Kenya, the US angle
February 11, 2008 by Sean Jacobs
The US State Department speaks of ‘irregularities on both sides’ by the Kenyan government and the major opposition party while Jendayi Frazier, President George Bush’s special envoy, talks about ‘ethnic cleansing’ (repeating Kenyan government propaganda) And the US media (now that they have discvered Kenya), goes on about ‘tribal’ or ‘ethnic’ violence.
But some can see through the fog.
Here is Donald Payne, a Democratic Party member of the US House of Representatives in Congress, speaking at a congressional hearing into the crisis, last week:
‘Let me be blunt. The election results announced by the ECK [the Electoral Commission of Kenya] do not reflect the wishes of the Kenyan people. The people of Kenya voted for change. What they were given was the status quo … What is happening in Kenya is not—I repeat not an ethnic conflict. It is a political conflict with ethnic overtones.‘
Donald Payne’s full speech (including his criticism of Frazier) here.
The full the transcripts from the hearings (held by the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health; I am not sure other continents get paired such a general topic in congressional subcommittees), including a slideshow by Mia Farrow, and presentations by former Kenyan member of Parliament Njoku Ndungu and Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, here.
[Via: Kenya Comment]
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Kenya, the US angle
February 11, 2008 by Sean Jacobs
The US State Department speaks of ‘irregularities on both sides’ by the Kenyan government and the major opposition party while Jendayi Frazier, President George Bush’s special envoy, talks about ‘ethnic cleansing’ (repeating Kenyan government propaganda) And the US media (now that they have discvered Kenya), goes on about ‘tribal’ or ‘ethnic’ violence.
But some can see through the fog.
Here is Donald Payne, a Democratic Party member of the US House of Representatives in Congress, speaking at a congressional hearing into the crisis, last week:
‘Let me be blunt. The election results announced by the ECK [the Electoral Commission of Kenya] do not reflect the wishes of the Kenyan people. The people of Kenya voted for change. What they were given was the status quo … What is happening in Kenya is not—I repeat not an ethnic conflict. It is a political conflict with ethnic overtones.‘
Donald Payne’s full speech (including his criticism of Frazier) here.
The full the transcripts from the hearings (held by the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health; I am not sure other continents get paired such a general topic in congressional subcommittees), including a slideshow by Mia Farrow, and presentations by former Kenyan member of Parliament Njoku Ndungu and Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, here.
[Via: Kenya Comment]
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Posted in Not just about Africa, politics | Tagged celebrities, Donald Payne, Jendayi Frazier, Kenya, Kenya Comment, Mia Farrow, US Congress and Kenya | Leave a Comment
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