Baobab | Violence in Kenya

Election fighting

Violence flares in Kenya ahead of the election

By The Economist online | NAIROBI

BURNT villages, mutilated bodies and displaced communities once again loom large in Kenya. A spate of killings in the Tana river delta, which lies 120 miles north of the coastal city of Mombasa, has left more than 100 people dead and driven thousands from their homes. Six months before Kenyans go to the polls, it is a tragic reminder of the violence that took the country to the brink of civil war after a disputed election four years ago, and of the potential for instability in east Africa’s largest economy.

Ostensibly the latest unrest is an escalation of long-standing tensions between two tribes, the Pokomo and Orma, over water and grazing rights. The Orma are semi-nomadic people who roam in search of pasture for their cattle; the Pokomo are smallholders who grow cash crops in the riverine area. In the past their disputes have often been settled peacefully by community elders. This time the elders complain of being sidelined by politicians.

The death toll since August has been unprecedented. Survivors of the tit-for-tat clashes describe terrifying slaughter; villages surrounded, people massacred by gangs of youths armed with guns, machetes and spears. Many locals have blamed the severity of recent fighting on politicians whom they believe have stoked the violence for their own gain.

Kenya’s largest and longest river flows from the Aberdare Mountains into the country’s biggest wetland ecosystem on the Indian Ocean coast. In recent years the fertile Tana delta has been carved up by commercial interests eyeing sugar, rice and bio-fuel crops. Some 60% of the delta has been taken over by large-scale agriculture. Big projects mean big earnings for those with political control over the area.

A war of words broke out earlier this year between Godhana Dhadho Gaddae, a junior minister and MP for the region’s Galole constituency, and the defence minister, Yusuf Haji, MP for Ijara in the neighbouring Garissa county. The two squabbled in parliament over attempts to shift electoral boundaries. Since the violence flared, each has accused the other of instigating the clashes. The less powerful of the two, Mr Godhana, was arrested in the capital Nairobi and charged with incitement on September 12th.

Every election cycle in Kenya since the 1990s has been preceded by violence. The belated deployment of 1,800 paramilitary troops to the region in mid-September has brought temporary calm. But Human Rights Watch, an international lobby, estimate that 200 people have died so far in politically-motivated killings ahead of the upcoming election. The hope is that the destruction wrought in 2008 will not be repeated. But many fear the violence in Tana suggests that fighting could errupt in other parts of the country before votes are cast and counted next March.

Correction: This post originally stated that Yusuf Haji was an MP for one of Tana River's constituencies. He is of course MP for Ijara in the neighbouring Garissa county. This has now been corrected.

Discover more

A particularly sad farewell to Baobab

We're changing how we handle online coverage of Africa

All foreigners out! Well, some of you

What lies behind South Sudan's antipathy towards foreigners?


Blade runner, the judge’s cut

The Pistorius trial shows that justice is meted out to rich as well as poor