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Kenyans Say Neighbors' 'Arrogance' Sparked Rampage
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Alex said that when he had traveled to the Kikuyu homeland, Central province, the tightly knit Kikuyu community had not exactly welcomed him. "They see you as an intruder," he said.
Tribal clashes targeting the Kikuyu erupted in western Kenya during the 1990s, but the scale of the current violence is unprecedented. Cheluleh and the others said that their goal is nothing less than the total expulsion of Kibaki's supporters from the western region.
"Everyone can be at home so we can be in peace," he said, referring to various tribes' ethnic homelands.
Across Kenya, an estimated 100,000 people are displaced, with the largest percentage of that figure coming from this region.
On Monday, caravans of buses pulled up to an open field outside the town of Nakuru, about 100 miles south of this area. There, thousands of families were sprawled across the grass, sleeping on mattresses and heaps of clothes.
Though the young men in Burnt Forest said that their attacks were spontaneous acts of rage, many people in the field said that even before the election, their Kalenjin friends had warned them of what might be coming. Some said that they had received leaflets warning them to leave, regardless of the election's outcome.
"We thought it was a joke what they were saying," said Teresa Wanjiku, who arrived Sunday night from the Burnt Forest area. "Now we want the government to give us a place to live. Those people are animals."
