Jackson calls for end to fighting in Kenya

Jet, Feb 23, 1998

Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. special envoy for the promotion of democracy in Africa, said Kenya's government should stop the fighting there, regardless of who started it.

During his recent trip to Africa, Jackson visited survivors in three hospitals in Nakuru, a city 95 miles northwest of Nairobi. The community is in the Rift Valley, the center of violence that has taken at least 100 lives in recent weeks.

"It's debatable who started (the fighting), but it's clear the government must use its considerable resources to stop it," Jackson said.

"When the political leadership fails, then others feel they can take matters into their own hands," he said.

Jackson was scheduled to meet with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi at Jet press time before he heads to the Congo and Liberia.

Jackson met with Moi in November on his first trip to Africa as an envoy for both President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. His mission is to promote democracy on the continent.

Since then, Moi won a fifth five-year term and his Kenya African National Union (KANU) retained its parliamentary majority.

Shortly after the Dec. 29-30 general elections, several of Moi's ministers and KANU legislators warned members of the Kikuyu tribe--Kenya's largest--that they would face the consequences for supporting opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu.

Recently, Kikuyu communities in the central Rift Valley were attacked by raiders identified as members of the Kalenjin group of tribes loyal to Moi and his ministers. Moi has publicly accused Kibaki and other opposition leaders of fomenting the violence.