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Kisii tribals fear they will die if not rescued
The plea was a chilling one, redolent of the warnings that emerged at the height of the darkest passage in modern African history.
- By Adrian Blomfield, The Telegraph Group Limited
- Published: 00:42 January 4, 2008
- A young girl cries as she is carried by a man fleeing an area of wooden kiosks which was set on fire by supporters of Raila Odinga's party, the Orange Democratic Movement, in the Kibera slum area of Nairobi.
- Image Credit: AP
Kisumu: The plea was a chilling one, redolent of the warnings that emerged at the height of the darkest passage in modern African history.
"If we aren't rescued from this place we know that tomorrow we will all die,'' said Agnes, a woman from the Kisii tribe, as she sat on a grass verge outside the district commissioner's office in Kenya's third city of Kisumu on Tuesday.
Hundreds of fellow Kisiis milled about anxiously beside two empty buses. They are especially vulnerable in Kisumu for this area is a stronghold of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader defeated in last week's disputed presidential election, and his Luo tribe.
The Kisii are suspected of backing President Mwai Kibaki and allying with his Kikuyu people.
Fleeing their homes
Forced to abandon the bodies of dead relatives as they joined perhaps 100,000 people in fleeing their homes, the city's Kisii and Kikuyu have taken refuge in police stations and churches.
But true safety, they believe, will only come when they get out of Kisumu altogether - and time and food are both running out.
Today, Odinga is due to hold a massive protest in the capital, Nairobi, against the election which he believes was rigged against him.
The opposition politician has threatened to declare himself the "people's president''. After a relative lull, many fear that the rally will trigger fresh violence in Kisumu.
At a community centre and convent in Kericho, the tea-growing town where at least 40 people are believed to have been murdered, reports swirled of an impending attack.
"We have heard rumours that people will come tonight and burn our church,'' said a British nun - who declined to be named - helping to look after 1,500 displaced people of different tribes.
Police protection
"I don't believe it myself but we have asked for extra police protection.''
As darkness fell, Luo protesters erected new barricades of burning tyres around Kisumu, which echoed to sporadic bursts of gunfire as police fired into the air to deter looters who plundered burnt out shops and businesses.
"The two-day ceasefire is almost over,'' said one young Luo. "What you have seen so far is just a taste of what is to come.''
Many believe that today's rally could decide Kenya's future, either by ending the violence that has gripped one of Africa's most peaceful countries, or by tipping it into unstoppable tribal warfare.
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