Kenya Dispatch

Kim Larsen, having recently spent much time in Kenya while researching and writing "Bad Blood," her report on Africa's malaria crisis, was in a unique position to gather some news of the civil unrest that's broken out after elections late last December. Here she shares her findings. -- editor

As I write this, former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan is in the midst of his first day of efforts to broker some sort of agreement between the rivals in Kenya’s disputed December 27th elections. This afternoon angry protesters emphasized the need for intervention by setting ablaze a government building. The e-mails I’ve received from sources and friends in Kenya this month have all conveyed sadness and trepidation, along with some sturdy optimism. Now my correspondents seem to be holding their collective breath.

In a comment that resonates with newspaper accounts, Christian Borgemeister, the director of ICIPE (the African Insect Science for Food and Health, formerly known as the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology), wrote to me: “It would be a true scoop if Annan could bring them [the political rivals] together but I've got to admit I'm rather pessimistic about his mission. It seems that some hardliners around Kibaki [the incumbent -- a Kikuyu -- and putative victor in the presidential elections] are not willing at all to share power. Let's hope for the best.” ICIPE headquarters in Nairobi closed for the holidays, as it does every year. This year, however, due to security concerns, the facility remains shuttered. Borgemeister said he hoped to re-start operations this week.

The ICIPE campus in Mbita, on the shores of Lake Victoria, has played it by ear, opening on some days but not on others. Physician Patrick Sawa, who heads up the medical clinic there, tells me that the violence started early in Mbita, even before the elections, because, he says, locals detected the rigging scheme several days before voting began and they responded by killing three individuals who they believed had been sent to do the rigging.

Mbita lies some 300 miles from Nairobi, but given the region’s lack of resources and representation in government it might as well be a million. Western Kenya is extremely poor and its inhabitants bear the brunt of AIDS and malaria far more than any other demographic in Kenya. This is Luo territory, the tribe to which Raila Odinga, the aggrieved opposition candidate, belongs. It just so happens that Barack Obama’s Kenyan father was also Luo. A few days ago in a radio interview I heard an ex-pat Kenyan here in New York exclaim: “America will inaugurate a Luo president before Kenya does!” We’ll see how her prophecy plays out, but meanwhile the Kikuyu researchers at ICIPE’s Mbita campus have been evacuated for their own safety. Entomologist Hortance Manda has been unable to return from a visit home to Cameroon to her work in Mbita due to the dangers of travel, especially in Kisumu, the transit point for onward passage to Mbita. Moreover, fuel is low, public transport spotty, roadblocks dot the roads. “It is so unfortunate all these things happened to the beautiful Kenya,” Manda wrote to me.

Her sentiment is echoed in just about every e-mail I’ve received from Kenya this month. This is not the first time elections have unleashed rivalries and violence in Kenya, but it is the first time the world is paying close attention. The way Kenya has been teetering, almost but not quite giving into full-bore chaos, may indicate some measure of enlightened self interest. Or not. In an e-mail, Sawa put it this way: “If something can be done, it must be done this week to ensure Kofi Annan does not leave without a solution. If he does, I cannot put an upper limit to the amount of trouble this country will get into. The anger among the people is palpable and their determination is immeasurable.”