Kenya faces health crisis
06/01/2008| IslamWeb
A devastating health emergency could occur in
The warning from the British charity Merlin came on Sunday as government and aid groups struggled to deliver aid to many of the estimated quarter of a million internally displaced people.
More than 360 people have been killed in clashes that erupted after the country’s disputed election on December 27 that both the president and leader of the opposition claim to have won.
Thousands were also forced to flee their homes to escape the violence.
Determined opposition
With
Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODC), once again rejected an offer of a national unity government from Mwai Kibaki, the president.
He repeated his assertion that he would not enter into negotiations with the government until Kibaki acknowledged defeat. Odinga accuses Kibaki of stealing the December 27 vote.
"Kibaki knows very well he lost an election," Odinga told Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow.
"I think it is like an insult to the people of
He denied his party was exacerbating the violence and that his supporters were responsible for deadly attacks on members of Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe in the west of the country.
"I have made an appeal to people to desist [from violence] but we need to address the problem which is a rigged election," he said.
"We are a peaceful people," Odinga said. "We want to have a lasting solution. The government has armed terrorist groups and militia and is responsible for these killings."
Low supplies
Meanwhile Wubeshet Woldermariam, Merlin's country director for
"Food and clean water supplies are now running dangerously low, especially in and around [the western city of] Kisumu," he said in a statement.
"People are being forced to drink unsafe water, risking diarrhoeal diseases, infection and dehydration. The longer the crisis continues, the greater the risk to people's health."
"If peace isn't restored within the next few days, disease outbreaks and severe dehydration are very real threats," the charity warned.
The UN estimates that the chaos may have displaced 250,000 Kenyans, some 100,000 of whom need immediate help in the western Rift Valley region.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has pledged to provide aid.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said insecurity and roadblocks set up by vigilante groups have prevented food trucks from the port city of
"At the moment we have not had a problem in food distribution but if this situation continues then food will not get delivered on time," a WFP spokesman said in a statement.
The government has instructed the military to escort trucks delivering supplies to avoid highway ambushes.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said many hospitals in the disaster zones were in need of medical supplies to treat a wide range of injuries and conditions.
"Supplies and staff are needed to treat victims of shooting, burning, beating, slashing and trampling," Sara Cameron, the agency's communication officer in
Political stalemate
Kibaki on Saturday repeated his offer of a national unity government to the opposition.
Kibaki's office said that the president "was ready to form a government of national unity that would not only unite Kenyans but would also help in the healing and reconciliation process”.
But Odinga has said that talks must be brokered by a mediator outside
"Our condition is only that there is an international mediator," Odinga said.
John Kufuor, the president of
Yvonne Ndege, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from
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