Nation Team
2 December 2000
Nairobi — Wednesday's burning of a city mosque and church is part of a wider scheme to spark countrywide religious clashes, top religious leaders said yesterday.
The plot is aimed at frustrating efforts for a people-driven constitutional review, said the leaders, who are heading the Ufungamano constitutional review initiative.
The scheme is aimed at pitting Muslims against Christians countrywide, they claimed.
At a press conference in which they stopped short of naming the Government as the force behind the scheme, the religious leaders said in a statement: "We suspect there could be a scheme to shift from the painful ethnic clashes of the past to equally devastating religious clashes."
The statement was read by the National Council of Churches of Kenya Secretary-General Mutava Musyimi after a lengthy closed-door meeting at the Ufungamano House, Nairobi.
Speaking separately, Redeemed Gospel bishop Arthur Kitonga said the violence reeked of political undertones.
Christians and Muslims are among other faiths that have solidly stood behind Ufungamano, the rival review initiative to the Kanu-NDP-led Parliamentary process.
"There has been several attempts in the past by these forces to drive a wedge between us, but they will not succeed," said Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) official Sheikh Abdullahi Abdi.
The leaders appealed to Kenyans to remain calm and refuse to be used by the schemers.
In Mombasa, the unregistered Islamic Party of Kenya and Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri) echoed the sentiments expressed at Ufungamano House. The group's leaders were addressing the Press at the Sakina Mosque.
Meanwhile, police have denied accusations of complacency and inertia. "We do our best, and we did our best under the circumstances," said police spokesman Peter Kimanthi.
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