Thu, 31 Jan 2008




Hello Lucia,

We recommend that those who do not want UN peacekeepers demand NATO peacekeepers instead. Frankly, we do not see how the situation could get much worse. Peacekeepers, even UN peacekeepers, would be preferable to almost certain civil war or genocide.

Currently, you have a situation where Luos are the least armed and most hunted group thanks, in part, to the erroneous reporting of the western media which initially blamed Luos for the Eldoret church massacre. It is also, obviously, much easier for Mungiki to target Luos than it is for them to target the Kalenjins who are, after all, better prepared from years of fighting the Kikuyus over the Kalenjins' ancestral lands. It is also becoming increasingly clear that Mungiki is being employed by an ethnically based government that has a monopoly on the machinery--firearms, transportation, and possible foreign support (Museveni)--for violence.

The evidence is mounting that the Kibaki government is behind the ethnic cleansing of Luos via its employment of Mungiki and that this government may very well be engaged in a campaign to reduce the influence of the opposition through the physical elimination of its members and its supporters.

This is the latest from the East African Standard (whose editor is under a death threat). We believe that this has also been corroborated by the BBC's Adam Mynott...

"In Nakuru, the death toll hit 60, with the number expected to rise as rival groups continued to clash. Witnesses said some of the attackers, believed to be members of the proscribed Mungiki sect, were armed with guns and wore police uniforms.

"Fifty-five bodies are lying at the Nakuru Municipal Mortuary with five more yet to be collected from the town's estates. The mortuary, with a capacity of 42, was stretched to the limit as bodies streamed in."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801280078.html


This is line with earlier reports that we received indicating that some members of Mungiki would be wearing police uniforms and would use this as a cover to attack Kalenjins and Luos.

Add to this the fact that another opposition MP was shot today, this time by a POLICEMAN.

The policeman who murdered MP David Too at pointblank range should be taken the Hague for questioning to determine whether this was truly "a crime of passion" or the political assassination that most believe it to be. To have an investigation carried out by the same organ that likely hired this assasin is just about the stupidest thing that the international community could allow. Blogger Siasa Duni raises the very valid question of why, if this was a "crime of passion," this supposed traffic cop turned murderer was armed.  Duni notes that, in Kenya, traffic police do not carry arms.

As we have said, the evidence is mounting that the Kibaki government is behind the ethnic cleansing of Luos via its employment of Mungiki and that this government may very well be engaged in a campaign to reduce the influence of the opposition through the physical elimination of its members and its supporters.  Either that, or Kibaki is hell-bent on pushing the country toward either genocide or civil war...or both.

If you read Scott Baldauf's piece "How Kenya Can Avoid Ethnic War," you will see why we are convinced that Kibaki is the primary obstacle to peace. In sum, Kibaki appointed half of his cabinet just before negotiations, called himself the "duly elected President" of Kenya (which was not in the Annan-approved script) during negotiations, and more recently turned down a power-sharing deal that had been approved by even Odinga. (These criticisms do not even touch on Kibaki's repression of democracy since seizing power.)  Does this really sound to you like someone who wants peace and is committed to the negotiation process? Or does it sound to you like someone who is trying to forestall negotiations?

For what reason would Kibaki forestall negotiations?

We believe that the goal is either (a) to perpretate a genocide of the Luos and other "opposition" tribes, (b) to reduce the number of opposition members represented in government, or (c) to plunge the country into genocide/civil war and perhaps thereby facilitate a military coup. (Note that all of these theories are interrelated and that should any one of these be realized, that could in turn facilitate the realization of any one of these other theories.) 

Even Kibaki realizes what Waiganjo Kamotho, Nairobi attorney and political commentator has stated--that Kibaki will likely have to agree to a new election sooner or later. Knowing that he is unlikely to win, how better to ensure the continuity of his elite class' (read Mt. Kenya mafia's) rule than to hand over power to a trusted ally--say, Michuki--via a military coup (as so many are recommending nowadays)?

Well, these are our theories. You can take or leave them. They are, however, based on observation and fact.

Whatever your theory, it is becoming very difficult to place faith in the current negotiations. In light of the escalating violence and in the event that these negotiations are being used as a distraction by Kibaki and company as they prepare for genocide or war, Kenyans must demand a peacekeeping force to protect the entire citizenry.

We believe that this solution is better than the alternatives--that is, than genocide and/or civil war.

Thank you to those who have already began demanding that the UN deploy a peacekeeping force to Kenya immediately. IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO, THEN PLEASE DEMAND A UN OR NATO PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN KENYA TODAY. WE CANNOT OVERSTATE THE URGENCY OF THIS MATTER.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is currently in Kenya. If you are able to, please send him the message.

Regards,
Jaluo Press