Kenya: Saitoti's death and the coming battle - Chilling analysis by Richard Dowden - Director, RAS June 17, 2012
I'm sharing this article on Kenya: Saitoti's death and the coming battle with a heavy heart
I have copied parts of the article which struck a particular chord, reminding me of all that happened in 2007/2008 with the post-election turmoil and within that:
- the straight-from-the-heart response of the Minciu Sodas community when we discovered that our friends in Kenya were in trouble
- the amazing courage, fortitude, creativity and determination of the Kenyans, in Minciu Sodas and the wider Pyramid of Peace network, during the post election violence.
Pyramid of Peace activists played an unacknowledged role in reducing the impact of the violence, and in peace building and conflict resolution.
The violence in Western Province and Nairobi
The article states "In 2008 the main wars were in Western Province (Luoland) where (Kikuyu) police shot down Luo protesters, around Eldoret where Kikuyu immigrants were burned out of their homes and murdered by Kalenjin, and in Nairobi where battles took place in the poor slum areas between different ethnic groups."
Dear Pyramid of Peace Friends in Kenya - I remember how you were so active in those locations. I remember the heart-rending details that you were sending the rest of us in Minciu Sodas about what was happening - and how you refused to be divided by tribal loyalties. I remember too how the relationships that you had between each other reached across tribal boundaries. When there were attempts to push you into tribal divisions you stood firm. Your deep trust relationships enabled you to plan together and then go to your own tribal elders and persuade them to influence the warring youths. On top of that you were working with displaced people, you were helping individuals, you were responding to whatever needed a response given the limitation of financial support that those of us outside Kenya could send you.
Using ICT (the Internet and mobile phones)
Together we were making use of mobile phones, phone credits, the Internet, and established relationships of trust in wonderful, innovative and effective ways that maximiesd the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). We were a community collaborating acting with one heart and mind and doing what we could in our own locations in so many different countries across Africa, Europe, and America (if I have forgotten other locations, please forgive me - and remind me)
Lessons learned and avoiding a repeat
What lessons did we learn my Minciu Sodas friends, and how can we draw on them - to help prevent the horrors that his article suggests could lie ahead?
Even more importantly, how can we share those lessons? How can we use the practical experiences that we had of information sharing, practical on the ground responses, and true collaboration achieving results in conditions of terrible violence, horror and need? Who are the people who need to learn the lessons that we learned - and how do we tell them?
I feel we can't just wait and let it happen again - but we are not in positions of power or influence - "we are no-one" - what do we do?
Richard Dowden - Director, RAS (Royal African Society) wrote:
... the Kenyan election is wide open. Victory will go to the person who builds an alliance of tribal leaders. One thing is certain: Luo and Kikuyu will be on opposite sides. Raila Odinga, the Luo leader, will run and elements among the Kikuyu will do anything to stop him becoming president. For a while I thought that in 2008 Kenyans had reached the edge of the cliff and looked down. They wavered and pulled back. The militants were called off by their paymasters. Kofi Annan was on hand to help. Kenyans had seen a future that looked like hell and chose a fudged alliance of enemies instead.
That alliance is now falling apart. The new constitution has recreated a Kenya of 47 counties, whose elected governments will be funded by the state to spend as they wish. It is, however, likely that a local politician from the dominant ethnic group in each county will be playing the ethnic card to garner support.
.... If politicians play the ethnic card in the next election, this winner-takes-all war could be fought in most of the new counties between any or all of Kenya’s 40-odd ethnic groups." Link to full article on Kenya: Saitoti's death and the coming battle
More about Pyramid of Peace:
An introduction via Phone for Peace
A video of Pyramid of Peace Acrobats involved in Nairobi - with pleas for peace by two of the acrobats' leaders at the end , Kennedy Owino (a Luo) and James (a Kikuyu)
The Pyramid of Peace Archive - full archive of emails, chatroom meetings, forwarded text messages, reports of phone conversations and so on as the post election turmoil erupted and friends were caught up in it and struggled to help resolve the situation
More about Minciu Sodas