Report from Uganda

Christopher Mason, a colleague working in Uganda, sent in this report and photos. You can read more from him at his blog, Caked in Red Clay.

Thanks, Chris!

Here in Uganda there is a widespread sense of disbelief over what is happening in Kenya. Since the era of independence more than 40 years ago, Kenya has been the stable neighbour for not just Uganda but much of East Africa. Uganda's history has been pockmarked with coups, military leaders, civil wars and tribal clashes that have, at various times, sent Ugandan refugees fleeing into Kenya.

Today, thousands (the last report said 5,000 but it is higher now) of Kenyan refugees have fled into eastern Uganda, seeking to escape the violence. On a recent reporting trip to the border, the conditions of those coming into the country revealed the extent of the violence in western Kenya. 

Some had been hacked with pangas and machetes, and had the deep, bone-revealing wounds to prove it. Others were limping or bandaged from having been stoned. Most I met at an impromptu refugee camp had lost their homes and businesses.

And that's what makes this class of refugees unique. Today they are typical refugees, with little more than the clothes on their backs. But barely a week ago most of them owned homes and businesses.

"Two weeks ago we were business people, but today we are typical refugees. We have nothing," one refugee, who owned a dairy a week ago, told me. He said his house and business have since been destroyed.

"They even took my clothes," he said.

This status as business owners is why, they say, they were targeted. In western Kenya, the Kikuyu form the bulk of the business-owning class. They moved west from central Kenya, into lands dominated those from the Teso and Luo tribes. The Kikuyu owned businesses, ran hotels and were generally better off than the rest of the western population. Over the years this led to a previously-hidden hostility that exploded when last month's election results were announced.

Ugandans have so far been welcoming to the refugees. Many of the relief workers in eastern Uganda say they are happy to return the hospitality that, over the years, Kenyans often offered to fleeing Ugandans.

"Ugandans have been refugees and it was Kenya who sheltered us," said one Ugandan relief worker I spoke with. "So when Kenyans began coming across it was a form of payback."

Here in the capital, Kampala, people are far enough away from the border that they rely on media reports for updates on the situation.  But the election and violent aftermath have had a tangible effect on the region.

As a landlocked country, Uganda relies largely on Kenya's port in Mombasa for supplies of all kinds. That supply route dried up because of the violence and with a couple days the country's fuel supplies had completely evaporated. I was flying back into Uganda on the 2nd, and arrived at the airport to find taxi drivers charging 100,000 Ugandan shillings (about $60) for the taxi trip back to Kampala, rather than the normal 45,000-50,000. They were doing this because prices at the few stations that still had fuel had quadrupled to 10,000 shillings a litre (about $6 a litre).

Gas prices have now gone down to 3,500-4,000 shillings a litre, though many stations are still dry. But many drivers have still left their vehicles at home, unable to afford the cost of driving and unwilling to spend hours waiting in line for fuel.

When the worst of the shortage hit, Uganda worked out an agreement with Kenya that Kenya would provide armed guards to escort supply trucks to the border so they could reach Uganda. Once the crisis has passed, many here hope leaders will have learned a lesson that a more reliable system of supply, and reserves, needs to be established to avoid this from happening again.