KENYA: Opposition supporters flee from pro-kibaki industrial town in central Kenya

Record ID: 361623

  • Title: KENYA: Opposition supporters flee from pro-kibaki industrial town in central Kenya
  • Date: 1st February 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLICE SUPERINTENDENT THIKA DISTRICT, OSBORN MWAWAZA SAYING: "I found out that there was no any cause for alarm. It is just kind of fear which is there with the public but we have built their confidence that they should not worry, and that we have taken care, we have beefed the patrol, we have beefed the security, and that we have intensified our patr
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9GH038JY142DL6MULKU9XQD6E
  • Story Text: People of other ethnic communities flee from the Kikuyu-dominated central Kenya town of Thika after receiving threats.
    Over a hundred people crowded into main police station in Thika, Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins on Thursday (January 31), carrying piles of belongings - trunks, white sacks, furniture, blue plastic drums.
    Mary Obong'o, Luo, lived in outskirts of Thika for 40 years. Now, she is in the police station for two days. Wearing a flower t-shirt, green wrap around head.

    "We were chased away from the plot where we were living. A letter was given to us stating that by 31st January all Luo community people must leave that area and that they should never be go back to Thika again. That's when we came here. Yesterday we had planned to go back and collect our belongings that we left behind, but they have already burnt what we left behind. Now we have nothing. They have locked even locked the some of what we left behind and if you go and try to claim it they can even slash with machetes," she said from inside the police station.
    Osborn Mwawaza, head of police operations for Thika district, said they have over 1,700 people hiding in police stations.

    "I found out that there was no any cause for alarm. It is just kind of fear which is there with the public but we have built their confidence that they should not worry, and that we have taken care, we have beefed the patrol, we have beefed the security, and that we have intensified our patrols," said Mwawaza.
    Many Kenyans fear what will happen if mediation by former U.N.
    secretary general Kofi Annan's mediation fails to strike a deal between Kibaki and his rival Odinga, who says vote-rigging stole his victory.
    Jendayi Frazer, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, said this week violence had degenerated into ethnic cleansing in parts of the Rift Valley and that she wanted to see power-sharing.
    Annan launched formal mediation between Kibaki's Party of National Unity and ODM on Tuesday (January 29), each side represented by a team of three -- both a mix of moderates and hardliners.
    Kibaki, 76, says he is the legally elected president, but is open to sharing power. Odinga, 63, says he was robbed by fraud during the vote count and wants Kibaki to stand down or allow a new election after a period of power-sharing.
    Kenya's unrest may have been triggered by an election dispute but the tinder for ethnic conflict was there and has burned before at elections in 1992 and 1997.
    Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe were the first to be attacked, and are now seeking revenge on Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins who largely back Odinga in tit-for-tat attacks.
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