Unrest in Kenya in 2007/2008

The political unrest in Kenya in 2007/2008 began on December 30, 2007, the day the official results of the presidential election were published on December 27, and ended temporarily on February 28, 2008, when an agreement was reached between the two conflicting parties. An estimated 1,500 people were killed in the riots in Kenya and 623,692 people had to flee the violence.

After the previously incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the election, there was a great protest from the opposition party ODM . Her presidential candidate Raila Odinga said that he would not recognize the election result because it was obviously falsified.

procedure

Raila Odinga speaks to media representatives (December 30, 2007)

Police hold opposition rallies in Uhuru Park (January 16, 2008)

Opposition leader Odinga was just in the lead when it came to election forecasts and preliminary results. Due to the long counting time of three days, however, there was already slight unrest, as it was feared that Kibaki would manipulate the election. After Kibaki was declared the winner and swiftly sworn in, the Minister of Homeland Security imposed a national blackout. The election result was immediately questioned by several international election observers.

The conflict soon developed into an inter-ethnic clash, attacking mainly members of the Kikuyu , including President Mwai Kibaki. The bloodiest clashes occurred in the area of the great rift valley , the southern part of the Rift Valley province , where Kikuyu have been settled on a larger scale since the country's independence. Over time, a growing radicalization developed among minorities of both tribes, the Kikuyu and the Luo , which, for example, particularly benefited the radical wings of the Mungiki sect.

On January 22, 2008, the former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan arrived in Kenya as a mediator between Odinga and Kibaki.
On January 30th, both sides decided to find a peaceful solution.
On February 1, a peace plan was agreed between the two parties through Annan, according to which an end to the violence, the restoration of a humanitarian environment and the solution of the political crisis within 15 days, the elimination of injustice and discrimination within a year should.
On February 12, the Federal Foreign Office withdrew its travel warning for all of Kenya and now only warned against travel to areas acutely at risk from violent outbreaks, such as the Rift Valley, the provinces of Western , Nyanza and the cities of Eldoret , Kakamega , Kisumu , Nakuru and Naivasha .
On February 15, the mediator Kofi Annan announced that an agreement between the two conflicting parties and thus a settlement of the crisis should take place very soon. A new constitution and reform of the electoral law should be drawn up within a year.
On February 17th, during his trip to Africa, US President George W. Bush called for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Kenya.
On February 19, the African Nobel Peace Prize laureate, politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathai received death threats from the Mungiki group. Amnesty International and the local police took protective measures.
On February 21, the mediator Annan saw "light at the end of the tunnel", as a power sharing between the two conflicting parties was emerging as the final solution.
After the police's official estimate of the number of fatalities to date rose to over 1,500 as a result of the unrest on February 25, the two conflicting parties found themselves at a political dead end. According to police estimates, there were now more than 300,000 people on the run.
Kofi Annan left Kenya on March 2nd. Before leaving, he said: “There is still a long way to go. We want Kenya to become the old Kenya again: stable, peaceful, prosperous and hospitable. "

Results

On February 28, both sides agreed to form a coalition government . Through this power-sharing, the government and opposition hope for a lasting peace in Kenya. In addition, any inequalities within the population are to be gradually reduced or greatly reduced.

Work-up

Allegations against the government

The BBC reported on March 5, 2008 that the government had commissioned members of the radical Mungiki sect to protect members of the Kikuyu from attacks by the Luo. According to unspecified sources, meetings between the government and cult members took place in the official residence of the president. The government denied these incidents and condemned any contact with the Mungiki.

In Kenya

In autumn 2010, a judicial commission of inquiry put the victims at 1,271 dead and 623,692 refugees. A sealed list of suspected main culprits was handed over to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

International Criminal Court

On December 15, 2010, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo ordered the court to summon a total of six people from both camps for alleged crimes against humanity . In the Kibaki's camp, they are police chief Mohamed Hussein Ali , who led the police operations, finance minister and deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta , son of the Kenyan founder and alleged organizer of the Mungiki, and Francis Muthaura , head of the public service. On the side of Odinga, education minister William Ruto , who is said to have organized various Kalenjin militias, industry minister Henry Kosgey , also for the organization of militias, and journalist Joshua arap Sang from the radio station “ Kass FM ”, who ran racist agitation on the radio station should.

Uhuru Kenyatta denied having committed the crimes and Francis Muthaura described them as "nonsense", "unfair" and "unjustified".

The Kenyan parliament called on the government in an almost unanimous decision to abandon the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court . The government wanted to make a decision on this in March 2011. According to surveys, 68 percent of Kenyans were in favor of an investigation by the International Criminal Court. On January 26, 2011, a rally took place in Nairobi to this end.

On January 23, 2012, the ICC admitted the lawsuit against Treasury Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta , Chief of Civil Administration and Chairman of the National Security Council Francis Mutaura , former Education Minister William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang . Requests for a lawsuit against former industry minister Henry Kosgey and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali were denied for lack of evidence.

Web links

literature

Thilo Thielke: Kenya. Reports from inside a torn country. Brandes & Apsel, Frankfurt am Main 2008.

Individual evidence

↑ Urgent Action: Death Threats / Concern for Security, February 22, 2008 ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
↑ agence france presse ( Memento of July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
↑ ^a ^b Dominic Johnson : Kenya's chief agitators should go to court. In: the daily newspaper . December 16, 2010, accessed December 20, 2010 .
↑ Trial of Kenyan politicians begins. In: Spiegel Online . December 15, 2010, accessed December 20, 2010 .
↑ REUBEN KYAMA: Show your flag against impunity. In: the daily newspaper. January 26, 2011, accessed January 27, 2011 .
↑ Thomas Scheen: Kenya's new rules of the game. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 24, 2012, accessed January 24, 2012 .

[1] Urgent Action: Death Threats / Concern for Security, February 22, 2008 ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

[2] rance presse ( Memento of July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )

[ISGH-3] Dominic Johnson : Kenya's chief agitators should go to court. In: the daily newspaper . December 16, 2010, accessed December 20, 2010 .

[Beginn-4] Trial of Kenyan politicians begins. In: Spiegel Online . December 15, 2010, accessed December 20, 2010 .

[Demo-5] REUBEN KYAMA: Show your flag against impunity. In: the daily newspaper. January 26, 2011, accessed January 27, 2011 .

[FAZSpielregeln-6] Thomas Scheen: Kenya's new rules of the game. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 24, 2012, accessed January 24, 2012 .