Peace-building and reconciliation efforts to alleviate ethnic tension must be stepped up before internally displaced Kenyans are pushed to return to their homes or the risk of further violence will remain high, according to the UN and agencies.

"Ethnic tension remains high - hate, resentment and mistrust are widespread and people have few avenues to vent their feelings," Bernard Leflaive, early recovery and food security cluster coordinator and consultant to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told IRIN. "The big precondition for return must be that people are able to live in security wherever they choose to go, and they should be able to form normal relationships with their neighbours."

The early recovery and food security cluster - comprising UN bodies, NGOs and government departments - aims to assist the government to ensure that communities affected by Kenya's post-election violence return to a state of normalcy as early as possible. The cluster deals with, among other issues, peace and reconciliation, governance and rule of law and the restoration of livelihoods.

"The assessment found that returns are being delayed because of the tension," said Daudi Ekwam, an early recovery needs assessment consultant for UNDP. "Return requires caution, and internally displaced people [IDPs] still have the same right as everyone else to choose whether to go back home or not."

He added that the goal of early recovery was to handle returns on a case-by-case basis and in an integrated and incremental way that would ensure the best chance of success.

Reconciliation bid

UNDP, in conjunction with local authorities and community service organisations, is involved in bringing communities together to encourage dialogue and reconciliation.

"We also have a volunteer scheme where members of various communities receive training and resources to carry out peace-building among their people," Leflaive said.

In the Rift Valley Province, host to the largest number of IDPs, efforts are under way to bring IDPs and their host communities to the table for reconciliatory discussions.
"We are in Kuresoi, joining hands with the government to bring IDPs from Molo town to meet the local Kalenjin community leaders," said Raphael Kinoti, regional coordinator of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. "Our aim is for the talks to result in the Kalenjin people inviting the Kikuyu people back to their farms.

"So far the process seems to be going well; the Kalenjin leaders have expressed remorse for the expulsion of the Kikuyu and they want everyone to get back to their farms," he added.

However, Kinoti stressed that the returns would hinge on the government's ability to provide additional security to the IDPs upon their return in the event that violence should flare up again.

The government will have an uphill task dealing with these issues, particularly given that many of its officials were themselves displaced in the violence and others were unaware of how to deal with the situation.

"Governance and the rule of law were affected - government officials had their authority challenged by these armed gangs," Leflaive said. "But some officials have had fantastic peace-building initiatives; one district commissioner actually went to the mother of a trouble-causing MP and got her to bring him in line."

He added that it would be necessary to create and strengthen peace and development committees and disaster-management committees, both of which exist in some areas but are underdeveloped or non-existent in the worst-affected districts.

The recent formation of a government of national unity and the naming of a cabinet following several weeks of stalemate are likely to boost the process of recovery, according to community leaders in affected areas.
"Calmness and confidence are returning to this part of the country now," Bishop Jackson ole Sapit, who covers eight districts in Kenya's western Rift Valley Province, said from Kericho town. "Today, for instance, all the Kikuyu-owned shops in Kericho are open and business is proceeding as normal."

Restoring livelihoods

According to Leflaive, rebuilding livelihoods is another key element of early recovery, and while some people have been able to return to their former livelihoods, many more will need help.

"The local economy has suffered greatly and needs an injection of cash - microfinance projects, income-generating projects, support for agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods; all this is necessary," he said.

The cluster's needs assessment found that in many areas, workers have lost their jobs or feel unwelcome at their places of work, while in other areas, businesses and farms were burnt down.

"Whatever efforts are undertaken to restore people's livelihoods, they must involve the youth, who played a big part in the conflict but who are largely unemployed and had nothing to lose," said Ekwam. "Women will also be central to the recovery of livelihoods - their resilience needs to be exploited if early recovery efforts are to succeed.

"The government should take the lead in restoring normalcy; positive developments such as the planned visits to affected communities by the president and prime minister should help inspire confidence in the current situation, which should in turn spur returns," he added.

While announcing the new coalition cabinet on 13 April, President Mwai Kibaki promised that his government would focus on the plight of IDPs. "The new cabinet will prioritise the resettlement of the displaced people so that they can resume normal lives," he said.

IRIN

Security in the Mt Elgon region of western Kenya, where the army was deployed in March to stop a local insurgency, has improved, but civilians still fear being targeted in the ongoing operation.

"There is an improved sense of security and people are able to access the markets more," Sokwony Laikong, a local resident, told IRIN on 10 April. Most farmers were now able to reach their gardens, although they were suffering from high prices of inputs, such as fertilizer.

Many schools remained closed in the area, but some had reopened in Chebyuk, where the children were being taught by a few volunteers and government teachers, Laikong added.

There was, however, anxiety among residents in some parts of the district, such as Chepkitale area, which borders a forest. Scared they could be targeted, they said security operations had continued because militias were hiding in the forest.

A spokesman for the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said it had set up medical camps in the neighbouring district of Bungoma and at least 1,600 people had sought treatment as of 1 April.

Most had soft tissue injuries and minor bruises, according to KRCS Public Relations Manager, Anthony Mwangi.

The clashes in Mt Elgon have pitted security forces against the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), an armed group formed in 2005 to resist government attempts to evict squatters in the Chebyuk area.

Human rights groups blame the group for killings more than 600 people, saying it has also terrorised the local population with physical assaults and threats, and the seizure and destruction of property.

However, the army shares the blame for "horrific abuses, including killings, torture and rape of civilians", Human Rights Watch (HRW) and two Kenyan human rights organisations, Mwatikho and Western Kenya-Human Rights Watch, said in a joint statement issued on 4 April.

The military, they said, had detained thousands, tortured hundreds and unlawfully killed dozens of people.

"The people of Mt Elgon are being doubly victimised, first by the rebel militia and now by the army," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW Africa director. "The Sabaot Land Defence Force has committed hideous crimes and people welcomed the army at first. But now Kenyan soldiers are abusing those they are supposed to protect."

Calling on the SLDF and the Kenyan government to end abuses, the human rights groups said their actions were a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.

IRIN

Many parts of Kenya experienced violence for the first time after the disputed December 2007 presidential elections, but Rift Valley's Laikipia region has been embroiled in conflict for generations.

So much so that many Laikipia residents differentiate between the "usual" violence and the poll-related kind.

Francis Wambua, the Laikipia branch chairman of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, says the region often experiences clashes between pastoralists and cultivators or between different groups of pastoralist communities.

Wambua said KRCS has recorded at least 19,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Laikipia East and Laikipia West since January. The more than 9,000 IDPs in Laikipia East are mostly from Rift Valley province, while a similar number in Laikipia West are residents of the area.

At least six communities live in the larger Laikipia region, which is made up of three districts; Laikipia East (the capital in Nanyuki); Laikipia West (Nyahururu) and Laikipia North (Dol Dol). These communities are the Kikuyu, Maasai, Kalenjin, Turkana, Samburu and Pokot.

The conflict over grazing land is experienced in all three districts.

"Often there are raids between the Samburu and the Maasai and between the Samburu and the Pokot; the Turkana are often used by either side of the warring communities in their quest for better grazing land," Wambua said.

He added: "Livestock thefts are another source of conflict in Laikipia; whenever a raid occurs, those who lose their cows then undertake a counter raid to recover the stolen cows or to restock their herds.

"The raids over grazing land are often exacerbated by drought when the rains are inadequate to accommodate the grazing needs of the pastoralists. This conflict cuts across all the communities and can be differentiated from what transpired in the past month in Laikipia West."

Violence rocked Laikipia West in March, as two communities - the Tugen and Turkana – clashed with the dominant and mainly farming community of the Kikuyu, leaving at least 25 people dead and more than 8,000 displaced. The violence was allegedly sparked by an incident in which a suspected Turkana rustler was killed.

At a peace and reconciliation meeting for Laikipia West, held on 26-28 March in Nyahururu town, leaders said the latest violence in the district was unlike past conflicts because two pastoralist communities had joined forces to fight one farming community.

Paul Thairu, the civic councillor for Rumuruti - which bore the brunt of the March violence - told IRIN: "We have been holding peace meetings in urban areas but when we go back home, we find fighting going on between our communities; we must get to the root cause of this situation if meaningful peace is to be achieved."

Thairu said he believes the violence in Rumuruti was planned but he declined to name those behind the clashes.

"It seems this fighting was planned and was to have taken place alongside all the others that were experienced in other parts of the country but it was not possible earlier because of the meetings we were holding to encourage peace," he said. "I believe the youths who took part in the violence were paid, in fact some from this area were ferried to other parts of the country to cause chaos following the announcement of the election results."

Widespread violence broke out after President Mwai Kibaki was controversially returned to power on December 30, with the most serious clashes affecting the Rift Valley.

However, nominated councillor John-Bosco Lorinyok Epur disagreed with Thairu. He attributes the Rumuruti violence to ethnic animosity.

"As far as I know, the violence started when a Turkana man was killed after he was allegedly found with stolen goats; what I would like to know is why would the death of one person lead to the deaths of dozens of others if there wasn't more to the incident than meets the eye?" Epur said. "It is the mistrust and suspicions between the Kikuyu, on the one hand, and the Turkana and Tugens on the other, which has caused all these problems."

Most Kenyans have a very strong sense of ethnic identity, not least because politicians campaigning ahead of elections tend to reinforce “them and us” as a vote-winning strategy.

Epur said the Turkana community has maintained that the man who was killed was not in possession of stolen goats.

"There is need to apprehend the killers of this man, otherwise we will continue to believe that the violence that ensued was more to do with ethnic differences than just the incident," he said.

Laikipia West district commissioner, Frederick Chisia, said vernacular FM radio stations and other media heightened ethnic divisions ahead of the 27 December 2007 elections, leading to an increase in "negative ethnicity" in the aftermath of the polls.

"There is no single community in this country that can stand on its own, we are all interdependent on one another and the sooner all communities in Laikipia West recognise this fact, the better," Chisia said.

He said although the violence had slowed the district's development pace, the government had taken measures to bring peace, including the deployment of Administration Police troops, peace meetings and encouraging dialogue between the warring communities.

"We have identified opinion leaders in each community and we are encouraging them to talk to their people about the importance of maintaining peace; this may be slow and time-consuming but in the end we hope to achieve lasting peace," he said.

Amnesty International delivered over 10,000 petitions to representatives of the Kenyan leaders President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga on Thursday.

People across the world signed up for the Reach Out for Kenya day of action on 27 February. The petitions called for an end to the post-election violence in Kenya and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice in fair trials.

"This was the last step in this International Day of Action. More than 10,000 petitions were collected, more than 6,000 people signed up on the Reach Out for Kenya Facebook group and there were public actions organised by Amnesty International sections in 12 countries," said Dave Copeman, Amnesty International's campaigner for Kenya, who handed over the petitions.

A total of 10,753 petitions were presented to the Kenyan authorities on Thursday 27 March, one month after the day of action.

"This was the evidence of worldwide concern at the terrible political and ethnic violence and the excessive use of force by the police, that followed the elections," said Dave Copeman.

"I also communicated that our concerns remain. While the violence has abated, many of its victims remain in displaced camps, still not safe to return home. Barely a handful of those responsible have been brought before a court and charged. This impunity must be stopped."

Amnesty International has called on the Kenyan government and all political parties to ensure that all allegations of human rights abuses and violations are investigated and that suspected perpetrators are held accountable through trials that comply with international standards. 

"For now, the violence has ended. Now, our challenge will be to hold the political leaders of Kenya to their commitments that the impunity for this violence will also end," said Dave Copeman.

Amnesty International has launched a new online action for members of the Facebook Reach out for Kenya group. Images for Impunity! will encourage members to come up with original and artistic ways of illustrating the slogan: End Impunity in Kenya!  

John Holmes, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, wound up a three-day visit to Kenya on 10 February as African Union-mandated mediation efforts entered what has been described as a "crucial stage".

"We hope the violence will stop, we reinforce the need for accountability for those responsible for that violence, which is why the United Nations is helping not only on the humanitarian side but helping in the political process as far as it can," Holmes said at a news conference on 10 February.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is leading the mediation effort to reconcile the government and the opposition with the aim of reaching a political solution to the crisis. On 8 February, Annan said the talks were making progress and that an agreement could be reached imminently.

During his visit, Holmes visited camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in western Kenya's Rift Valley Province, to survey the humanitarian situation in areas hardest hit by post-election violence.

"I spent some time in Nakuru and Molo yesterday [9 February] and in some of the sites around Nairobi, Tigoni, the Nairobi Showground and Kirathimo this morning as well," he said. "And I … met … a lot of people in a very sad and tragic and moving psychological state, people from communities who have been driven from their homes and often in scenes of great brutality and danger and stress."

Holmes said the country's humanitarian problem remained "serious", from what he saw and the people he talked to. The Kenya Red Cross Society estimates that at least 1,000 people have been killed and more than 300,000 others displaced since the violence began in late December 2007.

Holmes said: "But also there are probably many more people who have been displaced from their homes, are being displaced from their homes, who are not in camps, who have gone to their ancestral homes, who are living with relatives, who are living with host communities, who are living with neighbours and, therefore, who are not included at the moment in the count of people who are in camps but who are no less in need of physical help, psychological help and all the help we can give."

He said host communities were also affected as their resources were strained.

"We need to have all these factors in mind when we are looking at the response we need for the immediate moment but also for the medium term," he said.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding mission deployed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, arrived to investigate allegations of grave rights violations in the post-election period.

According to a report carried by UN News, staff from the office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide are to examine the ethnic dimension of the conflict, as well as the extent to which the ethnic violence was organised.

"They're going out into the field where violence has taken place to see exactly what is going on or has gone on and to give us a picture of whether there has been incitement, by whom and where responsibility lies,” Special Adviser Francis Deng was quoted as saying.

Mother-of-four Ann Wacu is afraid to return to her home in Kenya's New Molo District, where inter-ethnic violence has killed dozens and displaced thousands of people since September.

"I don't want to go back because all our property was destroyed or looted; this happens every five years when we have general elections," the 24-year-old said. "The attackers have even injured the police officer who was guarding us after we left our homes. He is now admitted to the district hospital here in Molo.”

“Who will guarantee my security if I go back? They tell us elders who are members of peace committees will help, but how can we be sure of their intentions?" she added.

Before violence broke out, Wacu had a home and farm, earning a living from selling her vegetables at the local market. Now, she is seeking refuge in a church compound in Molo town, along with hundreds of other internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The New Molo District, recently carved out of the larger Nakuru District, has been the scene of periodic violence since 1992. Fighting has intensified during general election years – held in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 - and in 2005, when the national referendum on the country's constitution was held.

The district has an estimated population of 600,000 and is divided into two constituencies, Molo and Kuresoi. Kuresoi has 10 administrative divisions while Molo has six. Kuresoi is the constituency most affected by the clashes, which pit three communities – the Kalenjin, Kikuyu and Kisii - against one another.

This year’s violence, in the run up to the 27 December elections, has mostly affected the Kuresoi divisions Keringet, Kuresoi, Kamara and Olenguruone. Neighbours turn against their neighbours, burning homes and looting property, in what political observers say is incitement by politicians who promise them the land of those who flee.

"The constituency has not fully recovered from the 1992 clashes, hence the constant eruption of violence every time elections approach," Mohamud Salim, the New Molo district commissioner, said. "As a result of the tension between the communities, opportunists have taken advantage of the fluid situation to fuel hostilities."

An issue that cropped up many times during a recent visit by a delegation of UN officials to Molo and the Mount Elgon region, another clash-torn area in Western Province, was the role of local peace committees.

In Mount Elgon, where fighting that erupted in late September is between two clans of the dominant Sabaot community, civic, religious and local authority leaders have questioned the make-up of the peace committees and whether or not they were operational before the conflict.

At a meeting between local leaders and the UN delegation on 10 December, chaired by District Commissioner Birik Mohamed, leader after leader urged Mohamed to help revive and restructure the peace committees, which they believed could play a pivotal role in pacifying the warring groups.

The committees were an initiative of the Kenyan government to boost conflict resolution and peace-building efforts in the two regions, where fighting has caused the displacement of 15,000 people in Molo and 45,000 in Mount Elgon.

"These committees are supposed to hold monthly meetings, chaired by the district officer, to assess the situation on the ground and make recommendations. Unfortunately these committees are dormant in some areas," Salim said on 11 December during a meeting with the UN delegation in Molo.

"The displacement that has continued in Molo is not only because of fighting; there is a need to address the issue of fear, people are afraid to go back to their farms. If the anxiety among the people is removed, then the security situation would improve," the Rev David arap Metet, the peace committee chairman for Keringet division, said. "Peace committees are in a position to help remove this fear, if they pursue peace-building seriously."

Meanwhile, Laurence Achami, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission coordinator for Kuresoi, said peace committees need logistical support to be effective.

Jeanine Cooper, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kenya, who led the delegation to Molo and Mount Elgon, said: "There doesn't seem to be cohesion to make peace-building last.”

She said the UN was planning a joint programme on conflict and displacement for the two regions that would help reduce the tension and assist the displaced.

"The security efforts to restore law and order may seem to be harsh and unpopular but there doesn’t seem to be any alternative; we must have short-term and long-term interventions in place if we hope to end the violence. We hope to design a programme in the next few weeks to tackle these, the needs of the displaced in the short term and the structures for peace-building and conflict resolution in the long term," she added.

Reverend William Kebeney is a cleric working with the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya in Kipsigon, Kopsiro, one of four administrative divisions in the strife-torn Mt Elgon district, near the Kenyan border with Uganda.

Kebeney deals with the spiritual and health needs (the church runs a health centre) of the affected people but talked to IRIN about the other needs, those not often addressed.

So far, at least 158 deaths have been reported in the district because of inter-communal fighting over land, according to humanitarian agencies.

"Due to the fighting, many people have been displaced in addition to losing their livestock and property.

"However, although aid agencies have responded to the needs of the people by offering food and healthcare, there is a need for capacity-building on issues of counselling and dealing with trauma to help the affected people come to terms with reality.

"Some have lost relatives and are deeply traumatised.

"If we can get agencies to train people in medical and psychological counselling skills this would be good; as they treat the affected they counsel them.

"There is also a need for the people to get assistance to rebuild their lives when peace eventually returns. This would be possible if an organisation was established to provide loans for the people to rebuild their lives and start small-scale income-generating activities.

"Most importantly, however, there is a need for sustained peace-building efforts to encourage the Sabaots [the clans within this community at the centre of the fighting] to live in peace and to stop killing each other.

"If that is not done I do not think these people can live as neighbours and this will affect future generations."