'Forced circumcision': the latest weapon in Kenya's ethnic strife

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

NAIVASHA, Kenya (AFP) — Lying on a blood-stained stretcher, Caleb's face is convulsed in pain. "The Kikuyus circumcised me by force," he says, moments before losing consciousness in the hospital's sweltering heat.

The 24-year-old Kenyan is from the Luo tribe, which unlike the rival Kikuyu tribe, does not practice male circumcision.

But in the violent context of Kenya's post-election strife, what has become known as "forced circumcisions" are often outright penile amputations performed with rusty machetes by angry mobs.

In recent days, the usually peaceful town of Naivasha, less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Nairobi, has seen some of the worst violence between rival tribal gangs.

The killings were ignited by last month's disputed...