Kenya presidential elections violence situation

Friday,  January 25, 2008

Highlights

Annan’s mediation

- A third round of food distribution to 72,000 people begins in Nairobi slums

Situation update

President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila Odinga met for the first time today since last month's disputed presidential election. The face-to-face talks were mediated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Late Wednesday, Mr Odinga had called off a mass protest planned for today in Nairobi in response to a request by Kofi Annan.

Meanwhile, Kenyan Police - quoted by news agencies - said eight people had been killed in tribal violence near the western Kenyan town of Nakuru, raising the overnight death toll to 12.

Humanitarian response

Protection

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is setting up an emergency office in Kitale (Rift Valley Province) in conjunction with Catholic Diocese of Kitale to implement peace and reconciliation and livelihood programmes. The Kenyan NGO Mama na Dada, previously active at the Moi Air Base in Nairobi, is transferring its activities to the Chief’s Camp in Nairobi. The organization is involved in child therapy and is also operating in two centers in Kisumu for rape survivors.

Hygiene, Water & Sanitation

Oxfam-GB and Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) organized a-one day training for 27 Eldoret Show Ground hygiene promotion volunteers.

Food and Logistics

WFP, KRCS, National Alliance of Churches, Jamii Bora and Nairobi Provincial Commissioners’ Office are carrying out the third round of food distributions providing one-week rations to 72,000 people in different places of Nairobi slums (Kibera, Mathare, Huruma, Viwandani Eastleigh, Mukuru, Dandora, and Pangani) starting today (24 January) till 29 January. Today’s distribution targeted 4,500 people in Mukuru area and was carried out successfully.

In Eldoret, the total food stock balance at WFP’s warehouse is 727 metric tons of which 341 metric tons are for the post-election emergency (cereals, pulses, vegetable oil etc). KRCS distributed a half month food ration today at the Show Ground in Eldoret to approximately 9,000 beneficiaries.

The port of Mombasa is still congested with 13,137 containers, including 234 WFP containers, and six ships are waiting for a berth.

Non-Food Items (NFI)

KRCS has confirmed gaps in the provision of NFIs in Eldoret Show Ground. They include 3000 Kitchen Sets, 1000 Family Kits, 50,000 sanitary pads, 300 garbage bins and 500 fire buckets.

Assessments

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) CHF International has deployed an emergency team to Eldoret to assess the most pressing needs of displaced families in the area. In Soy, a small community outside of Eldoret, CHF is working with the Soy AIDS Resource Center, a local NGO, to assist more than 300 displaced families. Initial assistance for families in Soy will provide an emergency clean water system and latrines for the community and transitional shelters for individual families. CHF International will be looking for other pockets of displaced people that have not yet received assistance or for whom it can fill gaps in services.

A Rapid Assessment on Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence in Nairobi IDP Sites was conducted 10-11 January by Save the Children, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA and the Government of Kenya's Children’s Department. The assessment provides a number of insights:

The IDPs have been displaced by a very short distance, often less than one kilometer. Some lost everything in the post-election violence, while others still have intact houses and/or personal belongings. At Jamhuri Park and Moi Airbase IDP camps, the number of people sleeping at the site is much lower than the number receiving assistance. Many people from the slum areas (Kibera and Mathare respectively) are approaching these sites to receive food, medical assistance and non-food items. IDPs are sleeping in the open at several sites, including Moi Air Base, Jamhuri Park, and Soul Winning Church. IDPs selected the sites because of their perceived security — near police stations, at churches, mosques or schools. IDPs at most sites report feeling safe, however many sites are close to insecure neighborhoods. Because of the ongoing instability, the majority of IDPs are not willing to return to their original homes.

There appears to have been a significant number of rapes during the two days following the announcement of the election results (30 December 2007). Not all victims received medical care. While there is no evidence of ongoing sexual violence at the IDP sites, these sites do not yet have adequate reporting mechanisms.

The citizens of Nairobi as well as churches, schools, corporations and NGOs have made a tremendous outpouring of volunteering, material assistance, and hospitality during this crisis.

Regional implications

UNHCR yesterday began relocating an estimated 6,500 Kenyan refugees away from border areas in south-east Uganda. Six buses carrying an initial group of 360 refugees arrived at the Mulanda transit centre some 35 kilometres inland. During the on-going five-day relocation operation, the rest of the newly arrived refugees will be moved from Malaba, Busia and Lwakhakha to the transit centre.

On 23 January, a total of 33 WFP trucks carrying 1,052 metric tons of food were dispatched from Mombasa to different places in Kenya, including the operation for IDPs in western Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Somalia.

Contact:

Nasser Ega-Musa/UNIC Nairobi

Tel: 254 735 232539 ([email protected])

Jeanine Cooper/OCHA support to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator

Tel: 254 722 720 944 ([email protected])

Inderpal Dhiman/ Assistant to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator

Tel: 254 727 400 545 ([email protected]).