EDITORIAL: Attempted Coup in Kenya

Jan 09, 06:08 AM

Jan. 9--For a brief moment during the Dec. 27 presidential election, Kenya offered the world a view of a maturing democratic process. Voters in Kenya seemed poised for the first time to turn an incumbent president out of office. In a closely contested campaign, the opposition appeared on the verge of an upset, an outcome that promised a break from an all-too-familiar story of rigged elections.

But Kenya has stumbled badly. International monitors confirm fraud and other irregularities after the polls closed, casting doubt on the accuracy of vote counts. Despite the allegations, the incumbent, President Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner and hastily sworn into office for a second five-year term. Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate, justifiably has challenged the legitimacy of Kibaki's victory.

The compromised election and the burst of violence in its wake are a serious setback in an eastern African region racked by turmoil. Kenya can ill afford the political and economic instability that result from chaotic transitions in power. In the slum city of Kibera on the outskirts of Nairobi and across the country, the political violence has taken a grim toll. An estimated 500 people have been killed. More than 200,000 people have been made homeless.

More disturbing, the reaction appears to have taken on the ugliness of tribal politics so devastating elsewhere, in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. Such is the threat where political loyalties and resentments commonly run along tribal lines, a disputed election pitting a Kikuyu President Kibaki against Odinga, a Luo. In some areas, attackers have targeted Kikuyus, who have dominated Kenyan politics and business since the country gained independence. To his credit, Odinga called off nationwide protest rallies to curb the threat of escalating violence.

Kibaki earlier sought to defuse the crisis by proposing a coalition government, an offer Odinga rejected in favor of mediation by the chairman of the African Union, who was scheduled to be in Nairobi on Tuesday. Inexplicably, Kibaki has endangered any opportunity to resolve the dispute peacefully and quickly by filling half the Cabinet positions ahead of the mediation. In the process, he has damaged any claim that he genuinely desires a fair and democratic system or to share power.

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