Home pagePress CenterIn the Media Joel Barkan, a senior associate with the CSIS Africa Program, had his commentary "Kenya in Crisis" quoted by Reuters, "Kenya Violence Reveals Deep Social, Ethnic Rifts."
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Joel Barkan, a senior associate with the CSIS Africa Program, had his commentary "Kenya in Crisis" quoted by Reuters, "Kenya Violence Reveals Deep Social, Ethnic Rifts."
Attempts to paper over deep social and ethnic rifts underlying Kenya's violence for the sake of a quick return to calm and booming economic growth may store up worse problems for the future.
The explosion of violence after the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki — around 500 people have died — reflected failure to deal with huge wealth disparities and politically manipulated ethnic tensions going back decades.
Joel Barkan, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Kenya was at a crossroads. "One fork leads to continued chaos .... the other fork leads to the consolidation of democracy and renewed economic development."
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions; accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in these publications should be understood to be solely those of the authors.
