Kenya - Army moves on Militia

OK, not the story that I was expecting when I read the headline...

Army offensive on Kenya militia - Kenya's army has launched a huge military operation targeting a militia which has killed some 500 people in a land dispute over the past 18 months.

On another Kenya-related note, here's an interesting article about Kisumu given to me by a colleague. Incidentally, we had an excellent lunch and safari on Lake Naivasha.

State-sponsored violence in Kenya?

The BBC has learned of allegations of state-sanctioned violence in Kenya during the turmoil that followed last December's disputed presidential poll.

Sources allege that meetings were hosted at the official residence of the president between the banned Mungiki militia and senior government figures.

The aim was to hire them as a defence force in the Rift Valley to protect the president's Kikuyu community.

Kenya and Cellphones

Here's an interesting article about how cellphones were used anonymously to spread hate and information in Kenya following the elections when TV and Radio were under blackout.

No resolution to Kenyan poll crisis

Talks to end post-election violence in Kenya have been suspended, former UN head and mediator Kofi Annan has said.

Mr Annan said that negotiations had become acrimonious and that the situation had become 'very dangerous'.

He also said he would speak to President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to find a way to move forward 'much faster'.

MP's killing sparks Kenyan unrest

Things in Kenya are going from bad to worse. Overnight, at least four people have died after mobs torched houses in a slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Yesterday an opposition MP, Mugabe Were, was killed outside his house nearby. Raila Odinga pointed the finger at the government: "We suspect a foul hand of our adversaries in this".

Meanwhile, towns in the Rift Valley are witnessing fresh inter-ethnic fighting.

Violence in Kenya on Day 2 of Protests

The Guardian is reporting scenes of great violence in Nairobi and Kisumu on this the second day of planned protests against the government.

Raila has accused the police of turning the streets into "killing fields of the innocent".

Safari Photos

I've now posted a subset of the photos from our recent trip to Kenya. These photos include a limited set of pictures from the old town of Mombasa as well as pictures from our safari in the Maasai Mara. Chnida has our photos from Watamu.



The other set of photos I have is from the extended Nairobi leg of our trip. As it turns out, these photos are mostly of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley (an hour drive from Nairobi).

Return of Violence in Kisumu

Reading reports of violence in Kisumu today - specifically that the police in Kisumu have fired at protesters during the rally against the disputed presidential election results. Reports are that three people have been killed in Nairobi and Kisumu. Hope Amanda is OK as she was on last report still in the city.

The New York Times is reporting that American diplomats in Kenya have done their own analysis of poll results and concluded that the election was so flawed it was impossible to tell who really won.

Friction in Kenyan Parliament -- will it spill out to the streets?

Parliament in Kenya has met for the first time since disputed elections, amid continuing tension between the government and the opposition.

It was the first time Mr Odinga and Mr Kibaki had been in the same room since the 27 December election. More than 600 people were killed in unrest that followed.

About 250,000 people also fled or were driven from their homes in a country once seen as a beacon of relative stability in East Africa.

In an effort to step up pressure on Kibaki, Odinga called for three days of protests across the country to start tomorrow, in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations.

Plans for a similar protests earlier this month were postponed after demonstrators were dispersed using water cannons, teargas and gun shots.

Returned from Kenya!

We're back from Kenya! I have many hundreds of photos to work through, but here's a quick first taste from the safari portion of the trip...