Kenya (MNN)– Police in Kenya banned mass protests in an
effort to stave off more violence and rioting. Opposition leader Raila Odinga called for them over the weekend to
protest election results.
More than 500 people have died in protests and ethnic
violence since the Dec. 27 elections. While
the election returned Mwai Kibaki to power for another five-year term, foreign
observers think it might have been rigged.
Efforts at brokering a power-sharing agreement failed when
Kibaki unexpectedly named his Cabinet members, and there were no Odinga
supporters named.
Although they don't work in Kenya, with security in question,
Grace Ministries' Don Tenhoeve says the
situation has actually had an impact on their staff. "They postponed the beginning of classes
for the Rift Valley Academy until the 19th of January. Most of our missionaries
have had to arrange alternative means of transportation to get their kids to
school. The main concern is getting the kids from Nairobi Airport over to Rift
Valley Academy, because they have to go right through some of the trouble
areas."
The start of the school year has already been delayed twice,
once from the original date of January 2, and again from the delayed start of
January 8. With the rumble of trouble threatening
to burst into full roar at any time, that could be delayed yet again.
Their staff believes their children will be safe once on
campus, but getting them there can be quite a challenge. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been so
dangerous for so long, that flights are difficult to obtain. Although arrangements have been made for a
Mission Aviation Flight for one family, logistics have been hard to hammer out.
Tenhoeve says, "Pray for stability. Pray that the two
factions–the faction that says they won the elections, and the one that says
there was fraud–can come to some agreement. Whether it's a sharing of power or a
re-election, pray that they'll come to an accord so that the stability would continue
there and the unrest would end."
