The Situation in Kenya and Uganda

For the past several days, a Ugandan reverend in the Anglican Church and his wife have been staying with us. We rang in the New Year together, toured Washington DC together, and introduced them to several of our friends, some of whom are taking a direct missionary/ministry interest in Uganda. Their time with us was a high point of our year, even though 2008 is only a day old. I knew them from my days at seminary. We started out in summer Greek together (talk about a bonding experience!), and during the course of the 3 years I was there, we became very close. As much as anyone I know, these two wonderful people from Uganda represent the real deal when it comes to Christian conviction, joy, and vibrancy.

But as wonderful as our time together has been these last few days, it was saddened by the recent news coming out of central Africa. The situation in Kenya is clearly deteriorating. The recent presidential election was very close, and there have been many accusations from both sides of vote rigging and election corruption. This has resulted in tribal violence that has turned ugly. It has been widely reported that 50 people and perhaps more who were seeking sanctuary from the violence in a church outside Nairobi were burned alive and killed. What has not been widely reported is that Uganda is also being impacted by what is happening in Kenya. Most of Uganda's national petroleum supply comes through Kenya, and this supply has been severely cut off due to the tribal violence in Kenya. In addition, Kenyan refugees are already fleeing west towards Uganda and will probably enter Uganda in great numbers if peace and order are not quickly restored in Kenya.

My Ugandan friend told me that what is happening in Kenya right now resembles the beginnings of the Rwandan genocide in the 90s, in that the tribal dynamic is very similar. Things in Kenya have clearly not deteriorated to that point yet, but it is possible that it might get that bad. The mere possibility of another Rwanda should be getting all of us on our knees.

The church needs to be in fervent prayer for Kenya and Uganda. Only God can overcome long-standing tribal grudges and frustrations with peace and reconciliation. The Rwandan genocide educated the world about how lethal these kinds of conflicts can be, and how quickly madness can consume an entire country. The stakes in Kenya are very high, and things are very critical at the moment. We need to pray that God will intervene before the situation gets completely out of control and chaos is allowed to reign. We need to pray that the church, as God's prophetic voice, will reiterate the basic Christian belief that all people are made in the image of God, and will insist that people be treated with the dignity that such a status requires.