The British Government moved into rapid and transparent active diplomacy on this and it continues to be all over UK papers - both in print and online - which is very heartening.

Just a tiny snippet of contacts made and publicly stated by Downing Street is covered today in this Press Association release.

I'm not playing this tragedy down in any way but from a diplomatically strategic position, the way the British Government has behaved over the past couple of days probably indicates that no-one in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (or the Nairobi office of the British High Commission) has slept since this started and that it is #1 on Gordon Brown and Kim Howells' schedule for the forseeable future. And is at least something to be grateful for.

Edited to included last paragraph

For reliable and frequent updates:

www.allafrica.com/

Gayle exhibits calm in a storm, something I often note and impresses the heck out of me.

Reliable information is important and AllAfrica is certainly a much visited site. Reuters AlertNet is also a very valuable source of information worldwide. I really appreciate the interactive map and have their Africa page bookmarked. My source for headline news is the BBC. But to be frank my main source of updates about the election has been through blogs.

My very limited interaction with officials of the US Department of State have all left a very favorable impression. It frustrates me that official policy is contradicted by what the US actually does on the ground. I was very disappointed by the US being so quick to congratulate Kibaki even as the British and EU were raising concerns about the elections. Following the news of the Ugandan presidential elections a while back, I was so frustrated that the US official position didn't more closely track the British. Indeed, one aspect of the US-Ugandan relationship that gets me polishing my tinfoil hat is how often it seems a small clique of US representatives "make things happen" that seem contradictory to our stated policies.

A reason for my great concern about the situation in Kenya has to do with the regional impact. Already Ugandan petrol shortages are being reported and prices have increased sharply, especially for diesel fuel.

The new media is worth examination in this situation because there may well be some lessons useful for future crisis.

One of the features of reading blogs is that overtime you get to know the blog writers. Ory Okolloh writes Kenyan Pundit and that's the site I was following most closely.

Kenyan bloggers have been fairly organized for a while, so there's been lots of opportunity for drama and stories to emerge. Ory Okolloh has over time proven what a great person she is. She turned down a prestigious job offer in the USA when she graduated law school here to return to Africa. With M of Thinker's Room started mashada a forum to keep citizens eyes on the Kenyan parliament.

Blogs may well be a subjective window into the situation, but that context can also be quite informative. That's especially the case for blogs I read over time. Keguro Macharia wrote thoughtful reflections on the situation. He wrote:

And here I must underline positive content: that our elections for the past three cycles have been based on getting rid of people as opposed to building something strikes me as a symptom of a denuded approach to being national. To my mind, becoming national depends more so on positive content, what we want to accomplish, the dreams and goals and aspirations we share than on the dross we seek to reject.

As an American, those words hit home where I live and suggest a lesson we here in the USA might take from the situation.

I always read Eric Hersman's White African blog. Eric is a technologist and was quite thoughtful prior to the election and now after the fact about how the Internet can change the situation for the better. Why the Internet Matters in Africa offers some broader lessons.

With an electrical blackout and a ban on live news coverage reliable and up-to-date information was hard to come by. Ory's site went down and she was hesitant to post too much at Mashada in case it was a government effort to block her. Mashada opened a line so people could send live SMS to the site via cell phones. Eric among others helped to get the word out.

East African regional editor at Global voices, Ndesanjo Macha has done a great job in summarizing the Kenyan election blog posts.

Daylight is coming to Kenya, and I await with some trepidation what news today will bring. The many-to-many media bring an insight into the news, they provide a context, that I would not have otherwise.

I PM'd Moses, Dennis, and Samuel and invited them into this thread to share their on the ground observations.

John said:

"Gayle exhibits calm in a storm, something I often note & impresses the heck out of me."

John that's very kind - particularly given I was once labelled a "Robotic Ice Princess" in the midst of a "skirmish" requiring the immediate evacuation of a large number of people.

Back to Nairobi.......

Perspective IS important John, and the blogs are a great way of getting both a big and intimate picture of a crisis.

That written, the ability to value-add right now is great and very necessary.

Information on blogs can be hard to find and the filtration of field info is made so much more difficult in black-out situations so if you have contacts in Nairobi who are blogging useful details that - when collated - help with intelligence gathering & sharing for contingency purposes, send them to any of the following email addresses.

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Media & Public Unit

pressandpublicaffairsection.nair obi@fco.gov.uk

International Crisis Group - Africa Unit

Sally Chin (Senior Analyst for the Horn of Africa) schin@crisisgroup.org

Adam O'Brien (Senior Analyst for Central Africa) aobrien@crisisgroup.org

François Grignon (Director of African Programs) fgrignon@crisisgroup.org

British High Commission - Nairobi

Overnight emergency number: +254 722 206616 (8pm - 8am)

Day Time (8am - 8pm): +254 020 284 4268 / +254 0 20 284 4280 / +254 0 20 284 4306

Nairobi = 12 mid-day/Melbourne = 8pm/Washington DC = 4am/London = 9am

All times are Wednesday 2nd January.

I just watched the ABC News (Australian equivalent to the BBC) and they did another live interview with Michael Hawthorne (an Aussie Expat aid worker) based in Kisumu, 350 kilometres west of Nairobi, where many have been killed.

They spoke to him at length about the violence in West Kenya and also about the communications he has had today with Nairobi based colleagues at other agencies and with British officials.

His overview was as follows:

• As bad as things have been over the past few days, things are settling down quickly on the security front for a couple of identifiable reasons; firstly, there are road blocks on all the main arterials which is slowing (if not shutting) down parts of the country. Secondly, The Red Cross have started substantial food distribution throughout the West and that has had a calming effect over the course of the morning. (Kenyan time)
• His colleagues in Nairobi reported a very calm night and morning and that increased security measures are in place in the capital to accommodate the considerable and numerous diplomatic negotiations already well underway to bring this to a rapid end without further bloodshed.
• Whilst he and other colleagues have complex contingency plans in place for evacuation of staff if needed, none of them believe that will be necessary as they are confident things are trending toward settling down rather than escalating.

This thread and group is now visible from the "outside" thanks to John Firth being a total sweetie.

(He is running seriously late for work all because he logged into Ned to change the setting for the International Relations and Politics Group after I PM'ed him.)

Thank you, John!!

Ugandan gasoline prices have tripled in Kampala and other Ugandan towns and rationing has been introduced. I'm told the whole town of Gulu is out of fuel completely. Luckily I had some money in my handbag to fill the tank in our car and an extra 20 liter jerry can with diesel as soon as we heard the news yesterday - just a few hours later the petrol station was dry of normal gasoline but it seems that diesel fuel is available in larger local reserves. According to this morning's paper the price of diesel has only gone up by about 20% so far in Kampala but is expected to continue rising quickly.

I'm hoping we hear from our Kenyan friends soon...

Thank you Mark for inviting me. Situation is just horrible and i have never witnessed things which are happening since i was born. Yesterday more than 30 women and children were burnt to death in a church in Eldoret. People are now being killed or having their property burnt depending on their ethnicity.

I am in a town called Kikuyu which is commonly inhabited by Kikuyus.This morning i woke up to find a crowd of people who were marching to go and evict Luos from the vicinity.All the businesses were closed and have opened few minutes ago. I have seen several police Cars rushing people to Hospital which is evedent that there was heavy fighting.

All over the country more than 175 people have been killed and 75000 displaced.Not talking of the effect that this violence has on our economy and the neighbouring countries.There is alot of panic buying Its hard to predict what is going to happen since Raila Odinga has agreed to negotiate in one Condition, That President Kibaki accepts that he lost the elections. I do not see Kibaki accepting such a condition.

Thank you for inviting me to this thread i am in Nakuru where its been volatile in some parts of the town where there have been 6 deaths so far but slowly things are coming back to normal here till tomorrow, there i going to be a major rally in Nairobi that the government has not authorized which we are fearing it will spark more violence, on a more positive note we as REPACTED the group that i work with here we have managed to carry out a peace and reconciliation meeting with neighbors of Free Area an estate that tension has been very high, we used theatre to bring the forum together and the chief of the are supported us by availing the meeting ground the meeting was held it was a very fierce meeting with emotions running high this is because some of the participant have lost some of there family members elsewhere in the country.

We had the presence of the police boss in Nakuru and the chief who assured the people there on security, I have two pictures that am sending to Linda so that she can upload them here, this are pictures of the meeting, its our hope that we will continue with search meetings in our town and touch most of the affected areas especially in places we have been carrying out outreaches before cause the community there knows us.

Dennis and Moses, So good to hear from you. Have been thinking a lot about you all since this trouble hit the news. Stay safe.

Gayle will post the pictures the situation is getting worse though all leaders are calling for peace here in Kenya Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa arrives tomorrow to hel[p in peace negotiations, the Electrol Chairmna has admitted that the tallying of the presidential votes was not free and fare and he was under pressure to announce the results.

Here are the photos that Dennis sent through:

Dennis - I got little tears of relief when I saw your email this morning. I'm very glad that you are alright and still managing to continue on with work in the midst of this mess.

And Moses... phew... logged into Ned and saw that you were OK as well. Thank goodness!

stay safe and brilliant - both of you. G. xxx

I am deeply concerned about the situation in Kenya and especially after the term genocide was used by the Government spokesman to describe the violence being witnessed. Reuters have provided timely and detailed news since the election and I have been watching keenly the unfolding scenes from a number of online videos as well.

I have been in touch with Jim Fussell (Prevent Genocide International) and two things emerge from our discussions, Kenya has not ratified the UN convention on prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide and role of the media in fueling ethnic animosity.

The kind of reporting that journalists and especially the foreign media is engaged in raises serious ethical concerns. Reporting how many Luos and Kikuyus are killed only worsens the situation by encouraging revenge.

I can easily link the comments by Moses about the situation in kikuyu town as a revenge after the Eldoret attack. Deaths were reported this evening in Mathare North and more houses continue to be torched around burnt forest area.

The Government through its spokesman has ruled out mediation saying Kenya is not like Somali and Raila will only dialogue if Kibaki declares he was not elected. Such kind of attitudes have only one implication, more deaths. It is a pity that scores of people are dying and the only crime they committed was to exercise their democratic vote - something the do only once in five years.

Eric - HI... so good to read from you. (hope all is going well for you.)

The hopes of yesterday - of things settling a bit on the security front - certainly seem compromised now.

How quickly things can change and the cover of darkness never helps.

Your point about the highlighting of ethnicity in media reports is so rock solid. And so terrifying in consequence.

May things not worsen overnight - I don't know what else to think or write.

I got an SMS message from Ronald Otieno Omondi this morning and he is ok as well.

I have a mailing list of all of the the Kenyans that were members at Onet and particularly those who were in Gulu last spring. I will keep everyone updated if I get any information.

I just got the following SMS message from Ronald:

Sign Kibaki MUST Step Down! Petition On the internet @ gopetition.com Forward 2 all (THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES 1 M SIGNATURES)

Edited to repair the link.

[Deleted by author on 03 Jan 2008 02:34 PST: Duplicate - see above]

Thank you all and thank you Linda for your invitation.Its very sad. Today,Desmond Tutu a Nobel Peace Winner jetted in to mediate between the two sides. There are crashes between police and youth from kibera slum(Where Mr.Raila is Member of Parliament elect)as they are trying to march to Uhuru Park(Freedom Park) for a meeting with the ODM oficials. The police have called the meeting illegal because of the current situation.I have just watched about 30 mins ago as tghe battles rage on.What is sad is that,fatalities seeems enevitable.

The Kenyan media has of now suspended normal programming as they beseach Kenyansto observe peace.

Its unfortunate that despite what we are going through,peolple are still talking about the elections.Despite elctions being the bone of contention,I think we have worse realities.Peole are dying.The message is we should keepthe elections aside first and concentrate on averting the impending civil and ethnic cleansing.Human lives before politics. It doesnt matter who the president is but it matters when we have to butcher each other.its sad.

NAIROBI, January 3 - The American government on Thursday censured foreign media over sensationalizing the situation in Kenya and portraying the post-election violence in the country as more grave than was the case.

In an interview with Capital FM, US Ambassador Rannerberger said though Kenya was facing hard times, the violence had not spiralled out of control and there were concerted efforts employed to bring it to an end. He said it was role of the media to help the country heal itself and not divide it further.

“There is an effort by the international media to sensationalize this. People want to say that this is another Rwanda or something, but this is not what is happening here, this is not the case,” Rannerberger maintained.

He urged the government to restore live broadcasting saying that would ensure accurate information was relayed.

He said that the two contending personalities President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Party (ODM) leader Raila Odinga ought to take responsibility for what is going in the country and define the course the nation.

He called on all leaders to reach out to the people in the affected areas personally to restore peace.

He appealed to the media to step up and preach peace saying it was incumbent that even the state media accord voice to all people equitably.

At the same time, the ambassador lamented that Kenya is loosing between Sh2-3 billion everyday in terms of fiscal revenue as a result of the violence. He said the current state of affairs was making multinational companies contemplate precautionary measures which would negatively impact Kenya’s economy.

He said the American Government was providing humanitarian assistance to victims of post election violence to the tune of Sh13.4 million in the worst affected areas.

His calls came at a time when leading peace negotiators had also intervened to help restore order in the country.

Earlier in the week, renowned peace negotiators, Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat and Major Retired Lazarus Sumbeiywo joined Mwingi North MP-elect Kalonzo Musyoka, in calling for peace. They spoke at a news conference where they urged Kenyans to restrain from any sort of violence activities.

Musyoka, who contested the presidential race, lost and conceded defeat appealed to all Kenyans to observe peace and refrain from any acts of lawlessness in keeping with Kenya’s tradition of peace and stability.

Religious leaders also added their voice to calls for peace.

Bishop Dr William Tuimising of the Deliverance Church, expressed faith in the ability of Kenyan political leaders to arrive at an amicable resolution to the chaos being witnessed the country. He and other church leaders further called on security agencies to refrain from using excessive force in restoring order.

Thirteen members of the Cabinet also appealed for calm across the country in the post-election period.

Reading a statement on their behalf Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Moses Wetangula stated that they were saddened by acts of hooliganism which came in the wake of a peaceful election. Wetangula also said at the government had in that respect formed a caucus to reach out to their colleagues in opposition parties.

“We are preaching reconciliation, the unity of the nation we have formed caucuses amongst ourselves to reach out to the opposition to tell them that after an election, we have a country to build,” Wetangula read.

SOURCE: CAPITAL FM

Humanity before politics!

Thank you for reminding us, Daniel, how important it is that humanity learns to live that simple concept.

Last night one of my sons was wearing his hb4p t-shirt as we discussed this issue with the whole family.

Somewhere during the conversation about what is happening in neighboring Kenya (and how it may affect our family's travel plans over the next 2 weeks) I felt it was important for my children to understand that ethnic violence is not unique to Africa. Eric's point about the media perpetuating ethnic division in their reporting is well taken. But ethnic clashes seem to be part of the human character that has led us into trouble as a planet time and time again. We do this to each other all over the world. WHY???? I just don't get it.

My mom told the kids about the Watts riots in the 1960s and the LA riots in the 90s. My son reminded us of what happened during world war II that he'd just learned about in school - some of the world's greatest technological advances to date came out of that period in the quest to figure out how to completely destroy and mutilate another culture. Bosnia, the war on terrorism, now Kenya... all blame game excuses to kill each other. And we attempt to explain it with politics.

What is it that causes so much rage in people? Why are we - as humanity - so driven to hurt those whom we perceive to be different than we are?

I am passionately frustrated by these questions right now. But I felt very grateful that my son was wearing his Humanity Before Politics shirt last night, and was able to discuss the point.

My dear friends in Kenya - please stay safe. Dennis, I am so proud to know of the meetings you've been involved with but I am really, really worried for your safety. Should any of you whom we at LiA know personally feel the practical need to be invited to Uganda, please don't hesitate to let us know. I'm sure I speak on behalf of the entire Life in Africa community (who are still on a Christmas break right now) that we will all do whatever we can to help you stay safe if you need us.

There is an ironic memory floating in my head, of the Kenyans monitoring the voting procedure we had at the Onet conference in Gulu...

{{{hugs}}} to you all -

C

Eric Wanjamah	Posting	He is ok; family, relatives and friends displaced and in trouble
Etukei Brenda	Nothing
Gitau Francis	Nothing
Karanja John	Nothing
Kariuki Daniel	Nothing
Kariuki Moses	Posting	OK
Kathambi Charity	Posting	Someone @ hotmail! She's OK.
Kimambo Dennis	Posting	OK
Kirui Kipng'etich	Nothing
Kongere Samwel	Well	from Andrius Kulikauskas' wiki
M'Kanaga Richard	Posting	Ok and kicking
Mayodi Anthony	Heard from	OK
Mutua David	Nothing
Mwangi Amon	Heard from	OK, though his girlfriend and her family are running since their homestead was attacked.
Nderitu Monica	Nothing
Ngotho Samuel	Posting	Posting in RnR so must be ok!
Njenga Paul	Heard from	Ok. Working for peace.
Omondi Ronald	Heard from	Keeping me posted by SMS
Wanjohi Josephine	Nothing

Christina, I had forgotten about our election in Gulu and the fun times with the Kenyans. Wish we could offer them a certification of a clean election and those same laughs now.

edited with additional information

edited with additional information

edited with additional information

edited with additional information

Riots and violence grip Nairobi

Story by NATION Team Publication Date: 1/3/2008

Police are fighting running battles with chanting rioters pushing to access Nairobi’s Uhuru Park for a rally called by the Orange Democratic Movement.

A church has been torched in Kibera while a petrol station and five cars have been set ablaze along the city’s Juja road. Key highways into the central business district remain more or less closed as police battle protestors.

Uhuru Park, the venue of the rally called by ODM’s Raila Odinga, was cordoned off by hundreds of paramilitary policemen at the crack of dawn.

Virtually no business is taking place in the city as offices and premises that had opened earlier have now closed.

Scores of youths who attempted to get into the city from Kibera slums through Ngong road and Mbagathi Way were repulsed. A similar group was blocked along Thika road and Waiyaki Way. A stand-off between police and protestors has been reported along Jogoo road while on Mombasa road motorists are being blocked by police from driving into the city.

ODM leaders have finished a meeting with South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu and are reported to be heading for the venue of the rally.

Bishop Tutu is in Kenya in help arbitrate between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga’s teams.