Rapes spiral as Kenya crisis deepens
By Adrian Blomfield

January 5, 2008 - (The Age) Hundreds of women and children, including boys as young as five, have been gang-raped in a wave of sexual violence that has swept Kenya in the aftermath of last week's disputed presidential election.

As ethnic hatred mounts in a country teetering on the brink of catastrophe, disturbing reports are emerging of angry mobs adding rape to their arsenal of revenge.

At a hospital for women in the Nairobi suburb of Hurlingham, doctors said that they had treated 24 women and 13 girls over the past four days.

Three boys were also admitted after being repeatedly sodomised. "Most of them have been gang-raped, one of them by 10 men," said Rahab Ngugi, the hospital's matron.

"We believe we only know about a fraction of cases because most people have no transport to get to hospitals or are still trapped because of the security situation."

Most victims were assaulted in their own homes and all had been targeted because of their tribe, the doctors said.

Most were members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, attacked in Nairobi's slums by other ethnic groups that support Raila Odinga, his Luo challenger.

The mobs had smashed their way into their homes, the women told doctors. Attacking everyone they found inside with machetes and clubs, the youths raped them in front of their husbands, some of whom were later killed.

With corpses littering the streets and smoke billowing from burning slums after battles between police and anti-Government protesters, Mr Kibaki has offered to talk to his political rivals.

"I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm," he said.

A week of bloodshed since a December 27 election has killed more than 350 people and threatens to wreck Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most promising democracies and strongest economies.

Attorney-General Amos Wako has called for an independent probe into the election after a day of battles in Nairobi between police and demonstrators disputing the re-election of Mr Kibaki.

Piling the pressure on Mr Kibaki, Mr Wako said in a statement: "It is necessary … that a proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately on a priority basis by an agreed and independent person or body."

It was not just in Nairobi's slums that sexual violence was reported. Aid workers said they had received reports of attacks across the country, although no statistics were available.

Mr Wako's call for an independent inquiry was backed from abroad by the World Council of Churches. But he also stressed that Mr Kibaki's re-election could only be nullified by the constitutional court.

As opposition protesters attempted to march to a rally in the centre of the city on Thursday, a British woman in the prosperous suburb of Kilimani said she had witnessed from the balcony of her home an apparent sexual attack on a well-dressed young woman.

As mobs set fire to a nearby petrol station and police fired in the air, three young men took advantage of the mayhem to grab a slim woman of about 20, dressed in white jeans and a blue top, who appeared to have been inadvertently caught up in the violence.

"As they advanced on her, she started backing away," the British woman said. "She was begging them in Swahili, saying 'please, please, please' over and over again.

"They took her behind a wall and I couldn't see what happened but I could hear the screams. I felt so helpless. It was too dangerous to go outside. If I had a gun, I would have gone and shot them, but I didn't, so there was nothing I could do."

Plans for a second day of anti-government protests in Nairobi appeared to falter last night with no sign of opposition marches on the city-centre.

From: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/04/1198950073571.html