to work with one another.

I just think of some of the places I have stayed in Kenya that had a mixture of Kamba, Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu, Maasai, Samburu, Muslim, and Indian employees and probably many others that I wasn't aware of - and they all got along together. Now if and when business gets busy again, will they be able to work along
side each other without hostility?

I will be there next week and I don't really know what to expect. It will be a far different trip than I've experienced before.

Jan, from what I heard, you probably won't notice anything at all. Most of the violence seems to take place in Kisumu area. Much of the violence seems to have it's roots in fights over land which Kikuyu apparently took from Luo. This all dates back a long time ago. The elections were only the "cherry on the cake" that triggered revenge - followed by counter-revenge...