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For Kenya, a month of attacks, then quick progress | csmonitor.com

For Kenya, a month of attacks, then quick progress | csmonitor.com: "Nairobi, Kenya - In the first few days following the Dec. 27 election, many Kenyans didn't realize – or didn't accept – that they had a problem. Horrific ethnic violence – Kalenjins and Luos attacking Kikuyus – flared in the Rift Valley and western Nyanza provinces. But many African academics, aid workers, and politicians in Nairobi predicted that the 'disturbances' would last for just a few days, like a teakettle letting off steam.

Ensconced in the State House – the official presidential residence – President Mwai Kibaki continued to insist that the Dec. 27 elections were legitimate and he'd been reelected. International observers called the elections 'flawed.' The opposition, holed up in their own headquarters (ominously dubbed 'the Pentagon'), continued to cry foul, and to urge for peaceful mass action. As each side claimed victory, the country burned.

'I don't know whether this was a fight over principles. This was a fight over power,' recalls Martha Karua, a hard-liner in Mr. Kibaki's cabinet. 'The election commission clearly declared Kibaki to be the winner, and the loser refused to accept the result, and refused to accept the internationally accepted method for resolving the dispute: going to court.'

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