Valentine’s flowers in Kenya

This year, there was some blood on the Valentine’s red roses coming from Kenya. In the region were many of them were produced, near the central town of Naivasha, an actual ethnic cleansing has occured.

You can watch here the report I have done from there for the Belgian (French language) RTBF television (along with my colleague Claude-Adrien de Mun).

This story was broadcast during the evening news show on the 14th of February.

Barack Obama and Islam

During my recent trip in Kenya, I spent some days with Barack Obama’s family in Western Kenya, especially with his grandmother Sarah and his uncle Said.

Both of them are muslim.

Obama’s roots are clearly muslim.

But when asked about Barack’s religious background, Sarah and Said become almost nervous, saying : ‘it’s not what you think. We are not this kind of muslims that is depicted in the media. We are not fanatic at all.’
And Barack’s father ? ‘Ok, he was a muslim, but I swear he never practiced !’
And himself ?  ‘His father was a muslim, but on the day he was born, he decided to make him a christian, because in Kenya it’s more difficult to get a job when you’re muslim’, a cousin explains.

I personaly do not consider that it is a problem to have a muslim as a candidate for the US presidency.

The main problem is that, because of a nauseous campaign, this candidate has to hide his religious origins and to assure that he –indeed- converted to christianism to have a chance to be elected.
It is shameful for America that someone is denied the right to be proud of its origins to be given the opportunity to become a leader.

Back from Kenya

I just completed a two-week trip to Kenya. I crossed the country, traveling especially through the war torn central Rift valley. From Nairobi to Naivasha, from Nakuru to Eldoret and then to Kisumu, I have seen both sides of the conflict. A very sad story indeed. It’s impressive to witness the birth of a virtual civil war.

I have seen killers on both sides. Heard many lies too. And met victims on both sides as well. The responsability of Kenyan politicians is huge in the killings.

Why these ethnic clashes ? Basically, they are the legacy of the British colonization. The land issue is a time bomb that was never diffused.

But it shows as well the failure of Kenyans to establish a real political system, based on actual politics, i.e. debates on ideas, and not on tribalism. To make it short, the Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki, was fraudulously reelected and stick to power to keep his priviledges (and the Kikuyu tribe he belongs to is quite ready to fight to keep the advantages awarded by this presidency). On the other hand, Luo and Kalenjin tribe members, whose candidate Raila Odinga was probably the winner of the last polls, kill their opponents in order to get their share of power.

This is also the result of a high pressure on land and ressources in this country where the birth rate is still very high, with streets crowding with children.

What could be the solution ? The only way out seems to be a local way to go beyond tribalism. The share of power proposed by the African Union mediator Kofi Annan is not satisfying, because it would mainly lead to a ‘two tribes’ system. Actual political parties, and not tribes, must be the players.

But the Africans must find their own way out of tribalism.