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Kenya

Kenya presidential elections violence situation report No. 6

Highlights

- WFP trucks bring supplies to Eldoret and Kisumu

- District Commissioner in Eldoret has approved IDP camp for 50,000

- Opposition ODM calls off announced mass rally in Nairobi

Situation update

The country is reported to be largely peaceful. In the capital of Nairobi business was substantially back to normal and traffic appears to be reaching the pre-crisis levels.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called off a planned rally, that had been banned by the police, because of a mediation process brokered by US envoy Jendayi Frazer. The breakthrough came after Ms Frazer held a third day of talks with President Mwai Kibaki and Mr. Odinga. Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu also took part in the negotiations.

As part of the mediation efforts, Nairobi is expected to receive today representatives of the Africa Forum including: former Presidents Mkapa (Tanzania); Chissano (Mozambique); Masire (Botswana) and Kaunda (Zambia) arrived today. Additionally, the head of the African Union (AU), Ghanaian President John Kufuor, is expected this week.

According to media reports the Kenyan President has said he would convene a new session of parliament on January 15th.

Humanitarian situation

According to new figures from the Government of Kenya, there is officially an estimated 255,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kenya as of 6 January. For planning and resource mobilisation purposes, the UN and non-UN humanitarian partners operate with a figure of 250,000 IDPs within a timeframe of three month. The current estimate for the immediate response is based on the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) estimate of 100,000 displaced and/or affected within the first month counting from the outbreak of the humanitarian crisis around New Year.

People are still on the move in and around the flashpoints Eldoret and Kericho, and several convoys with IDPs were observed moving out of Eldoret late yesterday and heading for Nakuru.

Response

After the joint UNICEF, OCHA, UNDSS mission to Kericho and Eldoret yesterday, the UN Disaster Management Team is planning to send one or two field coordination specialists to Eldoret to support the humanitarian coordination and information sharing mechanisms.

Based on reports from the missions in Kericho and Eldoret, UNICEF is expressing concern that once the displaced people are "evacuated" to their districts of origin, things could be considered normal. UNICEF is concerned that these families will be destitute and without any help within their own districts.

UNICEF is also concerned that the movement of people will have an impact on staffing levels in health facilities and that many teachers will not be able to go to work.

The team in Eldoret visited Turbo IDP camp in Uasin Gishu and Noigam Primary School in Trans Nzoia East. In both camps, shelter, water and sanitation and protection are the most pressing needs. People are sleeping in the open and the toilets are inadequate. UNICEF is working with partners to provide emergency water and sanitation supplies to these areas, including therapeutic formula and supplementary feeds for children who may be malnourished.

A therapeutic feeding clinic will be set up at the nutrition clinic at the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret.

Another important development in Eldoret is that the District Commissioner has approved the establishment of an IDP camp for 50,000 people on Eldoret showgrounds (as of yesterday there we no IDPs in any significant number there)

A convoy of 11 trucks with food from WFP left Nairobi for displaced people in the northern Rift Valley today. The food had been transported on 20 trucks from Mombasa on Sunday and while nine trucks unloaded in Nairobi, 11 proceeded with escort to Eldoret.

The trucks for Eldoret are carrying 380 tons of pulses, nutritious corn-soya blend (CSB) and vegetable oil, enough food to feed more than 38,000 displaced for two weeks. The trucks unloading in Nairobi will provide stocks that WFP can draw on as soon as a plan to provide food assistance to the hungry in Nairobi's slums is agreed by the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRC), other partners, church-based organizations and the authorities.

In addition, 40 tons of WFP food left Eldoret and headed for the western town of Kisumu, where WFP partners report 3,000 displaced people are in desperate need of food.

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) told WFP on Sunday that it has distributed 229 tons of food to 42,000 people in the Northern Rift Valley. One hurdle is that the displaced population is in flux with people using the relative calm to move.

To respond to the current crisis, WFP is drawing on stocks from its other operations in Kenya - feeding 700,000 people hit by drought and 1.1 million children in 3,800 schools and an HIV/AIDS project in Nairobi and Eldoret. The borrowed food for the current emergency will need to be repaid.

Regional aspects

Reports indicate that 3,300 Kenyans have crossed to Uganda. 1,300 are in Malaba, 1, 400 in Busia and 600 in Lwakava. Most of the people in Lwakava are from Bungoma region and were affected by conflict in Mt Elgon. Displaced in Busia and Malaba were people who were staying in the two border towns. The Uganda Government is taking the lead in humanitarian assistance with help from Uganda Red Cross Society. UNHCR has been asked by the Government of Uganda to assist with a few tents that can house the most vulnerable and establish medical centres. In Kenya, an Emergency Response Team has arrived from Geneva and UNHCR is planning to issue items such as blankets, plastic sheets and kitchen sets to KRCS to distribute further.

The Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (IC/GLR), Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, has expressed deep concern about the escalating violence, loss of life and property of innocent Kenyans. The IC/GLR says that the crisis in Kenya has triggered a humanitarian crisis as well as an economic crisis not only in Kenya but also in parts of the Great Lakes Region. The shortage of fuel experienced in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has affected the economic and social activities in the region.

The IC/GLR observed the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Election in Kenya on 27th December 2007.

Contact:

Nasser Ega-Musa/OIC-UNIC Nairobi,
Tel: 254 735 232539,
(Nasser.ega-musa@unon.org)

Jeanine Cooper/OCHA Support to UN Resident Coordinator,
Tel: 254 722 720 944
(jeanine.cooper@undp.org)

Inderpal Dhiman, Assistant to the Resident Coordinator,
Tel: 254 727 400 545
(dhiman.inderpal@undp.org)