Kenya

In Kenya, hate media has found a new home

Julien — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:05:35 +0100

The message Mashada posted on their forum page

One of Kenya's most popular discussion forums had to close its doors yesterday (31 January) because of a barrage of abusive and hate-inciting comments left by web-users. James X runs the ‘Mashada' project. He explains that the site's once relatively peaceful discourse had taken a decisively violent turn since the elections. It seems that the internet is being used to fuel ethnic loathing. Could this media become the next Radio Mille Collines?

Everyone remembers the calls for murder broadcast by Radio Mille Collines during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. You can't compare the 800,000 massacres in Rwanda with the current one thousand in Kenya. However, James tells us that a renewal of ethnic tensions is more than visible on the web, and that it started even before the elections. And threatening behaviour on the internet will only mean one thing on the ground.

Misuse of power

Julien — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:23:05 +0100

These images were shown on Kenyan television on Tuesday. The scene was filmed in Kisumu (east), a stronghold of the opposition and where three protesters have been killed in two days (more on the riots). The film is now being circulated by Kenyan bloggers, who are condemning the national security forces for misuse of power.

Video posted on Youtube on 17 January 2007 - source : KTN

Kenyan web users gang together on ‘Google Maps’

Julien — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:32:04 +0100

Homepage of the Ushahidi site

Text messages played an important part in the Kenya protests at the end of last month. Now, Kenyan bloggers have found a new way to circulate information about the riots, rapes and murders that tear through their country. Our Observer Daudi Were, one of the project organisers, explains to us how it works.

Our Observer takes a look around post-protest Nairobi

Julien — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:35:28 +0100

Raila Odinga supporters gave up their protests yesterday when the Orange Democratic Movement members finally gave in to the fact that the planned rally would not be going ahead due to police controls. Our Observer Daudi Were followed the police as they blockaded entrances to the city and told people to go home. And William Woeri, who's on the scene today, updates us on the current situation.

35 burned alive in a church, a pastor bears witness

Julien — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:32:55 +0100

An angry crowd set fire to a church near Eldoret (west Kenya) on Tuesday killing at least 35 people including women and children. Our Observer for Kenya, Fredrick Onyango, put us in contact with a pastor from Langas, a small town in the suburbs of Eldoret. With all shops closed, he explains to us how he cannot feed the sixty refugees he's currently housing in the church. Read his testimony.

Rumours sent by text add to violence

Julien — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:59:31 +0100

While signs of electoral fraud accumulate, the country responds to the results and the death count creeps up (250 on Tuesday morning). Our Observer Fredrick Onyango, who was pleased with election procedures on Friday, reassesses the situation today. He is particularly concerned about the amount of rumours circulating, apparently by text message.

Our observer followed the elections

Julien — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:15:00 +0100

Despite expected violence and corruption allegations in the run up to Kenya's presidential, parliamentary and local council elections yesterday, the event was largely peaceful with an overwhelming turnout of around 70%. Enormous queues snaked from the 27,000 polling stations from four in the morning until well after official closing time at 5pm. Locals took photos of the events and told us about the day's events.