By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter, Western and Central Africa

After 18 years spent in exile in Senegal, more than 100 black Mauritanian refugees will return home. These citizens were expelled from Mauritania after racial riots that took place in 1989. These race riots erupted in Mauritania and Senegal after a border dispute. Hundreds of people were killed, and others became the targets of attacks and land seizures. 35,000 black Mauritanians went into exile after ethnic purges were conducted by the Arab dominated government.

In November of last year, Mauritania and Senegal, signed a deal that allowed for a repatriation process monitored by the United Nations refugee agency. The deal will allow 12,000 refugees to return to Mauritania. The UN program will run until December 2008.

Francis Kpatinde, a representative of the UNHCR, reported the BBC that the repatriation process is voluntary, giving those who want to go home, the opportunity to do so. More than 24,000 people have expressed interest in returning home

The first volunteers were mostly women, children, and the elderly. The UNHCR will provide all refugees with assistance consisting of three months of food supply. Moreover, the UN will help the refugees reintegrate into society.

Refugees who have returned have received a mixed welcome. Khadi, a young man from Zouérat, the largest town in northern Mauritania stated “People are suffering and we lack everything. We don’t have water, electricity or work. And we have to accommodate thousands more people! That’s completely stupid.” Many are critical that these refugees will not be able to find food, land, and jobs.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Mauritanian refugees return home – 29 January 2008

BBC- Mauritania Country Profile   – 12 January 2008

Allafrica- Mauritania: First Refugees Returning From Senegal Get Mixed Welcome – 29 January 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya – The murder of an opposition leader today has triggered an on-set of violence again in Kenya. Mugabe Were, a lawmaker who won a seat in parliament, was shot to death as he drove home. Odinga claims the murder was a planned assassination given that Were had bullet wounds in both eyes. The police are treating his murder as a homicide but have not ruled out political motives. President Kibaki has condemned the killing and appeals for calm.

With the news of Were’s death, hundreds of men armed with machetes and clubs inset with nails gathered in Nairobi slums. One witness claimed the group dragged a Kikuyu doctor from his clinic and attacked him with machetes until “his head was off”. In the Mathare slum, volunteer aid worker Fospeter Oumaa witnessed a man dragged from his car and attacked with machetes. In the Kibera slum, homes dividing members of the Kikuyu and Luos tribes were set on fire.

Police have failed to control the violence throughout Kenya. Police on the ground and in helicopters fired at a mob of Kikuyus chasing hundreds of Luos outside the Naivasha Country Club. More deaths have been the results of police shooting than ethnic attacks. With the death rate at over 800, the Human Rights Groups have accused police officers of using excessive force.

Meanwhile, former UN chief Kofi Annan has begun formal talks of mediation. Annan says he hopes to resolve the immediate political issues within four weeks and the underlying ethnic crisis within a year.  Western donors have urged both sides to resolve the crisis, and consider a power-sharing solution or risk losing aid.

On Nairobi’s Capital FM radio station, U.S Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, whose father is Kenyan, appealed for “Kenyan leaders to rise above party affiliations and past ambitions for the sake of peace.”

For more information please see:

Yahoo News- Opposition Lawmaker Killed in Kenya – 29 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Annan Launches Kenya Mediation, Violence Spreads – 29 January 2008

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Eastern and Southern Africa

NAIVASHA, Kenya – Violence erupts once again in Kenya, one month after the disputed December 27 presidential election. Hundreds of people in rival tribes wielding machetes, clubs, and hammers clashed in the streets of Naivasha, Nikura, and Kisumu earlier today. According to Baraka Karama, a journalist for independent Kenya Television in Kisumu, the streets were literally covered in blood.

For several weeks angry Lous supporter of Raila Odinga have blocked roads, set buses, homes and cars on fire and attacked members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

According to witnesses, a gang of youths killed four Kikuyus with machetes and stoned to death two others in the villages around Eldoret. Other witnesses claim another person was burned alive in a minibus. “We wish to find one, a Kikuyu. … We will butcher them like a cow,” exclaimed David Babgy, 24.

In Naivasha this past weekend, thousands of armed Kikuyus confronted Luos, wanting revenge. At least 22 people were killed, nineteen of them Lous, after they were chased through a slum by a gang of Kikuyus and trapped in a shanty that they set on fire. According to a mortuary worker, 64 bodies laid in the morgue after this weekend’s clash.

The death toll has now passed the 800 mark.

The post election dispute has gone beyond the disputed presidential election, exposing a deep seated ethnic resentment. The bloodshed has been largely centered on the Rift Valley towns of Naivasha and Nakuru. After Kenya’s 1963 Independence from Great Britain, President Jomo Kenyatta proclaimed the Rift Valley for his Kiyuyu people. Since then Kiyuyus have dominated politics and the economy through a patronage system and corruption. The December 27 presidential election has unearthed years of concealed resentment; pitting neighbors against one another.

Mediation efforts have failed and there appears to be no sign of relief. Kibaki claims the door of communication is open but that his presidency is not negotiable. Odinga has rejected a power-sharing strategy and remains adamant that Kibaka must step down from his position. Thus the dispute remains at a deadlock.

On Sunday, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a proposal to both sides, asking each to choose a team of three negotiators and a liason officer who will work to reach a solution that is agreeable to both sides. Annan, who organized the first meeting between Kibaki and Odinga last week, is urging both sides to be prepared to make hard decision in order to restore the country’s stability.

Meanwhile, about 250,000 people are homeless. Schools have been closed for several weeks and used as shelters. Navisha, Kenya’s flower capital, and Nakuru, known for its wild-life filled lakes, has become war zones. The once picturesque tourist towns of Rift Valley are now no-go zones. The violence has resulted in slowed economic activity that will likely hit the tourism sector hard.

In 2007, Kenya earned 65.4 billion shillings in tourism. Last week, according to the Kenya Tourism Federation, the sector could be forced to lay off about half of its 250,000 employees to cope with losses arising from the unrest.

For more information please see:

MSNBC (AP) – Kenya Fighting Leaves Road ‘Covered in Blood’ – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Kenya’s Rift Valley Burns, Death Toll Soars – 28 January 2008

Yahoo News (AP) – Kenya Election Violence Spreads in West – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Violence Exposes Kenya’s Deep Ethnic Fault Lines – 28 January 2008

AllAfrica.com – Kenya: Rivals Given Roadmap to Peaceful End – 28 January 2008

Reuters: Africa – Kenya Shilling Recovers Losses vs Dollar, Unrest Weighs – 28 January 2008