Obama mania soars in Kenya
2008-02-05 12:21
Kibera - As they wave machetes with gleaming blades, rioters in Kenya's sprawling slums say they have two things on their minds: protesting Kenya's presidential election and Barack Obama.
The United States presidential candidate - whose father was Kenyan - was a favourite son of the nation, which erupted into violence after hotly-contested elections in December.
President Mwai Kibaki had claimed victory in the December 27 vote, but opposition leader Raila Odinga said the polls were rigged while international observers have cited serious flaws.
About 1 000 people had since died in ethnic clashes, riots and looting. The ethnic clashes had fuelled Obama fever, with members of the Luo ethnic group rallying behind Obama, whose father was a Luo.
"Obama!" a group of Luo men shouted in unison, as they stood guard at a makeshift roadblock near the entrance of Kibera, Kenya's biggest shantytown outside Nairobi.
'We want guns!'
Mohammed Noor, 27, said: "We are supporting him here. We want him to win the election. Did you know that Obama's father is also Luo?"
Behind Noor, young men yelled, "Tell Obama we want guns!" Kibera had been rocked by violence since the election, with a death toll hovering around 50. Residents said they needed weapons to protect themselves from attacks from rival ethnic groups.
Opposition leader Odinga, a Luo himself, blamed a corrupt police force for what he called the murders of innocent people in the slum. Razed homes and burnt-down shops line the roads of Kibera.
Violence among the Luos, Luhyas, Kalenjins and members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group across the country had forced a quarter of a million Kenyans to flee their homes.
Kenyans unity 'can be salvaged'
Obama, who was given a triumphant welcome after he visited Kenya in 2006, had repeatedly called on both leaders to set aside their differences in the face of spiralling violence.
"Kenya's hard-won democracy and precious national unity can be salvaged. Now is the time for all parties to renounce violence," he wrote in a commentary this month in the Daily Nation, Kenya's top newspaper.
"Kenyans will listen to Obama, because everyone in Kenya loves him. Our similarities are much greater than our differences," said Marcy Ugangu, 21, as cars and buses roared past her on a crowded street.
But not all Kenyans were convinced of Obama's influence.
"If the United Nations secretary-general has come to mediate without success, how can Barack Obama?" asked Grace Dola, 22, standing in the shade under a batch of trees.
Violence had raged in Kenya's western Rift Valley despite ongoing talks mediated by Annan in the capital. Joyce Chepngeti, 34, said that Obama's message should have been directed at the people, rather than the bickering leaders.
"It's not about Odinga or Kibaki, it's about the voters right now; they're angry."
Nevertheless, Chepngeti said, they were following the US elections and were "very much pro-Obama. He seems like the most able to unite the nations of the world."