Africa Update

I read the BBC's Africa Today site occasionally and listen to the Africa Today podcast most every weekday it's on. I am not an expert in African affairs by any means, but I do my best to keep up with the continent. I've blogged recently about the elections in Kenya, but really, I know little of the internal workings of many of Africa's countries.

I brought to your attention during the political upheaval in Kenya, a blogger by the name of the Vigilante Journalist. She filed an update about the peace agreements orchestrated by Kofi Annan, but her analysis is not necessarily rosy. Please take a look at what she filed on March 15.

In other Africa news, the elections in Mugabe-torn Zimbabwe have taken place over the last few days and it seems that Mugabe might be out of power. Here is CNN's take, BBC New's perspective, and AfricaNews.com.

Good News From Kenya

Hooray for Kofi Annan's negotiations in the country of Kenya! Due to his efforts there has been a breakthrough in talks between the two parties and hopefully they will be able to work together to keep the country stable and strong. This is excellent news. The Vigilante Journalist shares some brief thoughts http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/362.

Here are the key components of the current agreement:

Its key points are:

* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.

* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.

* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.

* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.

* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.

* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.

* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution

Kenya: How Genocide Begins

A few years ago, I wrote a paper on the archival collections of a man named Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin is the scholar who first coined the word, "genocide" and systematically wrote about its meaning, origins and affects on society. He singlehandedly pushed through the "Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide."

Article 2 of the Convention reads:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Now read the Vigilante Reporter.

An excerpt:

There are accounts of groups of people moving east across the country toward the capital, instigateing organized ethnic cleansing. In Nakuru, countless died and were injured in clashes between the Kikuyus and Luos and Kalengins. A new displaced persons camp was opened in the stadium for a group of Luos fleeing violence by the Mungiki sect. Saturday afternoon nearly a thousand men, women and children were taken by the red cross to hide in the stadium after the Mungiki sect murdered 6 people the night before. Police presence was heavy after the first day of fighting and things cooled down dramatically on Monday when people could be seen returning to work and shops opening up for business again. The hospital on Friday evening, however, was a horror scene, with over 60 wounded mostly by machete, stoning and arrows.

To add to what is already happening, yesterday's killing of an opposition leader in Nairobi enters the mix. The Washington Post reports:

Even with former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan in Nairobi to mediate between Kibaki and Odinga, many Kenyans say their country is just a spark away from blazing out of control.

For a while Tuesday, it appeared that the killing of [Mugabe] Were, a 38-year-old lawmaker from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, might provide it.

Were was shot once in the head and once in the chest as he was pulling into his driveway, his security guard said. Police are investigating whether it was a robbery, but his supporters immediately called his death a political assassination.

Were was a hero in his district, a mostly poor neighborhood of dirt paths and corrugated-metal homes where he funded an orphanage and paid children's school fees. As a successful candidate for parliament, Were also embodied the hopes Odinga's followers had to win political power.

If you will recall, the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda began in earnest when the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a helicopter crash.

All it takes is a spark to ignite the flames. I hope that cooler heads prevail and soon. I hope it's not too late but fear that the time has come and gone to prevent what's about to happen.

May the Universe have mercy on Kenya and all of its people.

Kenya Update

From my post yesterday regarding Kenya, I noted how I didn't know much about Kenyan politics, but I did know that Kenya is relatively stable compared to much of the Continent. A colleague of mine, Angelique Haugerud, writes about Eastern African affairs (as well as Billionaires For Bush). She appeared on NPR yesterday speaking about the origins of the post-election chaos in that country. You can hear the program here.

If that link doesn't work, go here and search for "Haugerud."

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane
Results of your search for "Haugerud"

There was one program that matched your search.

1/16/2008
Hour 1
Kenya continues to recover from unrest following its recent presidential election. We get an update on the situation, learn more about Kenya's internal politics and ethnic groups, and discuss the implications for US foreign policy. Our guests are ANGELIQUE HAUGERUD, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and BETH WHITAKER, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Kenya in Turmoil

Africa as a continent, as many may know, has been in turmoil for a number of years now. Too many years to count, actually. The country of Kenya, a former English colony, has been relatively stable over the years and has served as a democratic leader for the Continent.

That was a few weeks ago. Now, it's a bit of a different story.

A recent wrangle over the country's elections has left Kenya ravished and there are threats of genocide looming. I don't pretend one bit to understand Kenya as a nation, and I certainly don't understand its current crisis except to say that there are widespread reports that the election results were flawed.

I was listening to the BBC's "Digital Planet" tonight and heard that a Kenyan living in the United States has, upon the suggestion of Kenyan bloggers, developed a website where Kenyans can report on any violence that takes place near them. The site, called Ushahidi ("witness" in Swahili), can be accessed either through the Internet or through SMS text messaging. While the Internet is not widespread in rural areas of the country, text messaging is a staple of Kenyan society these days.

The effort of getting the word out by Internet of violence and protest was highlighted recently with the Burmese uprising of late last year. The Internet in that country was shut down in order to prevent news of atrocities getting out to the larger world community. While the Ushahidi.com site has only been up for a few days, I doubt that the country will shut down the Internet in response to citizen reporting.

I truly hope that the situation in Kenya rights itself quickly.



Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya