From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:KENYA: ETHNIC VIOLENCE FLARES UP AGAIN
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 23:46:36 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: KENYA: ETHNIC VIOLENCE FLARES UP AGAIN


an inter press service feature

by horace awori

nairobi, jan 13 (ips) -- at least 14 people were killed and
10,000 others left homeless in ethnic clashes in kenya's north
western rift valley province over the past three weeks.

survivors, mainly members the luo and kikuyu people, arriving
in the capital this week say armed members of president daniel
arap moi's kalenjin ethnic group had stabbed others to death and
looted homes.

thousands of the displaced had taken refuge in schools and
churches, some of the victims to ips.

the victims believe the attacks were politically motivated.

''the attackers invaded in groups of 30, using bows and
arrows'', says 58-year-old solomon njoroge.

njoronge, a kikuyu, arrived in the capital, nairobi, monday
with about 200 others who fled from the ethnically-fractious
rift valley province.

raids between ethnic groups had existed in the past.

but the victims say the latest purges in the wake of the
recent multiparty elections in kenya are of a different nature.

''most of us did not vote. the kalenjin community did not
want us to vote because they thought we would not vote for
kanu (the ruling kenya african national union)'', says grace
wanjiru.

she too fled from the troubled valley.

moi and his party were returned to power in the dec. 29
elections, the product of international pressure from aid
donors.

kanu is primarily a kalenjin movement. its key opponent, the
forum for the restoration of democracy (ford), is dominated by
kikuyu and luo, kenya's largest ethnic groups.

''we have lived in this area (rift valley) since 1966'', says
njoroge.

''we could not understand it when our kalenjin neighbours
with whom we have been on good terms for years descended on us
like animals''. (more/ips)
---


kenya: ethnic (2)

rift valley province is a kalenjin territory.

traditionally the kalenjin are renowned hunters. with their
bows and poisonous arrows, they strike with precision at animals
metres away.

these skills seem to have been turned now on political
opponents.

njoroge describes how one njuguna ngwatta was beaten to
death and his eyes gorged out. a pregnant woman suffered a
miscarriage after the attackers beat her, he says.

wanjiru told ips that about 8,000 other victims in asin gishu
district had sought refugee at a local mother of apostles
seminary.

victims allege the police are aligned with the kalenjin
attackers.

''the chief, the district officer and the police do not take
any action against them.

''when the people demanded security, they were told to 'seek
security from the opposition parties police forces','' explains
wanjiru.

the authorities are urging the displaced to return to their
homes. but they are reluctant. they say the kalenjin community
has vowed to expel them from the rift valley.

''we are here. but back there our farms, our land and
properties which are not destroyed are being apportioned to
kalenjin'', says njoroge.

njoroge and his 200 displaced colleagues now live in the
outskirts of nairobi.

the government and opposition groups blame each other
for the violence.

ethnic clashes have haunted this east african nation since
moi allowed multiparty politics two years ago.

last year, more than 700 people were killed in ethnic
violence.

a parliamentary team probing the incidents concluded that top
kanu politicians had instigated the violence and although they
were named, none of them have been charged.

kenneth matiba of the main opposition ford-asili says: ''this
is the story of a people being plundered by their own leaders''.
(end/ips/ha/fc/apc/93)