Pray for Kenya

Imperial occupation of the African continent by multiple outside nations throughout history naturally led to territorial disputes and its eventual division into many countries. The boundaries of these African countries resulted from the claims and disputes between outside nations and did not reflect the historical boundaries between native tribes and clans in Africa. As a result, countries–and, eventually, representative governments–were formed that often contain within them several competing tribes and interests. Kenya, for example, is home to multiple competing groups.

Kenya’s recent presidential election on December 27, 2007 sparked a very large uprising. Kenya’s President Kibaki from the Party of National Unity was running for re-election against Raila Odinga from the main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement, when a split occurred in the Orange Democratic Movement party. The split resulted in a crucial 8% of votes being lost by the Orange Democratic Movement and gained by the newly-formed Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya and its candidate Kalonzo Musyoka. Then, the race tightened between Kibaki and Odinga.

As vote results started coming in, Odinga grew from having a slight to a substantial lead; as Kenya’s electoral commission continued to count votes, however, Kibaki overtook his opponent substantially. Odinga then declared himself the “people’s president” and called for a recount of the votes and for the resignation of President Kibaki. The results of the election led to many violent protests, leaving 486 people dead, 250,000 people finding refuge in neighboring Uganda, one former Olympic athlete dead during a protest, and one politician hacked to death. The single largest and one of the worst acts of violence during the protests occurred at a church, where people in the church (mainly members of Kibaki’s clan) seeking shelter from the violence were trapped inside as the church was set on fire, resulting in 35 of the 200 people who were in the church burning to death.

As of January 7, 2007, Odinga has called off the planned protests and a mediator from the U.S. is aiding negotiations, but tension still remains and the situation is still very critical in Kenya. Attacking people who are hiding from violence is an act of hatred, not simply a disagreement, and the scale of the violence and civil unrest indicates Kenya’s people are in trouble and have been trouble for quite some time. Please pray for Kenya and keep the people of Kenya in your thoughts.

Please additionally pray for the United States, as our current events are indifferent from some of Kenya’s, and civil unrest easily gives birth to hatred. Please take great care to not hate those who disagree with you or even those who hate you, because it is hatred that can threaten the very freedoms that make up the fabric of our nation; instead, try to welcome the discussion of differences of opinion, or simply avoid things that offend you too much. This is especially important during the election season and these politically charged times.

Sources:

• Wikipedia: Kenya
• Wikipedia: Civil unrest in Kenya (2007-2008)