By Jason Straziuso
27 February 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Political tensions are rising in Kenya, ahead of the election Monday, the first presidential vote since 2007 when the country devolved into months of tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people.
Dozens of shacks have been burned to the ground in recent weeks in Mathare, Nairobi’s most dangerous slum. Families are moving into zones controlled by their own clans, fearful of attacks between the rival tribes of Kenya’s top two presidential candidates.
This year’s presidential candidates pledged at a weekend prayer rally to accept the outcome of the election and ensure violence doesn’t break out again.
But the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Wednesday released a long list of attacks, hate speech and ethnic intimidation in recent weeks, exposing an undercurrent of tribal tensions before the election.