Case 2
Caesar Wamalika, chaplain at the University of Eastern Africa in
Baraton, in Rift Valley, spoke to the
BBC to give a personal account of
how a crowd of more than 1,000 people threatened to storm his campus
unless some ethnic groups left. Caesar Wamalika says he and his
colleagues are threatened daily It all began soon after the election
results were announced. A number of groups from the local community
broke into war songs and raided the shopping centre next to the
university.They looted all the shops that belong to Kikuyu and Kisii.
Then they broke into the rented off-campus houses of some students and
then a crowd of about 1,000 people surged to the university gate and
shouted that they wanted to storm the university.They demanded that all
Kikuyu, Kambas, Meru, and Kisii people leave the university within two
hours. That was the only way to save the university from being
stormed.They said they would stay at the gate until their demands were
met. Three armed policemen arrived and spent time negotiating with the
crowd. Finally the police advised us to evacuate the named ethnic
groups.All of them are armed with machetes, bows and arrows. Some are
drunk and others baying for blood We put those specified faculty staff
and students, numbering about 250, into three university vehicles and
they were taken to Kapsabet Police station under police escort. They
have been there for four days. Several attempts have been made to take
them home. The police tried and take them to Eldoret international
airport but there were too many road blocks set up by different gangs
and so they had to return to the police station. There is no way anyone
can get out.The situation at the police station is not good. There is
no food or clean water, but their worst fear is the possibility of the
station being stormed, as such threats have been made. The police are
few and overstretched. No one is safe. There are about 300 faculty
members from the Luo and Luhyia community, international workers and
students who are still holed up within the campus with me.We have been
having daily threats from the crowds of people outside the campus. On
one occasion, we had to give a bull for them to slaughter to guarantee
us peace.It is a nightmare to meet them. All of them are armed with
machetes, bows and arrows. Some are drunk and others baying for blood.
I have never seen anything like this. One needs to be diplomatic when
speaking to them. Violence swept the country after the elections. We
have managed to succeed in pleading with the militia to allow us
transport to send food to those at the police station. It took three
hours to go through road blocks to reach Kapsabet, which is only 15 km
away.There has been a change of heart from some commanders and militia
leaders who know the university''s administration. They said that on
humanitarian grounds, the faculty with children and pregnant mothers
should be allowed to return to the campus. They also told us students
of the other communities should also be allowed back. It sounded like
good news. We shook hands. We asked them to transport food to Kapsabet.
They agreed and used their own vehicles.Locked in But the food never
arrived. We then found out that the militia who were escorting the food
had been beaten and their vehicles smashed by another group.That is the
problem we are facing - having to negotiate with different militia
groups who all have their own separate terms that we have to try and
fulfill. The roadblocks are manned by between 100 and 500 people - in
some major road blocks you will have a thousand.This morning, as a
political rally was announced, the crowd came again to the university
gate, this time demanding that we join them in a mass demonstration. We
feared being put on the front line and probably be first to face the
armed police.Our University public relations officer managed to
negotiate with them to leave - but they have chained thmain gate,
locked it and gone away with the key. No vehicle can get in or out of
the campus now. We pray that they don''t come again to force us
out.There is a shortage of essential items. Nowhere to buy food, we
don''t have telephone calling cards and there is no fuel. The market is
deserted and shops are closed. While the situation is calming down,
there is still fear of what the next day might bring. We are still
making efforts to escort our faculty safely away from the police
station.