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INSIDE AFRICA
Violence in Kenya
Aired January 12, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to this special edition of INSIDE AFRICA. I'm Zain Verjee, standing in for Femi Oke.
I'm in the port city of Mombasa. Over the past two weeks, Kenyans have been shocked. There has been so much violence between the different tribes in the country ever since the election happened. There have been more than 600 killed and as many as 250,000 people displaced. CNN's Paula Newton now takes a look at some of the tribal differences and resentments that have been rekindled since the election.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kenya's Rift Valley is, sadly, living up to its name. For decades here in western Kenya, farmers from different tribes lived here side by side. Now, in some areas, that's history.
The burned out farms all over this country speak to a brutal tribal rivalry based on old grudge matches over land and wealth, rekindled now by the disputed elections. And it's created some of history's first Kenyan refugees.
DINAH ADONGO, UGANDAN RED CROSS: Most of the people here are Kikuyus, most of them.
NEWTON: The Kikuyus are President Mwai Kibaki's tribe. They've ran the country since independence in the mid-'60s. Now, they are under siege by rival tribes who claim the Kikuyus control too much of Kenya's meager wealth and land.
ADONGO: Some had houses burned up, businesses burned up, and their lives threatened, so they (inaudible).
PETER KARANGA, REFUGEE: We have a very big number here.
NEWTON: When Peter Karanga's home was burned, he fled to Uganda, with his wife and two children.
As a Kikuyu, he says he may never be able to go back.
KARANGA: Anything can happen. You can go back after three, two weeks, then they come back and (inaudible). So it's better to stay where you are. You can leave (inaudible) far better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just don't have enough mattresses, blankets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have about two blankets, yes.
NEWTON: So here he waits, with 1,400 others, sleeping on a concrete floor.
The Ugandan Red Cross says it is getting by feeding the refugees that are here now, but their worst fear is that thousands more are waiting on the Kenyan side of the border, worried that they might have to escape here for safety and security.
Just on the other side of the border, Kenyans who have lost everything now squat at the police station, too afraid to leave, cars and trucks their only shelter.
Mothers are anxious with barely any food for themselves, and that means not enough milk for nursing babies like David.
There is nothing random about the suffering here. Tribes loyal to the government and those who back the opposition are at each other's throats. They are escalating old rivalries into a new tribal divide and creating new outposts of misery.
Paula Newton, CNN, on the Ugandan-Kenyan border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: Among those lost in Kenya's ethnic violence was the Olympic runner Lucas Sang. He was killed by a gang in Eldoret. He represented the Kenyan team back in 1988, and since his retirement, he's supported a lot of Kenyan athletes. CNN's Isha Sesay spoke to his friend and teammate, Paul Ereng, who shares his thoughts.
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PAUL ERENG, KENYAN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Lucas, as far as I know, never involved himself in politics. He became a very prominent farmer, wheat and maze farmer. Actually introduced (inaudible) into maze farming, because he was doing maze farming in Kitale (ph), which is another 45 minutes from Eldoret.
But other than that, what Lucas was involved in mostly was organization of athletics. We organized races for young athletes, and you know, that's mostly what we did, nothing really -- I mean, you know, everything we did was just consigned with athletics and farming we did.
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Paul, are you in touch with other athletes in the country? I know you said earlier that you were in touch with family and friends. And what are they telling you, the sports community? What are they saying?
ERENG: I spoke with a couple of friends, athletes, old athletes you know. I speak with more of the old athletes that have retired, like Patrick Sang, the silver medallist in the 1992 Olympics, Moses Tanui, the Boston Marathon champion. First of all, when I talked to Patrick, Patrick told me that there was a sort of a holdup in Eldoret. They couldn't go out because of violence and all that. They were running out of food at one point, and there was no fuel. Fuel was very expensive. There was no fuel. So and then banks were not open. So all that was -- there was no food available. So the situation was not good.
SESAY: What is your sense of what the future holds for Kenya?
ERENG: You know, I wish politicians could borrow the lead from the athletic fraternity in Kenya, you know, which is very united on -- we don't have tribal lines. I was just yesterday, I was thinking the way athletic Kenya runs. We have the chairman of the federation, we have the treasurer and the secretary-general. One guy is a Kalenjin; the other one is a Kikuyu; the other one is a Luo. They are three people from different corners of Kenya. And that has been -- they have been running athletics in that country for the last 20 years. And there has never been dissatisfaction in athletics, you know. If there is something, it does not come on tribal lines or on political affiliation.
So I wish, you know, that people would look at that and say, every time we do something, what we're looking for is the best for Kenya. Kenya is bigger than individual personal gain (ph) and all that, and personal interest. You know, every (inaudible) Kenya should be able to think on those terms.
SESAY: Paul, how would you like people, the world, to remember your friend, Lucas Sang, who lost his life in this turmoil in your country?
ERENG: I want people to remember him. He was a good man. He was a good man that helped everybody, from different ethnic groups. Every kid, every young athlete that came to his help, you know, he always did it. He was a man that you would call all the time -- in the night, during the day, in the rain, in the sunshine -- and he would come out there. That was Lucas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: Still ahead on INSIDE AFRICA, the impact of Kenya's instability on the economy, on its neighbors and on the humanitarian situation in the country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. Until recently, Kenya has been a destination for refugees escaping conflict from neighboring countries. As Nick Valencia now reports, the humanitarian crisis here in Kenya is actually diverting resources from neighbors in need.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are some of the victims of Kenya's violent election aftermath. Since fighting broke out, the United Nations says about 250,000 people have been driven from their homes. This woman says she was forced to flee because she voted for President Mwai Kibaki.
MARGARET WANGUL, DISPLACED KENYAN: And indeed, they didn't want the - - Mr. Kibaki to be the president. So they beat us, they stole our things, then they started really beating us.
VALENCIA: Nairobi's poorest have been hit the hardest. The Red Cross estimates 90 percent of those living in Nairobi's Kibera slum will need some form of relief.
Many of the displaced have flocked to Jamahuri (ph) Park, where various aid agencies are distributing food.
PETER SMERDON, WFP SPOKESPERSON: WFP had a ship that came into Mombasa over the Christmas period with 30,000 metric tons of food, which is enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.
VALENCIA: But the World Food Programme says those supplies were meant for other destinations in the region -- Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan. Instead, that food was diverted to Kenya's growing humanitarian crisis. The situation is even impacting regional military operations.
JENDAYI FRAZER, U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: Our fuel wasn't getting to Uganda. Because that fuel wasn't getting to Uganda, the forces that were supposed to be rotating in Somalia were not able to go. We were supposed to be deploying troops from Burundi to go to Somalia. They couldn't get there.
VALENCIA: Getting the aid to the Kenyans who need it is another battle. It's reported that aid convoy drivers are afraid to travel to some parts of the country, especially the north, where armed gangs are said to have set up roadblocks.
ABDUL SHAKUF: We have brought two trucks, and we (inaudible), but that might not be enough after two days. So we will leave no food to be brought by well-wishers.
VALENCIA: While many of the displaced have chosen to stay in Kenya, thousands have streamed across the border into Uganda, and several hundred others have taken refuge in Tanzania.
With so many lives uprooted, it may be a long road to recovery, not just for Kenya, but for the entire region.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai lost her parliamentary seat in these elections, but she continues to show some real leadership. She went on a television show here and made an appeal, an emotion one, to all Kenyans for peace. CNN's David McKenzie sat down with her and spoke to her about what she thought of the situation.
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WANGARI MAATHAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: I have been surprised, literally shocked by the extent of the violence, but in many ways, our work in this region has been to try to avert the very issues that are now in the headlines -- the issue of land distribution, the issue of democratic governance, the issue of equity and the issue of addressing some of the legacies that we brought into our governance systems from the colonial times. It is a demonstration of anger and (inaudible). People feel (inaudible) their government, but unfortunately, they cannot reach the leader, they cannot reach the president, they cannot reach his ministers. So they vent their anger and frustration at the vulnerable neighbors next to them.
But it's almost like I can't get to you, so I use what I can. And it's so unfortunate, because the people who are being killed are not in the state house. They are not ministers. They are not enjoying anything. Their only crime is that they may have voted for this other person.
It came to the boil when we had the elections, the general elections that just concluded, and unfortunately -- very unfortunately -- the electoral commission failed the nation by not being transparent, being accurate, and eventually delivering the mandate of the people to the Kenyan people in a way that would be accepted. And to this day, nobody can truly say who won the elections.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To heal these divisions, if and when the politicians decide to talk, what about the average Kenyan who has witnessed these atrocities against themselves or committed these atrocities? How do people heal those divisions?
MAATHAI: I think, without trivializing the depth of the pain and agony, especially among the ordinary people, I'm quite sure that if the leaders agreed to meet, and if the leaders agreed to call upon their own people to stop attacking this perceived enemy, I'm sure we could bring this country back to normalcy very quickly.
We can build the houses, we will not be able to bring the dead to life, but I'm quite sure that we can learn to forgive. We can learn to extend a hand of friendship, and we can learn to understand that we're going nowhere. We belong to this country.
But at a time like this, you really do need to remember that we are all human, that we need to be fair, that we need to be just, that we need to be transparent, that we need to be humble, that we needed to respect each other. Because if we don't, then the option we leave to ourselves is violence, and that is not the road that I'm sure either President Kibaki or Raila Odinga want to give to this country.
We still have an opportunity to salvage this country. We still have an opportunity to lead our people out of this impasse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The unrest here in Kenya has caused a key source of income to dry up for many Kenyans. Coming up on INSIDE AFRICA, we're going to examine the toll on tourism.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making business news in Africa this week. South Korea is courting Namibia to sign a new free trade agreement. "The Korean Times" reports Seoul wants to boost economic ties with African countries rich in natural resources. The newspaper said South Korea is also pursuing free trade deals with South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho.
And the unrest in Kenya is damaging the economies of neighboring countries. Fuel shortages in Uganda caused gas prices to spike from about $1.20 a liter to about $5 a liter over a four-day period. The chairman of the East African business community tells Nairobi's "East African" newspaper that Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, southern Sudan and the DRC are actually suffering more than Kenya economically.
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VERJEE: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA.
Tourism brings Kenya's economy almost $1 billion a year. That's the largest in East Africa. But with the current situation and the tensions in Kenya, that has ground to a screeching halt, and many Kenyans who depend on tourism for their livelihoods are suffering.
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VERJEE: Captain Suleiman (ph) and his crew are stuck on shore. They hardly take their boat, One Love, to the high seas these days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without the tourists, it's not good for us.
VERJEE: Thousands of tourists have left the country's colorful coast in peak season as Kenyans turned on each other after what many called a flawed election, leaving Suleiman stranded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, life is hard. I don't know what can survive now.
VERJEE: Neither does Mariam (ph).
MIRIAM, SCARF MERCHANT: I want these things to be finished.
VERJEE: She says she hasn't sold a single beach wrap since the election bloodshed began almost two weeks ago.
MIRIAM: It has affected every area. All the businesses have come down.
VERJEE: The tensions in Kenya couldn't have come at a worse time. Hotels are only just recovering from the 2003 terror bombing here.
Images like this, beamed around the world last week, forced mass cancellations.
Charles Muia of Serena Hotel says just two weeks ago, his hotel was full. But now?
CHARLES MUIA, HOTEL MANAGER: Occupancies have dropped down to right now we're doing 30 percent, and we do not expect this is going to improve in the shortest term (ph).
VERJEE: To survive, he says, the hotel was forced to lay off more than 80 staff.
Tourism is Kenya's biggest income earner, both at the coast, as well as its wild game safaris. About $900 million a year, money this country can't afford to lose, and when hit, hurts every single sector -- entertainment, food and transportation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wouldn't see the sunset from there.
VERJEE: John tells us he's been dealt a double blow by this election crisis. Few tourists need his taxi service, and the hotels are not buying his farm produce anymore.
JOHN MBUGUA, DRIVER/FARMER: That's not just me. I have neighbors who keep (inaudible), who's (inaudible) mainly to feed (ph) the tourists.
VERJEE: Still, Kenyans wait patiently for tourists to come back, hoping the peace between Kenya's leaders will soon bring back their livelihood.
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VERJEE: INSIDE AFRICA will be right back. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: Barack Obama's father was born and brought up here in Kenya. CNN's Paula Newton travels in his home town to meet Obama's grandmother.
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NEWTON: To get to the Obama family farm, we traveled across the equator, through some of Kenya's most remote villages, left at the gravel road -- the turn for the Senator Obama's school -- up the dusty hill, and over potholes like you've never seen, not even in New Hampshire, and right on to the Obama homestead.
Hello, hello. I'm Paula Newton with CNN.
This is Mama Sarah, Barack Obama's granny, as he calls her. This is where his father was born and grew up, and where 83-year-old Mama Sarah still lives.
We interrupted your work today.
SARAH ONYANGO OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S GRANDMOTHER: Yeah.
NEWTON: As her grandson is busy bringing in the votes, she's bringing in the crops, preparing feed for the livestock, but it doesn't keep her from campaigning.
What can you tell the American people about Barack, you know, to convince them to vote for him?
In her native language, she says "he's a good listener, and if he's given a chance, he will work hard for America."
What do you think of Hillary Clinton?
"This is a contest," she says diplomatically. "Let the best man or woman win."
When was this picture taken?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was taken in 1987.
NEWTON: Tair (ph) Obama is Barack's uncle. He shows us a photo of his nephew's first visit to his Kenyan ancestral home, just after his father died. Barack Hussein Obama is buried here. Mama Sarah says he'd be heart-broken to see Kenya now.
The Obamas say they don't recognize the Kenya of the past few days. The bloodshed, despair and desperate need triggered by the disputed election. The Obama school hasn't even been able to open this year because of the clashes.
SAID OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S UNCLE: (inaudible) Kenya to be a beacon of hope in this region. But again, politicians are politicians.
NEWTON: Though he insists Barack Obama is different, humble like no other, he says. And that's because of his Kenyan ancestry right down to this farm.
Paula Newton, CNN, Onagomo-Kojelo (ph), Kenya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: That's INSIDE AFRICA for this week. Make sure you stay with CNN for continuing coverage of news developments here in Kenya. I'm Zain Verjee, reporting from Mombasa. Femi Oke will be back next week. Until then, take care. From Fort Jesus, cuaheri (ph). Goodbye.
END
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