US warns Kenya on corruption, tribal politics as polls approach

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2006

NAIROBI (AFP) — The United States has delivered a firm warning to key east Africa ally Kenya that endemic corruption, rampant tribal politics and crime are threatening its stability as 2007 elections approach. In the second such stern message delivered by a western government to Nairobi this month, US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, put the country's people and politicians on notice about the dangers they face.

"If left unchecked, this volatile combination of corruption and tribalism could become a vicious and potentially dangerous downward spiral of insecurity and instability," he said Tuesday, urging speedy action to tackle a myriad woes. "The same kind of lapses in law and order that enable a climate of insecurity to exist are the same ones exploited by...