Women still a target as Kenya's social wounds gape

[Guest guest]

FEATURE-Women still a target as Kenya's social wounds gape

Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:04am BST

By Ntungicimpaye

NAIROBI, April 24 (Reuters) - More than three months have passed

since youths stormed 's home in Nairobi's Kibera slum, slashing

her leg with a machete as she fled.

But the single mother of five still shudders at the thought the men

may hunt her down again, rape or kill her because she belongs to a

rival ethnic group.

To the outside world, life in Kenya may have returned to normality as

a power-sharing accord drew the line under some of the worst tribal

clashes since independence from Britain. But for and others like

her, the terror goes on.

" We all used to live together. We don't know where this evil comes

from, " said the 49 year old, nervously fingering the gash in her leg

that has yet to heal.

With no sign yet that the rule of law is returning to her

neighbourhood, the Kikuyu woman fears her Luo neighbours may come

after her again. She is too afraid to give her last name.

Besides more than 1,200 people killed, 300,000 were uprooted and

hundreds more sexually assaulted in the wave of violence and reprisal

attacks triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election in

December.

As is often the case, women and children were prime targets: the

United Nations said the rate of reported rapes doubled during Kenya's

crisis. The youngest victim was 1 year old.

, living in east Africa's biggest slum, lost the little she had --

her iron-roofed, mud house -- and is now forced to sleep in the open

air, between two ramshackle shacks soiled by garbage and human waste.

" I can't go back to my house. It was taken over by others. "

When the crisis was making world headlines, United Nations officials

said the increasing sexual attacks reflected in part a collapse in

Kenya's social order as Kibaki's re-election exposed decades-old

divisions between ethnic groups over land, wealth and power.

But even if the attacks have subsided and Kenya's stock and currency

markets have made gains since the political accord, the social wounds

have yet to heal.

" There is a silent war going on the ground, whereby you have a male

from one tribe raping a woman from another tribe, " said beth

Muthama, a counsellor at the Nairobi Women's Hospital.

" These cases are prevalent in Kibera -- a Luo man attacks a Kikuyu

woman and then Kikuyu men attack Luo women and so on. "

RAPE AND SODOMY

Advocacy group the Coalition on Violence Against Women and rights

organisation the Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya (FIDA Kenya) plan

to petition the newly sworn-in government for compensation for women

affected by the post-election unrest, especially those who were

sexually assaulted and raped.

" Militia groups capitalised on that opportunity to do all sorts of

heinous things to women, whether it was raping them or inserting

objects in their vaginas, " said Faith Kasova, coordinator of the

Coalition on Violence Against Women.

" The experiences of women were really disgusting. "

Nairobi Women's Hospital treated 443 people in the first two months

of the year, at the height of the violence. Four out of five were the

victims of rape or defilement: 149 children, 193 women and 14 men.

It is still dealing with a trickle of cases motivated by ethnic

hatred.

" We had cases of women and girls, who were defiled, raped, sodomised

and physically assaulted -- both men and women after the post-

election unrest, " said Dr Ketra Muhome.

" Lately we have been getting cases of women being raped and sodomised

at the same time. "

Slums like Kibera -- where unemployment is rife, alcohol abuse

prevalent and hundreds of thousands crammed in flimsy shacks -- have

long been a breeding ground for attacks.

Fending for her family, relies on the kindness of friends or

former neighbours for scraps of food.

Like other victims of violence, criticised the government for

failing to stop the violence or punish the perpetrators.

" I didn't choose to be a Kikuyu. My whole life has been here in

Kibera, " she said. " We expected our government to come and see what's

happening at the grassroots. "

For other victims, the government is invisible.

" We are asking our leaders not to lie to people, saying there is

peace, " said Wanja, another Kibera resident living off the

kindness of friends after her house was torched.

" They are not thinking of the people that voted for them. We hear

there is a government but we don't see it. " (Editing by Nguyen

and Sara Ledwith) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your

say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)

[Guest guest]

FEATURE-Women still a target as Kenya's social wounds gape

Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:04am BST

By Ntungicimpaye

NAIROBI, April 24 (Reuters) - More than three months have passed

since youths stormed 's home in Nairobi's Kibera slum, slashing

her leg with a machete as she fled.

But the single mother of five still shudders at the thought the men

may hunt her down again, rape or kill her because she belongs to a

rival ethnic group.

To the outside world, life in Kenya may have returned to normality as

a power-sharing accord drew the line under some of the worst tribal

clashes since independence from Britain. But for and others like

her, the terror goes on.

" We all used to live together. We don't know where this evil comes

from, " said the 49 year old, nervously fingering the gash in her leg

that has yet to heal.

With no sign yet that the rule of law is returning to her

neighbourhood, the Kikuyu woman fears her Luo neighbours may come

after her again. She is too afraid to give her last name.

Besides more than 1,200 people killed, 300,000 were uprooted and

hundreds more sexually assaulted in the wave of violence and reprisal

attacks triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election in

December.

As is often the case, women and children were prime targets: the

United Nations said the rate of reported rapes doubled during Kenya's

crisis. The youngest victim was 1 year old.

, living in east Africa's biggest slum, lost the little she had --

her iron-roofed, mud house -- and is now forced to sleep in the open

air, between two ramshackle shacks soiled by garbage and human waste.

" I can't go back to my house. It was taken over by others. "

When the crisis was making world headlines, United Nations officials

said the increasing sexual attacks reflected in part a collapse in

Kenya's social order as Kibaki's re-election exposed decades-old

divisions between ethnic groups over land, wealth and power.

But even if the attacks have subsided and Kenya's stock and currency

markets have made gains since the political accord, the social wounds

have yet to heal.

" There is a silent war going on the ground, whereby you have a male

from one tribe raping a woman from another tribe, " said beth

Muthama, a counsellor at the Nairobi Women's Hospital.

" These cases are prevalent in Kibera -- a Luo man attacks a Kikuyu

woman and then Kikuyu men attack Luo women and so on. "

RAPE AND SODOMY

Advocacy group the Coalition on Violence Against Women and rights

organisation the Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya (FIDA Kenya) plan

to petition the newly sworn-in government for compensation for women

affected by the post-election unrest, especially those who were

sexually assaulted and raped.

" Militia groups capitalised on that opportunity to do all sorts of

heinous things to women, whether it was raping them or inserting

objects in their vaginas, " said Faith Kasova, coordinator of the

Coalition on Violence Against Women.

" The experiences of women were really disgusting. "

Nairobi Women's Hospital treated 443 people in the first two months

of the year, at the height of the violence. Four out of five were the

victims of rape or defilement: 149 children, 193 women and 14 men.

It is still dealing with a trickle of cases motivated by ethnic

hatred.

" We had cases of women and girls, who were defiled, raped, sodomised

and physically assaulted -- both men and women after the post-

election unrest, " said Dr Ketra Muhome.

" Lately we have been getting cases of women being raped and sodomised

at the same time. "

Slums like Kibera -- where unemployment is rife, alcohol abuse

prevalent and hundreds of thousands crammed in flimsy shacks -- have

long been a breeding ground for attacks.

Fending for her family, relies on the kindness of friends or

former neighbours for scraps of food.

Like other victims of violence, criticised the government for

failing to stop the violence or punish the perpetrators.

" I didn't choose to be a Kikuyu. My whole life has been here in

Kibera, " she said. " We expected our government to come and see what's

happening at the grassroots. "

For other victims, the government is invisible.

" We are asking our leaders not to lie to people, saying there is

peace, " said Wanja, another Kibera resident living off the

kindness of friends after her house was torched.

" They are not thinking of the people that voted for them. We hear

there is a government but we don't see it. " (Editing by Nguyen

and Sara Ledwith) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your

say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)