KENYA: Hundreds of people uprooted from their homes during post-election violence last year still residing in temporary shelters

Record ID: 453198

  • Title: KENYA: Hundreds of people uprooted from their homes during post-election violence last year still residing in temporary shelters
  • Date: 25th December 2008
  • Summary: CLOSE OF NYAMBURA SCARS ON NYAMBURA'S HAND MORE OF IDPs TALKING
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2XGTHJVRHT956QZIT25AP8J4Z
  • Story Text: It is going to be difficult for 26-year-old Nancy Nyambura to move on with her life because of the physical and emotional scars she carries.
    Most people at this camp in Limuru, central Kenya feel the same way.
    They were injured during the ethnic violence that erupted after the country's presidential elections were disputed late last year.
    At the time, Nyambura who is a Kikuyu was in Eldoret -- an area originally inhabited by the Kalenjin community. Since independence the distribution of power and land has been contentious, with many Kenyans accusing Kikuyus of monopolising the country's wealth.
    Eldoret had voted against President Kibaki and when people here heard he had won they turned against his community. Nancy and others were forced to flee to a local church to escape.
    The mob set the church on fire killing 30 people.
    "I tried and managed to get out of a window because I had tried the door and found I could not get past the fire there. I hit the window with all my strength. God helped me and I managed to get out. As soon was out, two boys were stuck behind me and they started crying, "Auntie, Auntie help us!". So I went back in to rescue them. I was not burnt yet. As I tried to get out the second time, the window frame fell on my hand and I got burnt," said Nyambura.
    Across the country more than a thousand people were killed and about a quarter million others forced into temporary camps.
    After a peace agreement, a coalition government was formed and an official inquiry into the violence headed by Chief Justice Philip Waki was established.
    The Waki report was recently presented to the government but some politicians are questioning its credibility. There is also controversy over whether the names of those implicated in the report should be made public.
    "The commission has in possession the names of powerful individuals in politics, in government, in business, in the police and elsewhere whose capacity for interference with the evidence can neither be assumed nor dismissed," said Waki.
    Though most displaced people in the country have returned home, 354 are still receiving food rations here and waiting for compensation.
    The government gives about 500 U.S. dollars to families whose homes were burned down while others get about 130 USD to restart their lives.
    Pastor Peter Mbugua is in charge of the camp and says many would rather not return home.
    "It is like they are pushing even the government to consider their case. Now that they have lost everything, they have people who are in hospital, the government to pay the hospital bills and also to look whether it can afford even to give them an alternative land because they feel that they should not go back to Kiambaa," said Pastor Mbugua.
    But Nyambura hasn't just been sitting around. She's signed up for weekly knitting classes sponsored by a local NGO, at the nearby Kimlea Training Centre.
    "I will benefit from these courses because I can buy a machine or an oven to help me earn a living," said Nyambura.
    Kenya's post-election violence exposed deep divisions amongst ethnic groups. Though Nyambura and the other displaced people need to be resettled quickly, many also want the government to prioritise facilitating reconciliation and providing justice to those who seek it.
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