Kenyans hear of harrowing violence from home

Kenya's postelection violence has left few places unscathed, not even University of Washington graduate student Peter Kithene's medical clinic in a small fishing village at the edge of the country.

A few days ago, the clinic's ambulance driver fled across the border to Tanzania in the middle of the night after angry mobs from a different tribe threatened to kill him, Kithene said. Now the roads to town are too dangerous to travel and supplies have been cut off.

Kenya's Dec. 27 presidential election has brought ethnic tensions to the surface and led to violent clashes in a once-peaceful and stable place.

Kenya natives in the Seattle area say they're hearing reports of atrocities from friends and relatives. Much of the violence has been directed at Kikuyus, members of President Mwai Kibaki's tribe, after Kibaki declared himself winner of an election that many say was rigged.

"They report that there is a genocide afoot," said UW law professor Joel Ngugi, who is organizing efforts to call attention to the situation. He has been working on a new Web site: www.stopkenyagenocide.com.

Although Kithene's Mama Maria clinic is in Muhuru Bay, a predominantly Luo area, Kithene said he strove to make the clinic as diverse as possible. Its 20-person staff included an ethnic Kikuyu.

"I talked with him and told him not to drive the ambulance; just stay at home. I'm sure it will be fine just like any other election," Kithene said. "So the results are announced, and the whole community just erupted in rage and went after the Kikuyus."

The two dozen Kikuyu families in the village took cover in the police station next to the clinic as mobs stormed and looted their houses, Kithene said. The Kikuyus have since left the village, he said. The clinic is operating at a bare-bones level, and other families have taken refuge inside its guarded compound.

Ngugi said the unfolding rural tragedy has been overlooked by the news media in Kenya's large cities. He said he heard from a group of professionals who were evacuated from the Rift Valley. They said armed gangs are blocking all roads out of the area and demanding that anyone crossing show identification.

"If you are Kikuyu, Kamba and Kisii, you are hacked to death," Ngugi said. The only means of escape has been chartered flights, available only to the very rich, he added.

The explosion of ethnic violence has roots in questions of land ownership. Pastoral tribes and displaced communities feel they have a right to their own land, Ngugi said. "It's a question that has never been politically settled in Kenya. It touches a raw nerve."

As someone who never personally felt such ethnic division, Kithene said, "I was so surprised. I was looking at Kenya as one country and the people as Kenyans."

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com