Monday, January 07, 2008

Kenyan bishop: There could well be more deaths. I pray it will not be the case

There are now some 10,000 people, mainly women and children, crammed into Eldoret's Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Cathedral and spilling over into the grounds.

More arrive every day and it is hard to turn them away.

The scene is chaotic and noisy - like a crowded Saturday market or an ill-equipped refugee camp. Children huddle under thin blankets, many crying in distress.

Mothers struggle to cook meals on wooden fires and use sticks to stir whatever they can find to put into the pot. Some are quietly sobbing.

There is no more than a couple of feet between each family dotted over three acres of land. People have to sleep out in the cold, damp, night air because we have no tents.

The luckier ones have found shelter inside the building, where every inch of floor space is covered with bodies.

Water is scarce. We have only one standpipe, with a long queue throughout the day. We have been promised a water tank, which we hope will arrive soon.

There is also a pitiful number of toilets - three for men and four for women.

I have grave fears that the lack of sanitation may result in an outbreak of cholera.

During the day men and boys mill about looking dazed and bewildered. Their faces are masked by shock and disbelief.

They are clearly still reeling from the violence and intimidation that has caused them to flee their homes.

There are also elderly, sick and infirm people who have been evacuated from the interior for their safety.

Adding to this melee is the cacophony generated by goats, sheep, ducks, chickens and other farm animals, which these wretched souls have managed to drag along with them.

The majority of these displaced people are Kikuyus, the tribe affiliated to President Mwai Kibaki, who have been forced to flee their homes as gangs of armed young men go on the rampage.

These are not poor famine victims looking for food or refugees fleeing a war zone.

They are ordinary, hard-working people who have, overnight, lost everything they had. Among them are teachers, farmers, taxi drivers and other people with small businesses.

All are now destitute - burned out of their homes and told by machete-wielding youths either to leave or be killed.

Most had arrived on foot carrying what little possessions they could grab. Some drove smashed-up cars, mini-vans and taxis.

There is even a tractor sitting in the cathedral grounds.

To date, tens of thousands of people have been internally displaced. Our cathedral is one of the few places of shelter left in the region.

Police patrol the streets at night but there are no guards outside the cathedral gates. This means that people inside are frightened and nervous.

Everyone knows the church in Kiambaa, near Eldoret, was burned to the ground while people sought shelter there.

Of course, we are dealing with a very dangerous crowd outside. They are supporters of the opposition leader Raila Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, who is also backed by other tribes.

Fired up by the disappointment of what they say was a rigged election result that returned President Kibaki, a Kikuyu, they have decided to take out their frustrations on the Kikuyu in their midst.

It is as if they are saying: "If you're not one of us, then you cannot live among us." Their enmity is strong.

But although this has led to comparisons to the genocide in Rwanda, where vicious bouts of ethnic-cleansing spiralled into civil war, this is not genocide.

It is political violence that has escalated because of tribal links with political parties. Each party has a youth wing and it has been claimed that they are paid to create mayhem.

Kenya's situation is drastically out of hand because expectations for a change of government were high. These are desperate times for my country.

At least a dozen Kikuyu villages have been burned to the ground.

People are scared and there could well be more deaths - maybe even some reprisals. I pray it will not be the case.

But certainly democracy is not dead here. We will not slip down the painful road to ethnic civil war.

I believe the sheer number of tribes in Kenya should prevent such a calamity befalling us.

Of course, the wounds will take a very long time to heal. Yet I am still hopeful. My faith and belief in my countrymen makes me very confident we shall overcome the darkness that has fallen over this land.

There are still good, neutral people who can help us solve this, people from other tribes who can mediate.

I do not believe all is lost but we need our politicians to begin talks sooner rather than later.
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