Kenya / Promptly Establish Special Tribunal

by , , , , ,
Human Rights Watch: Government, Donors Should Support Commission’s Findings on Election Violence [inspic=143,left,,thumb](New York, October 15, 2008) – The Kenyan government and international partners should strongly support the call by the Waki commission investigating post-election violence to create a special tribunal to end Kenya’s cycle of impunity, Human Rights Watch said today. “The Waki commission has done an admirable job describing the causes of the violence and assembling evidence,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Now the politicians need to set up the special tribunal it recommends.
read more

Kenya / Coming up: more audio and pictures

by , , , ,
Been a kind of offline (moving in and out almost every country between Kenya and South Africa)in the past months, collecting stories from Africans telling about their lives, their frustrations and most of all: their dreams. I met fishermen on the Cape who are not allowed to fish and had to flee into crime and drugs, I met beachboys in Mombasa who in order to be more succesfull with a muzungu lady, are planning to visit a witch doctor ‘before the season starts’ to get a black magic battery in
read more

Zambia / Mister Seaman from Zimbabwe, you made my morning

by ,
Thank you mister Seaman from Zimbabwe, you started a small coffee stand on Lusaka International Airport. You know what a traveller needs at the beginning of the day: good coffee. But… what i don’t get: why do Zambians need a Zimbabwian on their International Airport to start a coffee shop all those years nobody noticed?
read more

Kenya / Robbery of the century!

by , 2 Comments
It is the people against the people. I don’t see the sons of daughters of politicians fighting. It’s the poor against the poor… A poor Luo who lives on a fews shilling a day, has more in common with his poor Kikuyu neighbour who is trying to make ends meet with a few shillings. They have both nothing in common with their filthy rich leaders, Luo or Kikuyu, owning companies, appartments, shares. Everyhwhere in the wordl: in Europe (Swizerland), America (New York), Australia, South Africa (Johannesburg). They stole a lot
read more

Kenya / Coming up: pockets of rioting youth

by , , , ,
The morning was quiet in Nairobi. This afternoon i visited the informal settlements Mathare and Kibera. Police was around and Mathare seemed realtively quiet. Downtown Nairobi though there were pockets of rioting youth. They were dispersed by special police forces that used teargas. Less than an hour later, I witnessed singing youth who were challenging the police in the informal settlement Kibera. Police went in (that is the moment you hear on the audiofile). Minutes later, it seemed back to ‘normal’, as far as i can use that word in
read more

Kenya / 17.15 pm / Pictures: Just back from opening of Parliament

by , , , ,
Just back from the opening of Parliament. Quit hectic. Noit enough room for the press, so I had to improvise a bit to get some pictures. A warm thank you to the dilpmats from Greece and Cyprus who were very friendly indeed. One of the agenda points was the election of the speaker. The pictures are a quick impression. One of them shows president Mwai Kibaki bringing out his vote. Meeting is still going on. Nairobi downtown seems to be quiet at the moment (17.15 local time). Pictures are clickable.
read more