Police said at least 14 people died in violence in Rift Valley region since Friday, February 1, after former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced an agreement between President Mwai Kibaki’s government and the opposition to end the crisis.
Witnesses and police officials said some victims were killed by machetes and poisoned arrows, underscoring concerns that politicians could no longer control ethnic violence, which broke out following the disputed December election.
Members of President Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe, accused of having privileged positions in this impoverished nation, suffered heavily in the first wave of violence from members of opposition leader Odinga’s Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, including the Kalenjin and Luhya, church sources said.
ANGRY MOB
An angry mob also ransacked the western town of Eldoret Friday and Saturday, February 2, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the capital Nairobi, where, officials said, they burned a Pentecostal church “to the ground.”
No casualties were reported in that overnight incident, but it was the second known attack against a church in the town within about a month. At least dozens of people were burned to death in another Protestant church in Eldoret, the Kenya Assemblies of God Church, on January 1.
Last Saturday, January 26, Catholic Priest Michael Kamau Ithondeka was murdered in the lakeside town of Nakuru at an illegal roadblock set up by armed youths, reported the Catholic Information Service Africa (CISA).
In addition two opposition leaders were killed in recent days, identified as David Kimutai Too and Mugabe Were from opposition leader Raila Odinga’s opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
HUNDERDS KILLED
At least 863 people have died and another 261,000 driven from their homes, the Kenyan Red Cross said this weekend. Many are sheltered in some 130 camps around the country, church officials said. "As the country is on the verge of genocide", said Canon Peter Karanja, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), "the churches are taking action at different levels".
Karanja briefed an international ecumenical delegation visiting Kenya from 30 January to February 2, as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) “Living Letters" initiative in solidarity with churches facing situations of violence.
In a statement to BosNewsLife, the WCC said that Kenyan churches are urging the leaders of the two main parties blocked in the political stand-off, to keep talking to each other. "No one is innocent", said Karanja, "and we pray for the mediation process led by Kofi Annan to bear fruits."
In addition, churches have encouraged bishops of different ethnic backgrounds to meet each other in an effort to encourage “peacemaking”, the WCC said. "It is a courageous thing for them to have come to this meeting", said Karanja in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife. He said a similar encounter between Kikuyu and Luo bishops is to take place next week and others are expected to follow.
RELIEF EFFORTS
Kenyan churches are also involved in direct relief efforts and support refugees in in at least five camps, providing emergency aid and pastoral support with a special focus on addressing the trauma of children.
In the Nairobi area the population "is not very much affected except for the displaced people who are arriving", said Archbishop Njeru Wambugu, from the National Independent Church of Africa. But, adds Bishop Moffat Cleoppa, from the Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa, "we are seeing people giving sacrificially, sharing their resources with their neighbors as never before".
"Apart from all the butchering and displacing, there is still love in Kenya", added Hellen Muchogu, organizer of the women’s guild of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. Wambugu, Cleoppa and Muchogu.
Healing the wounds caused by the crisis in the long term will require resources that are beyond the Kenyan churches’ capacity, admitted church officials. "Everyone, including politicians, expects the churches to play a big role in terms of reconciliation, healing, resettlement and trust building", said Karanja.
However, "we will need sustained and committed engagement of our international ecumenical partners if we are to fulfill that role," he said.
PRAYERS URGED
Church leaders also appealed for prayers, saying "people to come back to their senses."
Annan has said the different political sides would discuss stopping the violence, delivering humanitarian aid, and ending the political impasse.
Yet he offered few details of the agreement, but said they believe they can achieve those goals within 15 days.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses President Kibaki of rigging last month’s presidential election. Protests that exploded after the election have since degenerated into tribal violence. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on Kenyans to stop the violence. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reporting from Kenya).
