Dozens of people seeking refuge in a church in Kenya were burned to death by a mob on Tuesday, according to witnesses and Red Cross officials, in an escalation of ethnic violence that is threatening to plunge the country into chaos.
Up to 40 people died inside the church, a few miles from a town called Eldoret, after young men from a different tribe poured gasoline on it and set it on fire, the witnesses and officials said.In Nairobi, the capital, tribal militias squared off against each other in several slums. Witness reports indicate that more 200 people have been killed in the past two days in violence connected to a disputed election Kenya held last week.
The European Union said there was clear evidence of ballot rigging, and European officials called for an independent investigation. Kenya’s government, which won the election by a razor-thin margin, has refused. Government officials said they would crack down harshly on anyone who threatened law and order, and they banned political rallies for the foreseeable future.
A knot of rage seemed to be moving across the country, from the slums of Nairobi, the capital, to the cities along the Indian Ocean, to usually tranquil towns on the savanna. Many people were furious that President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner on Sunday in the country’s most fiercely fought election, despite widespread evidence of fraud.
This is an utterly tragic turn of events. It has an echo of Rwanda and Nigeria. The Anglican Church of Kenya has been a beacon and major force for good. I only hope and pray that they can be peacemakers in the midst of this violence and chaos. Somehow the Christians in Kenya were able to bring reconciliation after independence in 1963 following their abominable treatment by the British. May God bless them as they confront violence dishonesty and corruption in the present situation.
#1, frianm,
You don’t have to look at Rwanda and Nigeria (though yes, there are strong similarities between this turmoil in Kenya and tragic events in both countries). All you have to do is look back in time just a few years ago to see disturbing similarities to the long, but harshly tyrannical regime of the infamous Daniel Moi in Kenya.
But, as you rightly say, frianm, the Anglican Church has been a bright beacon in the midst of the chaotic darkness in so much of Africa. It has indeed been a “major force for good” in many places, where people are so desperately poor and badly educated, prone to all kinds of unnecessary sicknesses due to contamminated water supplies and on and on.
Pray for Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi and the growing Anglican Church of Kenya!
David Handy+