Washington, DC — The United States' top diplomat on Africa described the violence in Kenya's Rift Valley as "ethnic cleansing" on Wednesday, but hours later the State Department spokesman in Washington, DC, backed off, calling the situation "evolving" and "fluid."
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, visiting the African Union summit in Addis Ababa after visiting Kenya, reportedly told journalists: "There was ethnic cleansing in Kenya. I listened to the victims."
However, spokesman Sean McCormack said at the department's daily press briefing that he would "let her [Frazer's] statement stand on its own."
"Jendayi Frazer... was reflecting back to the press corps her first hand view of the situation in the Rift Valley based on her travel there," he added. McCormack reported that a State Department office is collecting information on the violence in the Rift Valley, and the office would report its findings sometime in the future.
"Very often, the case with these kind of circumstances is that you don't have a full understanding, a complete picture of what happened, until the situation is over and things have calmed down," he said.
The Rift Valley has been the scene of some of the worst post-election violence in Kenya, resulting in the deaths of hundreds and displacement of thousands more. In a statement last week, Human Rights Watch accused opposition leaders of organizing the violence in the Rift Valley, especially around the town of Eldoret.
"We have evidence that ODM [Opposition Democratic Movement] politicians and local leaders actively fomented some post-election violence," said Georgette Gagnon, the organization's acting Africa director.
Frazer blamed ethnic groups supporting both the opposition – such as the Luo and Kalenjin – and the government – the Kikuyu – for the violence. "The first wave of violence, it was primarily in the Rift Valley, and it was Kalenjin pushing out Kikuyu. But that may now be spreading to Kikuyus pushing out the Luos and Kalenjin," she said.
Most experts and observers have commented that the attacks in the Rift Valley have been well-organized, while violence in other parts of Kenya has seemed more spontaneous.
The concern over violence spiraling out of control in the Rift Valley puts more pressure on President Mwai Kibaki, opposition leader Raila Odinga and their political allies to reach an agreement to end the political standoff that ensued after Kenya's disputed presidential election in December.
Both sides are facing increased international pressure to settle, especially from the United States. McCormack on Wednesday reiterated the call for a political solution that his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, made a day earlier.
"The election was not one that inspired confidence in the Kenyan people and, therefore, there needs to be a political arrangement, a political solution between the major opposition candidate and the president," Rice said Tuesday.
The United States is reviewing its aid to Kenya but is unlikely to make many cuts – most of the aid is spent on HIV/Aids programs.
Wednesday was not the first time the State Department has sent mixed messages in responses to the Kenyan election. The U.S. initially congratulated Kibaki for winning re-election, then quickly withdrew its statement. Observers have described the election as seriously flawed.
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The next mixed message from the U.S. Government will likely be the result of differences not within the State Department, but between the department and Congress.
The State Department has been calling for a power-sharing agreement because diplomats believe it would be very difficult to determine who won the elections. The ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, contributing from Nairobi to a recent Washington panel discussion, dismissed a recount. Documents had gone missing or been altered, he said, and a new election would be a "huge trauma".
But on Wednesday the United States Senate passed a resolution supporting an international audit of the election results. Next Wednesday, the House of Representatives will enter the action, holding a hearing on Kenya.
