Tribal Rivalry Boils Over After Kenyan Election

[Warren Stupidity]

Source: New York Times

NAIROBI, Kenya — It took all of about 15 minutes on Sunday, after Kenya’s president was declared the winner of a deeply controversial election, for the country to explode.

...

The dubious conclusion of the most fiercely fought election in Kenya’s history has pitched the country toward chaos. The opposition rejected the results and vowed to inaugurate its leader, Raila Odinga, as “the people’s president,” which the government warned would be tantamount to a coup. As the riots spread, the government took the first steps toward martial law on Sunday night and banned all live media broadcasts.

Western observers said Kenya’s election commission ignored undeniable evidence of vote rigging to keep the government in power. Now, one of the most developed, stable nations in Africa, which has a powerhouse economy and a billion-dollar-a-year tourism industry, has plunged into intense uncertainty, losing its sheen as an exemplary democracy and quickly descending into tribal bloodletting.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/world/africa/31kenya.html?em&ex=1199250000&en=cf6d665736884e19&ei=5087%0A

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The Official Line is to portray this as 'tribalism'. However what has happened in Kenya is an outrageous act of corruption that has destroyed the democratic institutions of Kenya. The original election results were tossed out as Kibaki decided to not accept defeat. Odinga, a member of the minority Luo tribe, could not have won this election on an appeal to tribalism. Instead he ran against tribalism and as an economic populist and won the election only with broad support from the majority Kikuyu tribe.

[boricua79]

1. it's so much easier, though, to imagine the Dark Continent

as inhabited by tribal savages.

I wonder if they would call an election dispute in the united states, involving a black candidate and a white candidate a contest of "tribes".

Come to think of it, they do. Anytime there is a black candidate that speaks forcefully about black issues, he's 'appealing to the black base' (hint hint, he's engaging in tribalism...and fighting for his tribe).

It's racism at its core.

[acmavm]

2. If an election in the country that gave the world the finest and first example

of 'democracy' can be hijacked TWICE, then it's just so easy to understand how this can happen anywhere. And if they can get away with it in the country that gave the world its finest and first example of 'democracy', well why can't they get away with it anywhere.

Although I do agree with the first response, we don't refer to 'tribalism' here. We refer to it as 'parties'.

[maddezmom]

3. Kenya death toll rises to 103

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan police battled thousands of opposition supporters enraged over President Mwai Kibaki's allegedly fraudulent re-election, firing tear gas and live ammunition as the death toll from the violence rose to 103, officers and witnesses said.

Several officers said they had orders to shoot to kill, while opposition supporters said they would risk death to protest what they called a stolen election. Demonstrators were beaten back with tear gas and water cannons, and police fired live rounds over their heads in Nairobi's burning slums.

"We have been rigged out, we are not going to accept defeat," said 24-year-old James Onyango, who lives in Nairobi's Kibera slum. "We are ready to die and we're ready for serious killings."

Raila Odinga, the fiery opposition leader who came in second according to the official results, compared Kibaki to a military dictator who "seized power through the barrel of the gun," and called on 1 million people to gather Thursday in Nairobi's Uhuru Park — where protesters gathered to demand multiparty democracy in the early 1990s.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/ap_on_re_af/kenya_elections;_ylt=AsJKWAIvIu5XoCnzaBY4J8ZvaA8F

[Karenina]

5. "Raila Odinga, the fiery opposition leader..."

More coded speech...

[BlueIris]

4. "Tribal rivalry"?????

What the fucking fuck?????

[Warren Stupidity]

6. White man's burden etc.

Racist bullshit framing courtesy of the Neocon Times.

[Sultana]

7. Is democracy even possible anywhere these days?

I remember the Kibera slums, scary place. :scared:

These are sad times for the people of Kenya and the continent of Africa. :(