Source:  www.assistnews.net

Date:  2008-01-29

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

KENYA (ANS) -- Stories of unrest and instability are coming out of riot-torn cities in Kenya, following the disputed December 27 re-election of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.

One ministry based in the United Kingdom, which wrote to ANS about what is going on in Nairobi and surrounding areas of the country, says it has a worker in Nakuru who is located opposite the stadium where all the displaced people who have been driven from their homes are now situated.

The same ministry said that friends in Mitimingi were attacked and had to have helicopters break up the fight. That ministry has another contact in Molo who is just trying to escape the violence. Another friend of that organization located in Elburgon has sent several text messages asking for help in getting him out of the country.

A spokesman for that ministry says: "What can I say it -- is a mess, we have a school that has not opened because we cannot get staff there, we have a feeding program for street children that is not happening because people cannot move around. My friend says that you almost cannot go out; he has said that there are street blockades, manned not by police or the army, but by gangs of youths, and each one charges you according to your tribe, so if you are the wrong tribe it costs your more."

Meanwhile, a US-based relief ministry, Strategic World Impact (SWI) www.swi.org , an organization that reaches people in areas of persecution, disaster and war with the gospel, had planned on taking a trained team into Darfur, Sudan to offer relief supplies and medical clinics to the struggling refugees and IDP's (Internally Displaced People).

A spokesperson for SWI told ANS: "Everything had been planned and organized; ready for our journey into Sudan. But, just before we were to depart from the U.S., the plans started changing as we heard that vital connections for the cargo plane that would carry us all into Sudan wouldn't be at our disposal due to the unavailability of jet fuel. The advanced team still departed for Nairobi, Kenya as planned, only this time we were ready to hit the ground and do an assessment on the situation there in Nairobi relating to the violence that has broken out following the election in late December."

The SWI spokesman added: "Upon arrival we found how difficult the situation was; having time to visit a location in Nairobi where 4,133 IDP's were being kept after fleeing from their homes because of the violence in Eldoret and other villages which were some of the hot spots at that time. We also had the blessing of networking with some local Nairobi churches and other connections we had there, which led us to the plan for the remainder of our time in Kenya.

"In the days that followed we traveled to four different camps, some of which were called showgrounds, where thousands of people were being cared for. Some of the camps had buildings for shelter, others did not and people slept out in the open in the fields and the rains. Some had a good deal of government assistance, others did not. Some of the camps had planned feeding programs, some hadn't had food in three days. Some of the camps had medical facilities, some had none.

"The need was great indeed and we quickly realized that while these people certainly needed the relief supplies and the medical aid that we were there to distribute, what they needed most was the Gospel and a remembrance of the hope that can only come from Jesus Christ."

The SWI ministry spokesman said camps were primarily filled with women and children who had fled their homes in hopes of finding safety from the violence.

"But in the fleeing, many had watched their husbands bleed to death, many had watched their family homes be burned to the ground, many of them had to leave family members behind and many of them had no idea at all if any of their children were even alive, never mind where they might be. Their tears were some of the heaviest that we have seen; many times just overtaking their bodies as they collapsed onto our team workers. The trauma was very evident and deep indeed and as we worked in one camp after another, reports streamed in about outbreaks of violence in other surrounding areas, thus creating more people entering the camps and more camps being created."

Strategic World Impact says that its team had a close call in relation to the violence in a town called Molo, where violence resulting in 12 deaths, erupted shortly after its group left.

"It had been reported that approximately 500 men and male youths were shooting arrows at each other, some of which were poisonous. After leaving Molo, we returned to the town that had been our base, Nakuru. The following day, we departed from where we had been staying and it has been shared with us that within 5 minutes of our departure, a mob of men ran down the street in front of the place of business, shooting AK- 47's and killing people. That same day many fires were set ablaze and the town of Nakuru was overrun by the violence; Nakuru exploded, resulting in the roads going in and out of the town being closed off and many people being trapped within."

The SWI spokesman continued: "By the Grace of God, our team was able to get away from Nakuru, but not before sending word to our Home Office asking for prayer requests to be sent out. During this process of fleeing, both of our van drivers were led to Christ and this was very significant because we truly didn't know if any of us were getting out alive. In relation to one of our drivers, if he had been identified, the probability was that he would be killed instantly because of his tribal affiliations."

The SWI team was able to make their way back to Nairobi and shortly afterwards was able to leave the country.

"Upon returning home we heard the news that violence escalated throughout the weekend and some news sources are reporting that as many as 90 people were killed over that weekend, with violence now shifting to a town called Naivasha, also in Kenya's Rift Valley. Some news sources have called the violence 'bloodletting.' The New York Times reported that 'On Saturday, hundreds of men prowled a section of the city (Nakuru) with six-foot iron bars, poisoned swords, clubs, knives and crude circumcision tools. Boys carried gladiator-style shields and women strutted around with sharpened sticks.'"

The SWI spokesman shared the following eyewitness account that was relayed to them. "On Friday afternoon, I witnessed four people get killed and counted more than eight corpses not far from where we currently live. No matter what tribe you belong to, the kind of barbarism that we have witnessed in Nakuru over the last few days, is just too much for all of us and you cannot help yourself when you shed some tears. Some of these people have died very painful deaths. One man had his head cracked open in the middle when a young man attacked him with a machete. The force with which, the machete penetrated his skull was so much that the machete could not be pulled out of his cracked skull. Then someone else came up with a kitchen knife and tore through the poor man's stomach and pull out his intestines, as the guy screamed in pain and begged for mercy. Then they set some wood plunks on fire and placed the poor man on the burning wood and they watched him die such a painful death."

SWI concluded: "Dear Brothers and Sisters, we share this with you not to be gruesome, but to help you have an accurate picture of the volatility in Kenya in these days. We beg you to join us in prayer for this nation and for these people. The retaliation killings and violence are as widespread as the initial acts. Please pray that these people will hear from God and that they will realize that more violence is not the way. Join us in prayer that the perpetrators of these heinous acts will be brought to justice."