A church group sings for peace in Kisumu, a town in western kenya. Here
many voted for the opposition in the elections at the end of last year but
the election results were grossly falsified so unrest here was huge.
So the church group sings and prays not only for peace.

Dara Suena
-Because Raila is the winner of the election, we know that so we are
praying if God can answer our prayer.

The opposition leader Raila Odinga is commonly considered to be the real
winner in the elections but former president Kibaki seized power, mor or
less illegaly.

Odit Odiero
-We still dont have a president. We don't recognize Kibaki's presidency
and we will refer to him as Mr Kibaki until the people's president is
sworn in and that is Raila Odinga.

The western part of Kenya is among people here considered beeing negleced
for a long time. The roads connecting to the capital nairobi are in a
really bad condition and recent riots havn't improved things here. Many
businesses and shops are now closed in expectance of renewed violence and
the high unemployment and poverty fuels riots and following looting. So
many here wanted change.

Paul Ndolo
-They really believe in the change they voted in and thats why they are
still pushing for it to get the change they earned so that the
opportunities are opened up at the end of the day.That's why people are
determined and unless justice is taken care of , talk about peace, talk
about unity it will be null and void.

But president Kibaki sternly refuses renewed elections. The opposition and
people here feel they have been cheated at the elections. Their will to
fight for justice is strong.

pastor Paul Akomo
-We cannot get it unless we are committed, that means we are  even
prepared for the bullets, but we don't have the weapons. If we had the
weapons we.. we are prepared even for war.

Joshua Oselo
-If this thing can't be solved we are applying for international body to
come in and overthrown this man from office and if they fail to do that we
are ready to fight like Rwanda or Burundi and we are for that...  we are
going to fight...

Monica Anyango
-We have decided to die so that the coming generation will benefit . If we
keep quit and suffer, the coming generation will suffer too.

In Kenya, tribal belonging, inherited from the father, is strongly alive
even though mixed marriages are common. And politicians often seek support
from their tribe who vote for those who claim will support their benefit.
But this enhances mistrust between the ethnic groups and this aggravates
at times of elections.

So now there is danger in belonging to the wrong tribe here in Kisumu.

Duncan Omoro
-Definitely as of now, things are not right so you must be aware of your
security.
-What makes you especially fear for your security?
-I don't come from this place, I work around and I fear now that the
country is divided along ethnic lines. I am a "foreigner".

Many African leaders have gotten themselves huge fortunes. The ability to
achieve personal wealth makes many top leaders do everything to stay in
power.

Karuti Kanyinga, political researcher, University of Nairobi
-They are using their self-interest they are using their own individual
interest to conflate it or to mix it up with community interest so that
they are using the name of their communities, they are using the name of
their tribe in order to mobilize sentiments around either support for
Kibaki or support for Raila so there is what you might call "collective
spirit" that they are trying to mobilize simply because they have got a
lot to gain politically, they have a lot to gain economically


In Kericho, some of the by now several hundred thousands displaced in
Kenya, live temporarily in a park in the city. Many have horrible stories
to tell about how this mix between political parties and tribes has
affected them.

Henry Nguguna
-Because some of us we voted for Kibaki, the president, and that's why the
(tribes of) Kipsis and the Luos are killing us.

The camp is primitive, the displaced sleep on the ground. They don't have
any homes left and when the rain starts later this year, the situation
will be desperate.

Henry Nguguna
-Home where? They all have burned their houses and with our belongings,
they burned all .. if we go there they will kill you.

Water and food is doled out by aid agencies. Most people here are poor
workers at the nearby tea plantations who lay idle by now. According to
many here there is a sinister plan among highly positioned local
politicians to play the ethnic groups against each other in a dirty game.

Justas Ayub
-Even some of the members of Parliament they are at least they are the
people who are supporting this because maybe they have promised something
like "majimbo" and the ones that have promised that when they are told
that "once we take over, we will make sure that these land's left for you"

Kenya at the surface seems to be a modern society with free press but any
clear politics to reduce tensions between the tribes have never been
introduced.

Samuel Mwaura
-It meant that even before elections, the Kenyans are people already
holding grudges and people who are looking for just every minute
opportunity so that they may do any kind of evil they were looking to do.

Caroline Nkatha
-People's tribalism and believing that we are all divided and not being
together. These politicians, actually sending around messages sometimes in
their rallys because they should be more careful with what they say and
they should because people do follow them and really listen to what they
say.

The Parliament is considered powerless compared to that of the
presidenten, who also has the post of Commander in chief. Any political
reforms were never committed by president Kibaki.

Karuti Kanyinga, University of Nairobi
President Kibaki de-emfacised democratic governance, politics of inclusion
so that he could pursue economic growth and economic recovery and that is
where the conflict has been and where the tension is

Kenyas economy is largely self-sufficient so international pressure about
reduced development aid in eventual negotiations lacks leverage.
Especially the US has strongly and openly criticized the Kibaki regime but
so far without results. The will among the politicians to stay in power is
too strong.

Karuti Kanyinga, University of Nairobi
-We are not in a situation that individuals around president Kibaki will
feel threatened by the issue of sanctions for instance or int community
talking very hard on Kenya they might not want to listen to that language
so diplomacy from the Americans, British and other int development
partners is what might work but I don't think if that diplomacy fails the
use of threats, I don't think the government will succumb to that

But the ethnical question needs to be addressed immediately, some
researchers claim.

Geroge Wachira, Nairobi Peace Institute Africa
-If they fail to do that during the coming few months the violence is not
going to die down. It is going to become uncontrollable because the
violence is going to have a dynamic of it's own.

Surrounding countries like Somalia and Burundi, even Rwanda in the worst
case, give example of the ethnic powder keg that easily could explode.

Geroge Wachira, Nairobi Peace Institute Africa
-The lessons are there (from surrounding countries like Somalia, Rwanda..)
that if we really do not deal with our politics properly we risk taking
this country down the brink and the consequences are unimaginable.. if one
million people died in Rwanda, it could be much much worse in this
country.

Those of the "wrong" tribe are to be chased away and ethnically clean
areas are to be created in Kenya. That is the scenario that the displaced
- and all other in Kenya - awaits if things get worse, and the risks are
high.

Anna Kerugu
-We are told "if you will not go to your "home" you will be cutted and you
will be killed".