Violence from past Kenyan elections haunts victims

By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Kenya will head to the general elections in 38 days. But for victims of post-election violence from 2007-08 that took more than 1,000 lives, the upcoming elections will just open wounds that are yet to heal.

Jane from Mount Elgon area near the Kenyan border, sits alone in a corner, after attending a conference held by rights groups for rape survivors like her. She refuses to give her last name for fear of stigma attached.

Her hands are wrapped around a cup of warm water -- maybe because of the cold July Nairobi weather. She looks down the window of the 8-story hotel building where the conference was held, lost in thought. There is a scar on her left cheek running down to her chin – scars that I later learnt she had got from the post-election violence that rocked Kenya.

Violence that erupted after elections in 2007 included ethnic killings by the ruling and opposition parties, and the use of force by police in crackdown against protesters.

More than 1,000 people were killed, 600,000 displaced and at least 900 cases of sexual violence were reported, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Jane says she does not plan to vote in the upcoming elections, nor will she ever take part in any other elections. She is not alone.

“Together with the friends that I have made after my ordeal, we agreed never to take part in Kenyan elections if the same people who we vote will come and rape us and maim us. No I refuse,” she says as she agrees to tell her story.

- Attacked by neighbor

“I was living around Mount Elgon when the violence broke. My neighbor of 10 years came to attack me with machetes because I was not from their tribe. I managed to escape with my daughter and ran to a police station to seek refuge, as we had heard that the attackers were raping women before killing them,” she added.

“At the police station, the same people we ran to protect us were the same people who raped us. I was with my sister’s daughter aged 10 then. They had no mercy on us even though I came to the police station bleeding because a glass shard hard cut my face while we escaped,” she says.

“Where are we safe if this happens in broad daylight and no one is brought to book?” the mother of two added.

Jane now 46 says that she suffers from gynecological complications and she can no longer give birth.

“The government should step in and help us victims of sexual violence, like they helped those who were internally displaced. We need medical assistance 10 years after the attacks,” she says.

Lydia, 32, who was in her early twenties when the violence erupted, echoes the same sentiment. She too says she will not vote.

“I just want to stay away from that place. The nominations that have just ended were rocked in violence. People were dying. There is no way that anyone can assure that there won’t be violence. What we want is just peace before, during and after the elections.”

- No compensation for survivors

During a conference on Wednesday, Jacqueline Mutere, Kenya head for Grace Agenda, an organization which rescues young girls who have been raped, said that victims of the post-election violence continue to live with a trail of physical injuries and gynecological complications.

She said that it is appalling that 10 years later the perpetrators of those crimes are walking scot free and no compensation has been offered to the survivors.

“Stop looking away and treating survivors like ‘those people’, today we call upon all Kenyans to maintain peace before, during and after the August 8 general elections. We urge for campaigns that are free from any form of violence,” she said.

“Never again will anyone use women, men and children’s bodies as battlefields to wage political wars,” she added.