Post-Election Unrest - Kenya

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Handicap International Acts to Alleviate Kenyan Crisis

With the Kenyan post-election crisis continuing to escalate in severity, Handicap International has been focusing its efforts on emergency relief efforts throughout the country.

The problems began after the election on 30 December when Kenya’s opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), claimed the result had been rigged in favour of president Mwai Kibaki. Unrest followed throughout Kenya with protests turning into violent riots. So far more than 800 people have been killed and over 250,000 forced to flee their homes (source : BBC). 

Concentrating on the badly affected N’Zoia district, our relief workers have concentrated on providing emergency relief to the estimated 30,000 people displaced by the riots and violence. Help has included psychological support in refugee camps around the region, as well as provision of many basic services such as temporary showers and water tanks. Important items required at Kitale’s over-stretched district hospital have also been provided, such as hygienic towels and women’s underwear.

Kenya is also one of the African countries most affected by the AIDS virus – 13% of the population carry the infection – and work is underway to make sure the needs of those with HIV/AIDS are catered for in the relief operation.   

Handicap International has been active in Kenya in 1992, working extensively in the Trans N’Zoia, Garissa and Nairobi districts of the country. As well as prioritising the issue of AIDS control, the organisation also tries to support the refugee population of over 180,000, who have mainly settled in the North-East of the country where there is little in the way of services, particularly in terms of health care.   

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