Vol. 72/No. 3      January 21, 2008

Just two days prior, following a visit from a top official of the U.S. State Department, Kibaki and Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader, agreed to negotiate, in an effort to restore stability after riots broke out over a close presidential election.

Odinga now says he still wants to meet with Kibaki but does not recognize his government as legitimate.

Some 600 people have been killed in fighting between Kibaki supporters and those of Odinga, who narrowly lost the election for president on December 27. Odinga’s supporters charged Kibaki had stolen the vote.

Kibaki’s Party of National Unity is based on Kenya’s largest and dominant ethnic group, Kikuyu, which makes up about 22 percent of the population. They were favored by the British during colonial rule and ran many shops, restaurants, banks, and factories. They have dominated the government since independence in 1963.

Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement gets its support primarily among the Luo, who represent about 13 percent of the population.

Odinga initially rejected an offer by Kibaki to form a government of national unity. He said the president is in office illegally and should step down. Following a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazier, the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat on African affairs, Odinga canceled a protest rally scheduled for January 8 and announced he would meet with Kibaki.

The capitalist media has presented the fighting as “unavoidable tribal violence,” seeking to shift blame onto Kenyan working people rather than the economic and social conditions they live under, and the imperialist powers and local capitalist politicians who perpetuate those conditions.

Some 250,000 people have fled their homes to avoid the fighting. Some, like mechanic John Kopio, hold Kibaki and Odinga both responsible. “If they don’t dialogue we down here continue to suffer,” he told Reuters news agency.

At least 18 Kikuyus burned to death attempting to take refuge in a church set fire by rival Kalenjins in Kiambaa, a village about a five-hour drive from the capital. “The violence will end when the politicians want to end it,” said Daniel Kibigo, a brick mason. Kibigo, a Kikuyu, was part of a guard organized by villagers that tried to prevent the attack.

Kibaki has been credited with overseeing a major economy in Africa. The World Bank ranks Kenya’s economy eighth on the continent by GDP. But some 16 million Kenyans, half the population, scrape out a living on less than $1 per day, most in drought-stricken farms in the rural areas. Life expectancy is 50 years, and 1 out of 8 children dies before the age of five, according to the Worldwide Islamic Relief agency.

Odinga is a 15-year member of parliament. His district includes the Kibera neighborhood in Nairobi, also known as Africa’s largest slum. He has done little to change conditions there.

Odinga campaigned for Kibaki for president in 2002. His father was a former vice president and wealthy businessman. In 1982 Odinga was accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Daniel arap Moi and imprisoned for eight years.

Kibaki is part of the old guard, has been in parliament since independence, and is a reliable friend of big business and the U.S. government. The Bush administration had initially congratulated Kibaki on his reelection and called on Kenyans to accept the results.

On the other hand the European Union and the British and French governments expressed concern over irregularities in the election.

Britain is the old colonial power in Kenya and remains economically dominant in the country. British settlers established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895 and settled as large-scale farmers by taking land from the Kikuyu, Masai, and others in 1903. Some 60 British companies operate in Kenya with investments valued at nearly $3 billion.

Last November the French government announced plans to increase its investments in Kenya over the next five years. Jean-Michel Severino, head of the French Development Agency, said Kenya is a strategic target in Africa. Severino said the agency had acquired a 6 percent share in Kenya’s Investment and Mortgages Bank.

France has been under increasing pressure on the continent from U.S. imperialism. Some 80 U.S. companies have affiliates, subsidiaries, or branch offices in Nairobi. U.S. trade with Kenya in 2006 equaled more than $1 billion. Kenya is among 37 countries allowed to export a number of goods to the United States duty-free in exchange for dropping tariffs against U.S. exports.

The Kenyan government also provides Washington with an important platform in east Africa for its “global war on terror” and is an important economic hub for imperialist interests in the region.

The Bush administration announced it will give $14 million for equipment and “antiterrorist” training for Kenyan security forces. Some 250 people, mostly Kenyans, were killed in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. Washington blamed the bombing on al-Qaeda. The U.S. government has pressed Nairobi to enact an antiterrorist law. A draft antiterrorist law was shelved by parliament last April when Muslim groups protested that it violated the rights of Kenyans.  
 
 
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