Raila, Kalonzo reject Waki Report

BY Michael Mumo and Bernard Momanyi (Capital FM)
The Waki report on post-poll violence got further bashing on Thursday, after Prime Minister Raila Odinga beat a hasty retreat and led 75 Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MPs in rejecting it.
Mr Odinga, who has been vocal in pressing for the full implementation of the report, chaired a four-and [...]

UN fears grow over Congo unrest

The UN says it is deeply concerned about the plight of tens of thousands of people fleeing a rebel advance in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Tutsi rebel CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda, whose forces are just outside Goma, declared a ceasefire on Wednesday night and urged others to do the same.
The UN Security Council has urged [...]

Prominent careers in political toilet

The Waki Report on post election violence has consigned the careers of Kenya’s top politicians into the toilet of collective memory among the citizens of the republic.

Indeed, the post election violence that killed at least 1,000 Kenyans and made half a million refugees in their own country has irredeemably tainted Kenya’s top political leadership.
Citizens across [...]

Cuba oil presents US dilemma

The discovery of potential deep-water oil and gas reserves off Cuba’s northern coast has caught the eye of the world’s energy-hungry nations. The US could see rigs drilling for Cuban oil only 50 miles off Florida.
India’s state-run oil firm ONGC, already signed up to exploration in the area, has just upped its stake – the [...]

Kenya set to get truth commission

Kenya’s parliament has approved a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) to probe human rights violations and historical injustices.
Those found guilty of genocide and other human rights violations will not be eligible for amnesty. The move comes amidst debate on how to deal with those implicated in the violence that broke out after the disputed [...]

Blackwater sending ship to Somali coast

By kenyanobserver on October 23, 2008
The recent piracy off the coast of Somalia that resulted in the hijacking of a Ukrainian ship carrying heavy artillery and tanks headed for Kenya has caught the attention of Blackwater Worldwide, the controversial North Carolina based, military contractor.
According to a Forbes article, Blackwater is in the process of assembling [...]

Giant cabinet in panic over ethnic clashes

Kenya’s giant cabinet is paralyzed in panic as a judicial report on ethnic clashes implicates key allies of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Judge Waki declined to name the politicians in his report but the suspects are widely known, both within the republic and in the diaspora.
Last week’s release of the report on [...]

Land not the cause of clashes – Ruto

Controversial ODM Member of Parliament, William Ruto, told the Waki Commission of Inquiry that land ownership is not responsible for rampant ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley province.
Ruto told the Commission, “The issue of the post election violence is not land, let nobody cheat you. Kikuyus always sit on the land and the only problem [...]

Gang rape as a political weapon – Waki Report

One of the well known and regrettable tragedies of major conflicts and breakdowns of law and order is sexual violence. This has happened around the world.
Sadly enough, it also was a consequence of the 2007 post election violence in Kenya. Below, the Nairobi Chronicle presents accounts by victims of sexual violence as contained in the [...]

Raped as husband is killed – Waki Report

On 1 January 2008, 36 year old Elizabeth W. and her husband were attacked in their house in Eldama Ravine by a group of Kalenjin, some of whom she knew. She was gang raped while her husband was being hacked to death and her shop looted. Following is an extract of her testimony:
They cut my [...]