AFRICA/KENYA - “The people are hungry. The crisis must end as soon as possible ”

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides)- “Kofi Annan is a realist, thank goodness” said Fides sources in Kenya with regard to resumed talks between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, with the mediation of the former UN secretary general. “ Annan was right when he said it will take two years to restore stability in Kenya and the international community must realise this and continue to help the country find a way out of the crisis”.
“The Kenyan government's rejection of South African mediator Cyril Ramaphosa did not discourage Kofi Annan from going ahead” the sources told Fides. Nairobi refused to accept the businessman, former collaborator with Mandela, because of his presumed financial connections with opposition leader Odinga. “We have no information in this regard, but South African businessmen have many investments in Kenya. So it was no great surprise that Ramaphosa was turned away, this is part of the political game; the Opposition refused at least one mediator for similar reasons” the sources told Fides.
As talks resume tension in the country is still high. According to a report from the local Red Cross in Kenya, the total toll of violence is over 100 dead and 304,000 displaced persons. “To which must be added the fact that the welfare system is collapsing” the sources told Fides. “Normal life must be resumed as soon as possible, people are beginning to feel the pinch of hunger especially in Rift Valley. The transport block has created shortages of food, medicine and prime necessities in various parts of the country. In Rift Valley teachers and doctors belonging to the 'wrong' ethnic group have fled. Schools are closed and hospitals are without personnel”.
At the level of the economy the crisis has temporarily stopped development. “We have great hopes for the development in the field of information with the arrival of optic fibres (see Fides 30/10/2007 and 5/12/2007). We want to be like India. Kenya has people with a good education, degrees in foreign universities, but if violence continues, many will be tempted to go abroad. In normal times the country was impoverished by a brain drain: Kenya's best doctors, researchers and businessmen are in the United States and Europe. If they were to come back and work here the economy would flourish. This is why the crisis must end as soon as possible ” Fides sources conclude. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 5/2/2008 righe 30 parole 427)