Lena: Kenyan Elections

Posted 10:45 PM, December 30, 2007, by lenawine

Many of you have asked for information about the elections to which I have alluded that are going on in Kenya. I wish I had the time and knowledge to fully elaborate on the situation. Here are two BBC articles that seem consistent with what I was hearing within the country before I left.

What was written 3 weeks ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7092398.stm

What was written tonight: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7164890.stm

Here's a couple of Economist articles that I found interesting (but keep in mind that I don't know how long any of these links will last - before you have to start paying for access):

http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10328292

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10328986

A colleague of mine wrote this in response to concerns about his safety:

"An uneasy calm has returned in Kisumu today with people walking around either buying food or assessing the damage caused.Most buildings in town have either been vandalized,burnt or both.
I was just in town trying to buy some food when the police started shooting at people.So am hiding out in the office for a while.

We don't know when calm will be restored if at all!
The opposition have called for a meeting on Thursday(3rd) at Uhuru Park in Nairobi so that they can swear themselves in as rightful winners of the election.The government has outlawed the meeting but the opposition is asking 1million people to turn up for the meeting.
One way or the other,am afraid all hell will break loose come Thursday."

Another link with updates about what's been going on in Western Kenya: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya24jan24,0,6610255.story?coll=la-home-center

An update from the Economist: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10651817

Comments

Hey Lena,

I'm a first year here at Stanford and I recognized your face from around campus (presumably from before you took off for Kenya). I just discovered your blog, and it's been really great to read about your international traveling and research experiences. I'm new to the international scene, but I'm very much interested in exploring it. I'd love to hear more about your project, how you got it to the point you're at now, and how all the other components (e.g. language acquisition) worked themselves in! I can't really imagine myself getting to your point right now, mostly because I can't envision the path from point A to point B!

Hope all is well, and that the political situation is settled soon.

Patricia

Comment by: Patricia at January 8, 2008 12:17 AM