Jose Cendon and Collin Freeman Released
Jose Cendon and Collin Freeman were freed today against ransom and are on their way to Nairobi. The photographer and writer team were reporting on piracy in Somalia when they were captured in Puntland on November 26, 2008.
ALERT: Somali Kidnappers Threaten to Kill Canadian and Australian Journalists
Amanda Lindhout
While I was in Afghanistan last summer I met a young, budding photojournalist named Amanda Lindhout. She was kidnapped this past August in Somalia along with her Australian colleague Nigel Brennan and their Somali translator, Abdifatah Mohammed. This story has hardly been publicized in the international press, and it’s so telling of the [...]
And Now for Something Completely Different II
On my recent trip to London, I had the great fortune of spending some time with a few admired and celebrated poets from Africa who were on tour in the UK with the Poets in Translation group which has recently funded the translation of their work into English. Here are two of my favorite portraits:
Asaddiq [...]
EUFOR in the Chadian Theatre
by Anne Holmes
When the sun comes up in eastern Chad, the dawn of a new day brings with it a host of daunting challenges. Soon the temperatures will rise to 50 degrees Celsius. A patch of shade will be the only mercy one can find in these parts, and the quest for resources will dictate [...]
Notes on the Darfur Refugee Crisis
Camp Iridimi, Eastern Chad
I spent a month wandering around eastern Chad, along the border with Sudan, where some 250,000 Darfuris fled a genocidal conflict to settle in massive refugee camps tended to by the UNHCR and a complex sub-network of international and local aid agencies. It has been more than four years now since the [...]
Burning the Master’s House
by Onyango Oketch
Now let the blame game begin. Schools in Kenya are going up in flames, together with the ideologies they espouse. We might say nothing new in these. That the kids are at the barricades – laying waste to millions of ideological indoctrination investment centers and are being met with a ban on cell [...]
Firefight in Abeche
by Anne Holmes
In Abeche now, the day was very calm. After checking with various people about the security situation, we took a drive up north to Biltin to have a chat with the governor and get his authorization to work as journalists in the area. He spoke very highly of the army and their splendid [...]
Chad Day 1
Arrival in N’djamena, Chad June 17, 2008.
Things are calm in the capital after a series of rebel attacks in the east destabilized regular proceedings and raised the alert levels considerably. The rebels have apparently passed back over the border into Sudan now. Things seem to be relatively under control according to reports, but it’s still [...]
New Multimedia Slideshow
For those of you who have been keeping up with my regular posts, thanks for stopping in. I will be taking a break from my reporting on Kenya and shall return in a month’s time. Here is the multimedia slide show summing up the events I covered:
Click to Watch
Kenya Rocked by Mungiki Surprise Attacks
The cities of Nairobi, Nakuru, Naivasha, Nyieri and Eldoret were all affected by yesterday’s Mungiki demonstrations. A day after President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga named the cabinet in a power-sharing deal, one would have expected Kenya to be celebrating. Instead, the capital city was paralyzed by road blocks set up by the [...]
Pulling the Railway Line
A young man hacks at bolts holding the railway line together in Kibera slums. © Anne Holmes
Residents of Nairobi’s Kibera slum continued to pull up the railway line late into the evening and all morning until an agreement was struck with police. Community leaders came into the slum to discuss an end to the operation, [...]
Tensions Rise in Kenya
Stalled negotiations over the naming of cabinet ministers by Prime Minister Designate Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki under the power-sharing deal struck in late February of this year, has given rise to renewed fears the violences may return. A failure to implement the accord could have dire consequences for the country. Pressure is coming [...]
US Foreign Policy and the Kenya Peace Deal
by Anne Holmes
Before Kofi Annan enters the history books with merits on a job well done in Kenya, before you buy into the propaganda of American goodwill in this story, it would be worth it to examine the quick turn of events that led to the February 28 power sharing agreement.
President Mwai Kibaki and opposition [...]
ALERT: Demos Rock Downtown Nairobi
A large mob of several hundred people poured into the streets of downtown Nairobi today in support of jailed mungiki leader Maina Njenga. Clashes with police ensued.
UPDATE: Several hundred Mungiki supporters descended upon Nairobi, calling into question security for the nation’s capital city. This incident came on the same day the BBC published its story [...]
ALERT: US Bombs Kenya Somali Border
REPORT: One AC-130 bomber flew over the Somali-Kenyan border yesterday Sunday March 2, 2008, in an airstrike upon the Somali town of Dhoble, killing 6 and injuring 20 according to the latest reports. It is not yet clear where the plane came from. Reports of an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean are credible but [...]
Power Sharing Deal Struck
Supporters of ODM cheering outside Harambe house were dispersed with tear gas this afternoon as President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga signed a power sharing deal. The deal struck creates a Prime Ministerial post for Mr. Odinga with the necessary constitutional amendments, and two Deputy Prime Minister positions, one for ODM and one for [...]
Negotiating Talks Break Down
Internally displaced persons at a camp just outside Nairobi’s slum of Mathare © Anne Holmes
Chief mediator Kofi Annan announced today that he was suspending talks in order to deal directly with the two leaders. He insisted the talks had not collapsed, but clearly an impasse has been reached. This morning, he announced that he was [...]
Constitutional Crisis in Kenya
By Prof. Alberto Bencivenga
(http://www.ogiek.org)
Whoever reads Mr. S. N. Waruhiu’s book “From Autocracy to Democracy in Kenya” will be impressed by the amount of information and by the clarity of the analysis done by this author. Any reader who did not grow up in an Anglo-Saxon juridical culture will be additionally impressed by the fact that, [...]
Three Consecutive Nights of Raids in the Slums and More Reasons for Concern
Residents of Huruma gather around the body of a man shot dead by police in a late-night confrontation. © Anne Holmes
The Nation published an article yesterday about the police raids in Mathare North on Wednesday. According to them, 85 people were arrested, including children. At the court hearing on Thursday, people were shocked when a [...]
Tensions Return
A mob in Mathare North attacks a man they accuse of being Mungiki. © Anne Holmes
An overnight raid by police sparked a minor violent scene in Mathare North this morning. Sometime around 3 in the morning police entered a building by force and indescriminately arrested an estimated 80 persons, including women and children, over alleged [...]
What’s Next for Kenya?
Kisii Warriors in Chepilat on Tuesday. © Anne Holmes
Standing by. That’s what I’m doing these days. The negotiations with Annan have helped to quiet things down a bit in Kenya. As we all wait for the results of the talks on Tuesday, people speculate that a power-sharing agreement breakthrough may be in the works. This [...]
They Are Young
By Onyango Oketch
Move over grand pa
They are young. They are angry. They are articulate and sophisticated. Nearly three quarters of them live in the sprawling slums of major Kenyan cities. These are a new generation of youths, mostly male, educated, jobless, idle and restless. It is a highly politicized generation, with nothing to loose and [...]
Saved From a Lynching
My first day on the ground in Kenya, I went into Mathare with a group of photographers after hearing that there had been some problems. Two mobs were facing off on the main street leading into the Nairobi slum. Once the dust had settled, I met an Italian photographer by the name of Enrico Dagnino. [...]
Another Assasination?
ALERT: AN ODM MP HAS JUST BEEN SHOT DEAD BY A TRAFFIC POLICE OFFICER IN ELDORET.
UPDATE: It appears the killing is a crime of passion. The MP in question was apparently having an affair with the Policeman’s wife.
UPDATE #2: As noted by one reader who commented below, the officer also killed his wife and has [...]
