Ethnic tensions simmer despite Kenya peace deal

ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) - Nearly three months after theworst massacre of Kenya's post-election violence, children'sshoes and charred clothes remain in the ashes of a rural churchwhere about 30 people were burned to death.

Wreaths of dried-out flowers lie where a mob set fire tothe Assemblies of God building with 100 or so terrifiedvillagers cowering inside. A cow nibbles grass around a fallenyellow tape reading: "Crime Scene, Do Not Cross."

All around the church, torched and trashed homes littercountryside outside the western town of Eldoret, one of theepicentres of violence that killed at least 1,200 people anduprooted 300,000 others after Kenya's December 27 election.

President Mwai Kibaki and his main challenger, RailaOdinga, have since made their peace, burying their dispute overwho won in a power-sharing agreement. They have taken tea andeven watched golf together at a colonial-era country club.

But on the ground, wounds from the worst bloodletting inthe east African nation since independence in 1963 remain soreand many fear violence could erupt again if the deeper roots ofthe troubles are not tackled.

Communities are suspicious of one another. Tens ofthousands of people still live as refugees. And there has beena massive population shift as Kenyans from different tribesreturn to the safety of their ancestral heartlands.

Less than a mile from the burnt church in Kiambaa village,police are building a new base to prevent repetitions of theattacks by Kalenjins -- who are in the majority in the Eldoretarea -- on Kikuyus, members of Kibaki's ethnic group.

"We will hold the peace, and we will catch theperpetrators," one policeman said, nailing planks to new huts.

NERVOUS

A few nervous-looking Kikuyus are back to check theirplots.

"Some fear to return, some want to sell their land, somemight come back and re-settle here if there is peace," saidFrancis Waweru, 23. His sister scorched her arm escaping fromthe church and has gone far away to the Kikuyu town of Limuru.

"It is hard to forget," he said, standing next to thechurch and describing how hundreds of Kalenjin warriors barredthe refugees inside before burning the building and hackingthose who tried to escape with machetes.

Down the road, locals have daubed a new name in theirtribal language -- Kipnyiket -- over the Kikuyu word Kiambaa.Authorities say the perpetrators are among hundreds they havearrested nationwide. They plan a memorial at the church site.

On another side of Eldoret, scores of houses and shops arereduced to blackened rubble in scenes more reminiscent ofwar-riven neighbours Somalia and Sudan.

Huge boulders beside the highway also bear witness to thegangs who took over the area in January. Armed with machetesand bows-and-arrows, they had set up roadblocks to huntKikuyus.

"Of course we were angry. They stole the election in frontof our eyes," one jobless 28-year-old Kalenjin man said.

"Now power is supposed to be shared 50-50 but they are notwilling to share really," he added, echoing a widespreadaccusation among Kenya's non-Kikuyus that Kibaki's communityhas monopolised power and wealth.

Another Kalenjin man chided a visiting reporter, saying themedia -- like Kibaki and the police -- had focused on deaths ofKikuyus around Eldoret, but not the killing of members of othercommunities elsewhere around Kenya.

"What about the house burned in Naivasha with 15 peopleinside? You don't talk about what the Kikuyus did," he said.

"There are no Kikuyus living round here any more. If theycome back, it will depend on the 50-50 deal, if it works. Thenif they return and are friendly with us, it will be OK."

UNDERLYING PROBLEMS

According to the power-sharing deal, Odinga is set tobecome prime minister although wrangling remains over otherposts.

Further down the line, Kenya's politicians will also haveto overhaul the constitution and discuss underlying problemssuch as land and inequality that were laid bare by the disputeover Kibaki's re-election last December.

At Eldoret showground, 15,000 refugees -- almost allKikuyus -- live in tents crammed together on the field.

They are either too scared to return home, have nothing togo back to, or are waiting for some way of travelling to theircommunity's heartland in central Kenya.

"Power-sharing has brought peace to the people above, butnot to us," said pastor Gideon Mwangi, whose house in Eldoretwas torched and whose family fled to Naivasha.

"We are willing to go back, but only when there is realpeace. There are still threats going on in the villages."

Refugee leaders are petitioning for compensation fordestroyed properties, stolen livestock and lost crops.

Some Kikuyus in the Eldoret area have, however, returned totheir former lives. In the centre of town, several dozen sticktogether for security in streets where they work as mechanicsand labourers fixing minibuses.

Joseph Gitau, 23, was born in the area, saw his fatherkilled with a poisoned arrow during inter-ethnic fighting in1997, and admits taking up a machete to face Kalenjin gangs inJanuary. One day, he saw seven fellow Kikuyus decapitated.

Yet he has returned to work to help feed his mother, andten brothers and sisters. And he has no intention of returningto a tribal homeland he does not know.

"There, I have no job, no land, nothing. What could I do?"

(Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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