FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2008
Contact: Joy Portella, 206-437-7885
Eric Block, 206-321-4957
PORTLAND, Ore. - As tensions continue to run high, the global relief and development agency Mercy Corps warns that further chaos and violence in Kenya, long a bastion of regional stability, could push neighboring East African countries toward new humanitarian crises.
Bordering countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda are extremely dependant on Kenya for basic economic and agricultural imports. All of these countries are either still in - or recovering from - significant conflicts and instability.
"Historically, Kenya has been the hub that allowed goods and assistance to reach these land-locked, war-torn places," said Matt Lovick, Mercy Corps' Nairobi-based East Africa regional program director. "Its importance in fostering and maintaining stability in this region cannot be underestimated."
If hostilities escalate in Kenya, neighboring economies could suffer immediately from a shortage of critical resources. Markets, planting seasons and access to food could all be severely disrupted, increasing the risks for communities already on the brink of disaster.
Further economic strain on nearby Uganda, Sudan and DR Congo would also threaten to re-ignite their own simmering conflicts.
"Without Kenya's mature infrastructure, these dependant, neighboring states risk slipping into a catastrophe," Lovick added.
The crisis arose from the controversial results of Kenya's December 27 presidential election, in which incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner amid allegations of voting irregularities and fraud. Deep tribal divisions marked the voting, and hostilities between ethnic groups set off waves of violence when the results were announced. There have been widespread atrocities throughout Kenya, including machete attacks and villages set aflame.
To date, more than 1,000 people have been killed, and at least 300,000 have been driven from their homes. Displaced families face food shortages, lack of clean drinking water and abysmal sanitary conditions where infectious diseases can run rampant.
In response, Mercy Corps has dispatched an emergency team to the country's hard-hit western region. These veteran responders are addressing water and sanitation issues in two camps near the city of Eldoret, and are continuing to meet with displaced families to assess critical needs. Already, the staff reports one 3,000-person camp near Eldoret where displaced Kenyans have to walk more than a mile to reach the nearest source of clean water.
Mercy Corps currently has humanitarian, conflict resolution and development programs in four neighboring countries - Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia - and has regional headquarters in Kenya. The agency is very well placed and experienced for this emergency response, having rushed emergency assistance to several war-torn areas of Africa in the past several months.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Brian Solomon Ingozi Mungai is carried by his paternal aunty Grace Mmbone Njoroge, as his father Jeremiah, a Kikuyu, and other relatives look on, in front of their wooden house in ...
