Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides)- Grave escalation of the Kenyan crisis: for the first time army helicopters opened fire to disperse angry mobs in Naivasha city, Rift Valley, 90 km from Nairobi, the centre of violence in recent days. Eyewitnesses said at least three helicopters intervened reportedly to protect a police station from being attacked by about a hundred people.
“This is a concerning development” said a local Church source which asked not to be named for security reasons. “The situation appears to be getting out of hand even for those who started it. Besides leaving dead, wounded and homeless people, the clashes are destroying the national economy. For example Naivasha is the country's main flower producing area. Thousands are employed in this industry for a ridiculous wage, but now we are in danger of losing this other source of income”.
“What is happening in Kenya is difficult even for Kenyans to understand” the local source told Fides. “This absurd violence is not spontaneous it is clearly organised. For example in the Kisumu area leaflets were distributed urging people not to send children to school. Schools were to reopen in the 28th but they remained closed. The leaflets carried the slogan “No Raila (Odinga) no school”. Besides the absurdity of using schools as a means of protest, what is so amazing is that someone organised the distribution of leaflets in remote villages as far as 60 km from the main town. This shows that an organisation does exist …spontaneous protesters could never organise this sort of capillary distribution over such a vast area”.
With regard to clashes in Naivasha, Fides sources affirm: “we are convinced that the Mungiki are involved with their own agenda, which has nothing to do with ethnic origin or political positions. The Mungiki are Kikuyu, but this ethnic group which supports President Kibabaki has split over a dispute which dates to the time of colonisation. The Mau Mau movement (fighting for national independence), to which the Mungiki refer, was composed of Kikuyu from central Kenya. The British relied on Kikuyu collaborators in the suburbs, particularly in Nairobi, in local administration and police forces. When Kenya obtained independence in 1963, those who took power were these Kikuyu “collaborators”. Nnow the Mungiki claiming the Mau Mau heritage, demand land and more, which they say is theirs by right”.
“This is then a complicated crisis with an international dimension. We recall that Kenya is the pivot nation of east Africa. Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Sudan depend on Kenyan infrastructures for trade with the rest of the world. If Kenya were to plunge into chaos, a possible independence of Southern Sudan for example, would be practically impossible. - So who stands to gain from all this?” our sources wonder. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/1/2008 righe 36 parole 512)
