:-( Tribal Violence in Kenya due to the Elections

You all might be interested in the following New York Times Article: "Mob Burns Church in Kenya Killing Dozens"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02kenya.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

While I was in Kenya, I spent a lot of time talking with Betty, the Kenyan cook at the house I stayed at in Nairobi. A lot of the time I would go out shopping with Betty for meat and produce and other times I would practice my Swahili skills with her. I also asked Betty to help me understand Kenya politics. Betty is from the Luo tribe which is the second largest tribe in Kenya. The Luo's primary rival tribe is the Kikuyu tribe which is the largest tribe in Kenya and the most powerful politically and economically. Apparently the root of the Kikuyu tribe's power goes back to colonial days when the colonizing British forces discovered that the Kikuyu tribe would do their will, even betray their fellow Africans, if they were paid well enough. Therefore the members of the Kikuyu tribe were placed in positions of leadership and were given the most fertile lands and the best jobs in exchanged for their allegiance to the British forces and their help controlling the other tribes. After Kenya gained independence from England, the Kikuyu still maintained a status of power and economic superiority over the other tribes. The current president, Kibaki, is from the Kikuyu tribe. According to Betty, he has used his place of power (being president) to give further opportunity and resources to the Kikuyu areas of Kenya while depriving the parts of Kenya inhabited by other tribes, particularly the Luo. This was even evident as we drove around Kenya as a part of our Tulane University class. We would be driving along a horrible bumpy road with huge potholes and all of the sudden reach a wonderfully smooth paved road with no potholes. Along the the road were some of the nicest schools I had seen in Kenya. I asked what part of Kenya we were going through and the driver told me it was the Kikuyu section of Kenya. Elsewhere in Kenya roads have not been worked on for decades and schools are in a shameless wreck.

This favoritism towards his own tribe in President Kibaki is viewed with loathing as corrupt behavior by a large portion of the Kenyan population. Many of the Kenyans I spoke to over the summer said that they were so excited for the next election when they could vote Kibaki out of office. However, many people said that he was so corrupt they expected him to try to cheat a win in the next election.

Now, there has been an election in Kenya and Kibaki won by a thread. Many people believe he cheated and President Kibaki is refusing to let an independent party come in and investigate the validity of the election results. I never advocate violence as the solution to a problem, but I definitely understand why people are rioting in the streets. They believe democracy has failed them and they are turning to violence as way of being heard by the world.