AFRICA/KENYA - “We need to resolve the drama of those who have lost their homes, as soon as possible,” says Kofi Annan, mediator in the Kenyan political crisis

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – “The situation of the internal refugees is in the mind of all Kenyans. We need to find a solution as soon as possible.” These were the words of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in manifesting his concern for the fate of 80,000 Kenyans who have still not yet been able to return to their homes, from which they fled due to the violence experienced at the beginning of the year (see Fides 7/1/2008).
Kofi Annan, who served as mediator in the political crisis (see Fides 28/2/2008) that led to violent conflict, is now in Kenya to receive the “Krieger Report,” an investigation on the origins and responsibilities of the confrontation between President Kibaki and current Prime Minister Raila Odinga over the results of the presidential elections in December 2007.
According to the local press, which takes statistics from government sources and the Red Cross, there are over 84,000 people in Kenya living in refugee camps and another 220,000 reliant on the Red Cross for their survival.
The government in Kenya began a reincorporation program for refugees in May (called “Rudi Nyumbani,” in Swahili: “return home”) that calls for the movement of thousands of people spread out in provisional camps in their local regions. The 129 provisional camps, distributed throughout the country, currently hold 76,400 people.
The conflict in January and February has caused the death of over 1,000 people and the flight of over 350,000 people from their homes, the majority towards rural areas. This is how entire harvests have been ruined, leading hundreds of thousands of Kenyans to turn to the government and humanitarian organizations for help. The need now is to reincorporate as many farmers as possible now, not only so that Kenya can respond to its food crisis (see Fides 18/9/2008), but also so as to prevent internal refugees from adding on the already-large population of poor people living in the slums of Nairobi and other cities in the country. The “provisional” camps will have to be careful not to become new slums in which the inhabitants run the risk of being prey for criminals, etc.
There have been several programs recently begun for the reconstruction of homes. In the Rift Valley, for example, the Red Cross is helping to build thousands of new houses. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 26/9/2008)