2008 Woodie Awards
Kenyan UI students worried
Bryce Bauer - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Metro
"The key to any election is that the losers accept the results," said Joel Barkan, a UI professor emeritus who was a member of the U.S. delegation observing elections in the country of nearly 37 million.
"A good part of this violence has been encouraged by the rival politicians," said Barkan, who now researches Africa for the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's totally irresponsible and somehow those who are causing the violence need to be reined in because it is beginning to get out of control."
To help resolve the situation, Barkan said he would like to see some sort of power-sharing agreement established between Kibaki and Odinga, and ultimately Kenya's Constitution amended to establish a federal system to accommodate Kenya's 42 ethnic groups in a country with a land area about four times the size of Iowa.
Despite the efforts of a number of prominent emissaries, including former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is now in Kenya, little progress has been made toward mediating the conflict.
"Right now, it is bad," said Ochola, a UI graduate student in education who is a Luo from the Western city of Kisumu.
Ochola, 36, who has been in contact with his family and others in the country, is also worried that if nothing is done to legitimize a leader, the situation could continue to grow out of control. And already he is concerned the violence has caused injuries that will take many years to heal.
"The bigger picture I am afraid of is once you kill your neighbor, that is not going to heal in two or three days with politics," he said. "That is going to take another generation."
E-mail DI reporter Bryce Bauer at:
bryce-bauer@uiowa.edu
"A good part of this violence has been encouraged by the rival politicians," said Barkan, who now researches Africa for the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's totally irresponsible and somehow those who are causing the violence need to be reined in because it is beginning to get out of control."
To help resolve the situation, Barkan said he would like to see some sort of power-sharing agreement established between Kibaki and Odinga, and ultimately Kenya's Constitution amended to establish a federal system to accommodate Kenya's 42 ethnic groups in a country with a land area about four times the size of Iowa.
Despite the efforts of a number of prominent emissaries, including former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is now in Kenya, little progress has been made toward mediating the conflict.
"Right now, it is bad," said Ochola, a UI graduate student in education who is a Luo from the Western city of Kisumu.
Ochola, 36, who has been in contact with his family and others in the country, is also worried that if nothing is done to legitimize a leader, the situation could continue to grow out of control. And already he is concerned the violence has caused injuries that will take many years to heal.
"The bigger picture I am afraid of is once you kill your neighbor, that is not going to heal in two or three days with politics," he said. "That is going to take another generation."
E-mail DI reporter Bryce Bauer at:
bryce-bauer@uiowa.edu
Be the first to comment on this story