By Stephanie Nebehay
Friday, January 11, 2008

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations estimated on Friday that 500,000 people caught up in post-election violence in Kenya would need humanitarian assistance including vital food rations.

It plans to seek funds next week to help more than a quarter of a million Kenyans forced to flee their homes, but said its appeal to donors could be expanded.

"We estimate that around 500,000 people will need aid in coming weeks and months," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news briefing in Geneva.

"We fear malnutrition will rapidly worsen if insecurity and the lack of access to food and assistance persists."

At least 500 people have already been killed in vicious ethnic clashes since the Dec. 27 vote.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has distributed food for 33,000 people in Nairobi's slums, where many residents have lost their jobs and goods are scarce, spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.

"The situation is calmer but very volatile because the political situation is not stable yet. We are just crossing our fingers and hoping it will remain calm," Berthiaume said.

Nearly one in three Kenyan children under five were already suffering severe malnutrition before the crisis, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

UNICEF has distributed 11,000 family kits with tarpaulins, blankets and soap in Eldoret in the Rift Valley, which has been worst hit by violence.

The U.N. inter-agency appeal will be launched next week in New York.

Source: Reuters, Jan 11, 2007

@ 1/12/2008 12:39 AM EST  Al-Bashir, Al-Sh.t, why didn't you help the Arab Jabour in Irak yesterday?  Instead of hiding behind  Somali mothers in Mogadishu, why don't you confront the raw-meat eaters on the side of the border? Come on,  you like your mentors such Indha-cade, Suudi Yalaxow etc. have  easier to rob Somali farmers  in Shabeele than meeting the enemy at frontier!.                   Gacaliye.

adamjama @ 1/11/2008 6:57 PM EST  Ceeblo; Adigu diintaadu ma la jiifiyaana banaan baa? Markaad adeer Abdullahi iyo Mohamed Deere danbiyadooda ka hadleeyso waxaad tirahdaa nimankaan waa towbad keeneen Ilaaheyna waa "Qafuuru Raxiim", markaad Cali Xaad iyo Jilicow iyo dadkii adeerkaa xabsiga ku waardiyeen jiray aad danbigood ka hadleeysana waxaad tiraahdaa Ilaahay waa shadiidul ciqaab "haddaad ummada dhibtoo oo denbiyo waaweyn aad ka gasho mar walba mar ay ahataba way kugu soo wareegenee". Waxaan Ilaahay ugu mahadinayaa inuusan adiga kaala tashaneynin ciduu ciqaabayo iyo ciduu cafinayo. You crime & punishment is lopsided indeed.

Al-Bashir @ 1/11/2008 6:57 PM EST  I support the Kenyan civil war, it gets rid of bad blood, Leave them to it, Who are you Bloody somali's to cheat Kenya out of a civil war they have right to fight, to the "victor the spoils go" Bookies favourite to get wiped of the map ; Kikiyu 2/6, Mambo kuku 4/6 , Zulu wulu 4/8 and Others 10/1

Arraweelo10 @ 1/11/2008 4:18 PM EST  Adduunyoy xaalka ba'a, waxaan maqlay wareysigii Sheekh Shariif uu siiyey VOA oo aad moodey inuu haddalkiisa uu soo dabcay, laakiin tii Itoobiyanka wuu ku dhegen yahay weli labo sano ka dib xal kale ma uu hayo. Si kastaba waxaa iigu darneyd markii uu yiri Nabadoon Ahmed Diiriye iyo mid kale waxaa loo qaaday itoobiya laguna khaarajiyey iwm. Horta ma ogi ninkaas inuu nool yahay iyo in kale laakiin waa nin tacbaan ah oo jiran, marka ma ogi sababta lagu qiimeynaayo oo loo dilaayo. Laakiin waxaa la sheegay inuu ku jiro Xabsiga Weyn Alambaqa ee Itoobiya, waxaan kaloo la ii sheegay inuu wagii Siyaad Barre uu ahaa Saajin ka shaqeeya Xabsigii Labaatan jiroow oo dadka siyaasada lagu heysto lagu xiri jiray oo aadna u xumaa. Markaa labada xabis waxay isaga mid yihiin iyagoon la arag dadka ku jira. Markaa Ilaahey waa sariicu xisaab, haddaad ummada dhibtoo oo denbiyo waaweyn aad ka gasho mar walba mar ay ahataba way kugu soo wareegenee.

adamjama @ 1/11/2008 3:36 PM EST  An 80 year old African lady who was an illiterate farmer summed up African politics & way of life. After supporting freedom fighters with her meager belongings for decades to defeat colonialism she was happy when somebody told her we won our independence & you don't have to give one goat a month to the freedom fighters anymore. After couple of years she saw another war going on & militia collecting goats from farmers again because two sides were fighting for the power. That war went on for another decade & finally she realized that her goats were disappearing at an alarming rate without any end in sight. One day while one of the waring leaders was giving a speech in her little village she asked him a simple question that had a philosophical impact on African politics, she said " Son, when will freedom be over?".