Timeline Kenya
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Kenya was also called British East Africa.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T10)
Kenya has 43 ethnic groups. The population in 1998 was 28 million. The country covered 220,000 square miles, about twice the size of Nevada.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
The Bukusu are a Bantu speaking people. They were surrounded by the Nilotic speaking Iteso, Sabaot, and Nandi. The Ndorobo were hunter-gatherers. Other ethnic groups include: the Aweera, the hunter-gatherer Dahalo, the Kamba, Waata, and Boni (Sanye); the pastoral Orma and Somali; and the agricultural Malakote, Pokomo, and Mijikenda. The Cushites were hunter gatherers and pastoralist.
(NH, 6/97, p.40,43)(SFC,12/26/97, p.B7)
Kiswahili is a native Bantu language.
(NH, 6/97, p.40)
23Mil BC Researchers in 2019 said a giant lion, which they named Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, lived in what is modern-day Kenya around this time, a key period in the evolution of carnivorous mammals.
(AFP, 4/18/19)
13Mil BC In 2014 anthropologists in Northern Kenya discovered a complete skull of a baby ape dating back 13 million years. It belonged to an undiscovered species and was named Nyanazpithecus alesi.
(http://tinyurl.com/ydfq4ev8)(SFC, 8/19/17, p.A9)
9.8Mil BC In 2007 Researchers in Kenya unveiled a 10-million-year-old jaw bone they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. A Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment, dating back to between 9.8 and 9.88 million years, in 2005 along with 11 teeth. The fossils were unearthed in volcanic mud flow deposits in the northern Nakali region of Kenya.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
6Mil BC In 2000 French researchers found bones in the Rift Valley of Central Kenya that they called their Millennial Ancestor and believed to be a direct precursor of humans. Dr. Martin Pickford and co-discoverers named the fossil Orrorin tugenensis (orrorin means original man in the Tugen language). The bones were found in the Lukeino Formation of the Tugen Hills.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A10)(SSFC, 4/8/01, p.A12)(AM, 7/01, p.25)
4Mil BC - 2Mil BC A crocodile that grew to over 27 feet lived in Kenya during this period. Fossilized remains were reported in 2012.
(SFC, 5/9/12, p.A2)
c3.5 Million It was reported in 2001 that a new flat-faced hominid skull found by Justus Erus of the Leakey group near Kenya’s Lake Turkana dated to this time. Maeve Leakey named it Kenyanthropus platyops, “the flat-faced man of Kenya."
(SFC, 3/22/01, p.A2)(AM, 7/01, p.24)
3.3Mil BC In 2015 scientists reported the discovery of stone tools in Kenya that dated back to about this time, pushing back the previous record by some 700,000 years. Makers of the tools were contemporary with a species called either Kenyanthropus platyops or Australopithecus platyops.
(SFC, 5/21/15, p.A6)(Econ, 5/23/15, p.68)
1.76Mil BC US and French researchers in 2011 identified Acheulian stone tools dating to about this time near the shoreline of Kenya’s Lake Turkana.
(SFC, 9/1/11, p.A6)
1.6Mil BC Homo erectus found at Kenya’s Lake Turkana (Koobi Fora) was dated to this time by Dr. Francis Brown of the Univ. of Utah using chemical analysis of volcanic ash. Homo ergaster, the "Turkana boy" skull from Nariokotome, Kenya, was discovered in 1984. A team led by Richard Leakey unearthed hominid bones date to this time at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in northern Kenya. The skeleton of the 5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at age 12, was preserved in marshland before its discovery.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p.588)(NH, 4/97, p.71)(AP, 2/6/07)
1.44Mil BC In 2007 Meave Leakey reported that a Homo habilis jaw from Kenya, found in 2000, dated to this time. It was the youngest ever found from a species that scientists originally figured died off somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million years ago. It enabled scientists to say that Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived at the same time.
(AP, 8/8/07)
900,000BP In 2004 Scientists from the US, Britain and Kenya reported that a skull fragment of a small adult with some characteristics of Homo erectus was about 900,000 years old. It was found in 2003 in Olorgesalie, 100 miles southeast of the capital, Nairobi, Kenya.
(AP, 7/3/04)
100-200AD In East Africa coastal people lived in village communities. They smelted and forged iron.
(NH, 6/97, p.42)
700-800 The village site of Galu produced the world’s oldest crucible steel.
(NH, 6/97, p.44)
800-900 A timber mosque was built at Shanga.
(NH, 6/97, p.43)
1200-1300 The great palace and main mosque at Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
1300-1400 Lamu Town on Lamu Island dates to at least the 14th century.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T6)
1300-1600 Tombs with decorated pillars called phallic pillars by the locals are widespread among the Oromo of Somalia and Kenya, where they symbolize manhood and indicate interred men.
(NH, 6/97, p.45)
1405 Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, led a Ming dynasty fleet with 28,000 men through Southeast Asia to India and on to Africa and the Middle East. From 1405 to 1433 Zheng He led 7 voyages to promote trade and recognition of the Ming dynasty.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P11)(AP, 2/26/10)
1418 A massive fleet led by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng reached Malindi, Kenya. Kenyan lore later told of shipwrecked Chinese sailors settling in the region and marrying local women. In 2010 China and Kenya made plans to search Chinese ships wrecked during a visit by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He.
(AP, 2/26/10)
1498 Apr 7, Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, arrived at Mombasa, Kenya, where the Arabs repelled him. He sailed on to Malindi and came to terms with the local sultan, who supplied a pilot that knew the route to Calicut (Kozhikode), the most important commercial port in Southwest India at the time.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.58)(www.kenyalogy.com/eng/info/histo4.html)
c1500 Gede was abandoned owing to the salinization of the wells and external invasion. The Portuguese arrived with little resistance.
(NH, 6/97, p.43,46)
1500-1700 Lamu Island, off the coast of Kenya, was dominated by the Portuguese after which the Sultan of Oman made it part of his kingdom.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T6)
1810 Lamu Fort was built on Lamu Island.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T7)
1858 John Hanning Speke (1827-1864), British explorer, became the first European to visit Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake. Its shoreline touched Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanning_Speke)
1863 Feb 15, Samuel and Florence Baker encountered John Speke and James Grant at the frontier village of Gondokoro (southern Sudan). Speke and Grant said they had found the Nile’s headwaters at a lake they named Victoria (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda).
(ON, 10/01, p.9)
1880-1940 This period in the colonial history of Kenya was chronicled with a collection of photographs in 2008 by Nigel Pavit in his book “Kenya: A Country in the Making."
(WSJ, 9/27/08, p.W11)
1891 Oct 20, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya opposition leader and 1st premier (1963-78), was born.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1895 Modern-day Kenya became part of the British East African Protectorate.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1895 Work began on a rail line between Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, and became the Lunatic Express from media speculation that the planners were insane. [see 1905]
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.C4)(AP, 10/19/05)
1898 John Henry Patterson (29), a British army engineer, was commissioned to oversee the construction of a bridge for the Uganda Railway in British East Africa (later Kenya). His job was to build a bridge over the Tsavo River and finish laying rails for 30 miles on either side of Tsavo, a stop on the old slave caravan route. Male lions killed about 30 mainly Indian laborers. By the end of the year Patterson killed 2 man eating lions. In 1907 he published “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo."
(ON, 10/20/11, p.7)(Econ., 2/28/15, p.39)
1899 When British engineers were building a railway from the coastal town of Mombasa to what is now Uganda, they chose the Masai's emergency watering hole as a watering point for their steam engines and it eventually became Nairobi, Kenya's capital.
(AP, 2/19/06)
1900 The population of Kenya at this time was about 1 million.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)
1900-1997 In 1999 Brian Herne of Kenya published "White Hunters," an anecdotal history of safari hunting over this period.
(WSJ, 7/9/99, p.W10)
1902 The African Standard was inaugurated at the completion of the East African Railway from the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to Lake Victoria. It was launched by A.M. Jeevanjee, a Karachi-born trader. Jeevanjee sold the paper in 1905 to two British businessmen, who changed the name to the East African Standard and in 1910 moved its headquarters to Nairobi. A few months before independence in 1963, the British-based Lonrho Group bought the newspaper. In 1977, it became a tabloid and the name was changed to the Standard. In 1995 Lonrho sold its controlling interest to the Standard Newspapers Group Limited, a company in which prominent Kenyan politicians are believed to have considerable interests. The name was changed back to the East African Standard.
(AP, 11/15/02)
1903 Aug 7, Louis Leakey, anthropologist, archeologist and paleontologist, was born in Kenya. He believed that Africa was the cradle of mankind.
(HN, 8/7/98)(Internet)
1904-1911 In Kenya a deal between the British and the Masai forced the pastoral people from their land in the western Rift Valley.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1905 Oct 19, Kiotalel arap Samoei was murdered in Kenya's central Rift Valley. He led tribal opposition to the construction of the so-called "Lunatic Express," the Kenya-Uganda Railway, from the Indian Ocean Port of Mombasa through Nandiland in the Rift Valley to Lake Victoria. More than 12,000 people are believed to have been killed in a bloody 10-year struggle over the railroad that began in 1895 when surveyors first marked Nandi territory as a route for the tracks.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
1907 The British forced the abolition of slavery on the new Sultan of Zanzibar and Lamu Island went into an economic decline.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T7)
1910 Nov 24, Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the scout movement in Britain in 1907, organized the first scout meeting in Africa at a church in Nairobi.
(AP, 11/24/10)
1914-1931 Karen Blixen (1885-1962), Danish author, lived on a farm near Nairobi, Kenya. Her lover was Denys Finch-Hatton. She wrote under the name Isak Dinesen. The two were featured in the 1985 film “Out of Africa" that starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The country was then called British East Africa.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.E1)(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T10)
1915 Under British law Africans were declared “tenants at will of the Crown" and kicked off their ancestral land. In Kenya’s Rift Valley the Kalenjins became squatters.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1920 Kenya became a colony under the British crown.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1924 Daniel arap Moi was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1925 Kenya’s population was about 2.6 million.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.94)
1930 In Kenya Irene Stefani an Italian member of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, died of the plague. As a trained nurse she had helped the wounded in Kenya and Tanzania during World War I and was much loved by the people of the Nyeri district, who called her "mother of mercy." In 2015 her beatification ceremony took place in Nyeri.
(AFP, 5/14/15)
1931 May 14, Denys Finch-Hatton, British adventurer and lover to writer Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), died when his plane crashed shortly after take-off from Kenya’s Voi airport. In 2007 Sara Wheeler authored “Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Finch_Hatton)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.M4)
1936 Mar 22, Roger Whittaker, country singer (Durham Town), was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1938 Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) wrote her novel: “Out of Africa."
(SFEC, 11/3/96, BR p.5)
1941 Jan 24, Josslyn Victor Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, was shot to death in Kenya. He was having an affair with Diana Delves Broughton. The story was covered in a 1982 book “White Mischief" by James Fox, which was made into a 1988 movie. The BBC television drama The Happy Valley, first transmitted on 6 September 1987, told the story of Erroll's murder, as seen through the eyes of 15 year-old the Hon. Juanita Carbery, daughter of Lord Carbery, to whom John Delves Broughton confessed his guilt even before he was arrested. Alice de Janze committed suicide not long after the acquittal Broughton. In 2010 Paul Spicer authored “The Temptress: The Scandalous Life of Alice de Janze and the Mysterious Death of Lord Erroll.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josslyn_Hay,_22nd_Earl_of_Erroll)(SSFC, 8/15/10, p.F4)
1944 Jan 19, Richard [Erskine Frere] Leakey, anthropologist, was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1952 In Kenya the Mau Mau rebels of the Kikuyu tribe turned to force. The Mau Mau movement was in part due to the white domination of the rich plateau region. The Mau Mau separatist group used a toxic plant to poison 33 steers in an act of rebellion. In 2004 David Anderson authored “"Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire." Caroline Elkins authored “Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of the End of Empire in Kenya."
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/18/01, p.B1)(Econ, 1/1/05, p.65)
1952 British PM Winston Churchill declared a state of emergency in Kenya and sent British and African soldiers to help colonial administrators capture May May fighters and send them to detention camps.
(AP, 5/6/13)
c1952 The film “Mogambo" was shot in Kenya. Bunny Allen (d.2002 at 95), professional hunter, managed a 300-tent camp for the actors and crew that included Clark Gable and Grace Kelly.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.B6)
1952-1960 Some 32 white settlers were killed by Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. More than 10,000 people were killed during the Mau Mau uprising, with some figures going much higher. In 2011 four may Mau colleagues won court approval in Britain to sue the British government over brutality they claim they suffered in the struggle.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)(AFP, 7/21/11)
1953 Apr 8, Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978), one of modern Africa's earliest nationalist leaders, was convicted by Kenya's British rulers for leading the Mau Mau Rebellion against the white settlers of his country. Along with five other Mau Mau leaders, he was subsequently sentenced to seven years' hard labor.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1953-1958 In Kenya 1,090 Kikuyu were hanged by British authorities due to the Mau Mau rebellion.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)
1954 The British government began making preparations for the country’s Independence.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1954 In Kenya British forces allegedly used pliers to castrate Paulo Nzili, a Mau Mau rebel. He survived the severe beatings which killed many other Mau Mau and in 2009 launched a bid with 4 others to win compensation from Britain over claims they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned during Britain’s colonial rule.
(AFP, 6/23/09)
1961 Sep 10, Jomo Kenyatta returned to Kenya from exile, during which he had been elected president of the Kenya National African Union.
(HN, 9/10/98)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1963 May 27, Jomo Kenyatta was elected 1st prime minister of Kenya.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1963 Jun 1, Kenya assumed internal self rule. This was later celebrated as Madaraka Day.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)
1963 Dec 12, Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party (KANU) began ruling. Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, was the first president and served until 1978. The Kikuyu and closely related Meru and Embu groups comprised some 28% of Kenya’s people. Kenya’s population at this time was under 8 million. This was later commemorated as Jamhuri Day. Kenya’s first vice president was Oginga Odinga, the father of Raila Odinga.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP,12/12/97)(SFC,12/23/97, p.D4)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.87)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)(Econ, 8/12/17, p.35)
1963 The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) was established to regulate films.
(http://kfcb.co.ke/)(Econ, 11/5/16, p.42)
1964 Dec 12, Kenya formally became a republic. Its population at this time was about 8 million.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(HN, 12/12/98)(Econ, 1/26/13, p.45)
1967 The East African Community (EAC) of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda established a common shilling. The EAC lasted only a decade as cooperation fizzled. The project was revived in 1999 and expanded in 2007 to include Burundi and Rwanda.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
1969 Jul 5, Tom Mboya (b.1930) of Kenya’s Luo tribe was assassinated in Nairobi. He was the expected successor to Pres. Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978).
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mboya)
1971 Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan writer, published his novel “Petals of Blood." He was soon imprisoned by the government of Pres. Daniel arap Moi for his satire. Upon his release he went into exile and established himself as an American academic.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.70)
1971 In Kenya the Norwegian government designed a fish processing plant at Lake Turkana to provide jobs to the nomadic Turkana people. The plant was completed and soon shut down due to high operating costs for the freezers in the desert.
(SFC, 12/21/07, p.A31)
1972 Oct 1, Louis Leakey (b.1903), Kenyan archeologist and naturalist, died in London. He was flown home and interred at Limuru, Kenya, near the graves of his parents.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Leakey)
1972 In Kenya skull 1470 was found by Bernard Ngeneo, a member of a team led by anthropologist Richard Leakey, at Koobi Fora on the east side of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana) in Kenya. Its estimated age is 1.9 million years.
(www.123exp-biology.com/t/01174157121/)
1973 In Kenya the Undugu Society was founded to help needy children. In 2006 children on the streets of Nairobi numbered in the tens of thousands.
(AP, 7/1/06)
1974 Nov 5, Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978), a Kikuyu, began his 3rd term as president of Kenya.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)(http://kenya.rcbowen.com/government/kenyatta.html)
1977 Kamoya Kimenu, asst. to Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey, and later to their son Richard Leakey, was appointed curator of prehistoric sites for the National Museums of Kenya. In Oct. 1985, the Nat’l. Geog. awarded him with the John Oliver La Gorce Medal for accomplishment in geographic exploration.
(NG, Nov. 1985, edit.)
1977 Kenya banned all hunting. Over the next 20 years a half to a third of the wildlife still disappeared.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A22)
1977 Wangari Maathai established the Green Belt Movement in Kenya under the auspices of the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (National Council of Women of Kenya). The movement organizes poor rural women in Kenya to plant trees, combating deforestation, restoring their main source of fuel for cooking, and stopping soil erosion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Belt_Movement)(www.greenbeltmovement.org/)
1977 Kenya Airways began operating.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.A5)
1977 The East African Community (EAC), founded in 1967, collapsed. In 2000 the regional club was resurrected with six members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.51)
1978 May 13, Henry Rono (b.1952) of Kenya, running for Washington State Univ., set an NCAA record for 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:05.4).
(www.lewrockwell.com/englund/englund39.html)
1978 Aug 22, In Kenya Pres. Jomo Kenyatta (1963-1978), a leading figure in Kenya's struggle for independence, died at age 83. He was succeeded by Vice President Daniel Arap Moi of the Kalengin tribe, head of the Kenya African National Union.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)(SFC,11/27/97, p.B6)(AP, 8/22/98)
1979 Elephant hunting was banned in Kenya with the herd down to 1.3 million.
(SFC, 4/11/00, p.D2)
1980 Jan 3, Conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.
(AP, 1/3/98)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)
1980 Dec 31, A bomb blast wrecked the Jewish-owned Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 16 people and wounding more than 80.
(www.emergency-management.net/bombings.htm)
1980 In Nairobi the Carnivore Restaurant was established by Martin and Geraldine Dunford.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.T14)
1982 Aug 1, In Kenya there was a coup attempt against Pres. Daniel arap Moi. Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s 1st vice-president, was implicated in the coup along with his son Raila Odinga, who was put into solitary confinement for 6 years for his alleged involvement.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Kenyan_coup)
1982 In Kenya the government under Daniel arap Moi pushed through parliament a constitutional amendment that made Kenya effectively a one-party state. Later this year, the army quelled a coup attempt by opposition members and some air force officers. At least 159 people were killed.
(AP, 2/4/20)
1984 Feb, During a truth commission in Kenya in 2011 human rights groups and residents said up to 3,000 people died in February 1984 in a government-sanctioned operation meant to crack down on ethnic Somalis who were holding illegal weapons. The killings occurred at Wagalla airstrip, a town some 310 miles (500 km) northeast of Nairobi.
(AP, 4/12/11)
1984 Kenya’s Equity Building Society started operations as a check-cashing venture for farmers. By 2012 half of all bank accounts in the country were with Equity.
(Econ, 12/8/12, p.76)
1984 A team led by Richard Leakey unearthed hominid bones at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in the far northern reaches of Kenya. The skeleton of 5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at age 12, was preserved in marshland before its discovery.
(AP, 2/6/07)
1987 Nov 1, Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya won the New York City Marathon in two hours, 11 minutes and one second; Priscilla Welch of Britain led the women in two hours, 30 minutes and 16 seconds.
(AP, 11/1/97)
1987 Ngonya wa Gakonya founded his Tent of the Living God, with an anti-Western creed based on traditional rituals for age-based groups of the Kikuyu. The sect was banned in 1990 and Gakonya was briefly jailed. The Mungiki was a sister sect.
(SFC, 4/1/00, p.A12,14)
1987 The book "White Mischief" (1982) by James Fox was made into a film starring Charles Dance and Greta Scacchi. The book highlighted the free-spending, and often alcoholic ways of much of the early colonial set in Kenya.
(AP, 5/24/06)
1988 Sep, Julie Ward was killed in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. In 1998 game warden Simon ole Makallah was arrested for the murder.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.C2)
1989 May 11, Kenya announced that it would seek a worldwide ban on the trade of ivory -- a move intended to preserve its fast-dwindling elephant herds.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1989 Aug 20, British conservationist George Adamson (83) was shot and killed by bandits in Kenya. The husband of Joy Adamson was slaughtered at his Kora wilderness preserve. In 2000 the TV documentary “To Walk with Lions" dramatized his final days.
(AP, 8/20/99)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)
1989 Paleontologist Richard Leakey founded the Kenya Wildlife Service.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.A10)
1989 Kenya burned a vast pile of elephant tusks in Nairobi National Park in an effort to curb the killing of elephants.
(Econ, 2/8/14, p.60)
1990 Feb 12, Robert Ouko (b.1931), Kenya’s foreign minister and member of the Luo tribe, was murdered during his investigation of corruption charges against the government.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.51)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ouko)
1990 Nov 4, Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya and Wanda Panfil of Poland won the New York City Marathon.
(AP, 11/4/00)
1990-1993 In Kenya’s "Goldenberg affair" millions of dollars were paid for non-existent exports of gold and diamonds. Some $600 million was secreted abroad and into the bank accounts of numerous ministers and their friends. A firm called Goldenberg International manipulated export compensation. A commission of inquiry from 2003-2005 presented its report to Pres. Kibaki in 2006.
(www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32215)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)
1990-2009 In Kenya the forests shrank during this period by a at least 60%.
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.22)
1991 Foreign donors forced Daniel arap Moi to agree to multiparty politics as a condition to aid.
(SFC, 10/17/96, C2)
1991 Pres. Daniel Arap Moi altered the constitution to insure his being elected. The winner was required to take at least 25% of the vote in 5 of 8 provinces. Only a party with a national base could thus win.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)
1991 Thousands of Bantus fled Somalia for Kenya. In 1999 the US designated this group of people as persecuted and eligible for resettlement in the US.
(NW, 9/2/02, p.35)
1991 In Kenya the Kakuma camp was founded for some 30,000 refugees from Sudan.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuma)(WSJ, 10/23/02, p.B1)
1991-1995 In Kenya an estimated 1500 were killed and 300,000 forced from their homes in clashes between Pres. Daniel arap Moi’s Kalenjin ethnic group and the Kikuyu, Luo and Luhya tribes over this time.
(SFC, 6/19/97, p.A12)
1992 Apr 20, Defending champion Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya became the sixth three-time winner of the Boston Marathon, while Russia's Olga Markova won the women's division.
(AP, 4/20/97)
1992 Dec 29, Daniel arap Moi (b.1924) was re-elected with 36% of the vote in the first multiparty elections in Kenya in 26 years.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(http://tinyurl.com/33kpow)
1992 In Kenya the Dadaab camps Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo were constructed. Ifo camp was first settled by refugees from the civil war in Somalia, and later efforts were made by UNHCR to improve the camp. In 2016 Ben Rawlence authored “City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadaab)(Econ, 1/23/16, p.78)
1992 In Kenya Rev. Angelo D’Agostino (1926-2006) founded the Nyumbani orphanage for children with HIV.
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.B7)
1992 The Kenya government stopped licensing any new parties that applied for registration.
(SFC, 10/17/96, C2)
1992 In Rift Valley province state security forces stood by as the Kalenjin and Kikuyu tribes battled each other prior to the presidential elections. Ethnic Kikuyus, Luhyas and Luos, who supported the opposition, were attacked by members of Moi’s home province Kalenjin group.
(WSJ, 12/10/96, p.A22)(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1992 In Kenya three Somali clans in the Wajir district -- the Ajuran, Ogaden and Degodia broke out into war after the elections. More than 2,000 people were killed.
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)
1993 Jul 10, Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki became the first man to run 10,000 meters in less than 27 minutes.
(HN, 7/10/98)
1993 In Kenya a single-engine plane flown by fossil expert Richard Leakey (1944-2022) lost power and crashed, many speculated that it was sabotage. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.A10)(BBC, 1/3/22)
1993 The Serengeti plain in northern Tanzania and south-western Kenya experienced a devastating drought.
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.88)
1993-1995 Some 50,000 flamingos died in the area of Lake Nakuru.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A14)
1994 Apr 29, A ferry boat capsized near Mombasa, Kenya, and 272 people were killed.
(http://65.18.147.106/archive/102002/msg00163.html)
1994 Ayisi Makatiani, a student at MIT, co-founded Africa Online with 2 Kenyan friends. It was purchased by Prodigy and in 1998 underwent a management buyout. In 2000 it was purchased by African Lakes, an investment firm.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.58)(http://tinyurl.com/j5nxk)
1995 Jul, Paleontologist Richard Leakey began a new political party, Safina, as an alternative to KANU (Kenya African National Union) and FORD-Kenya (Forum for Restoration of Democracy).
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)
1995 Ethnic riots continue for a second day in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, between the Luos and the Nubians.
(WSJ, 10/17/95, A-1)
1995 Pres. Daniel arap Moi defended the Nigerian government in the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa.
(SFC, 10/22/95, P.5)(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A16)
1995 In Kenya the three Somali clans in the Wajir district -- the Ajuran, Ogaden and Degodia, settled their differences in a peace agreement that led to the formation of the Wajir Peace and Development Committee.
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)
1995 German-Jewish writer Stefanie Zweig (1932-2014) authored her autobiographical novel "Nowhere in Africa.". The book retold the story of her family's time in Kenya. A movie adaptation won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003.
(AP, 4/27/14)
1996 May 22, Amnesty International reported that Kenyan doctors were pressured to ignore evidence of torture.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug, A new rite was instituted as an alternative to female circumcision. The “ntanira na mugambo" (circumcision through words) rite included a week-long counseling program capped by a “coming of age day."
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A23)
1996 Dec 9, Archaeologist and anthropologist Mary Leakey died in Nairobi, Kenya at age 83.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A6)(AP,12/9/97)
1996 Dec 18, Police killed 2 students who were protesting the killing of another student on the previous day.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.C4)
1996 Wycliffe Olouch, head librarian in the Garissa District, began using camels to bring books to children in remote areas.
(SFC, 12/9/98, p.B3)
1997 Jan 5, The Daily Nation reported that a man stole $1 million by impersonating a Citibank bank employee. The money had been shipped from NY to a Kenyan airport freight terminal at the Nairobi Int’l. Airport.
(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A12)
1997 Jan 25, It was reported that mass starvation was threatening after a widespread draught this season.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18)
1997 Feb 22, Wadih el-Hage, a secretary to Osama bin Laden, returned to Kenya from Sudan.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A24)
1997 Jun, The IMF froze $30 million in direct aid after the Moi administration dropped charges against a group of KANU businessmen accused of defrauding the state of about $500 million.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A11)
1997 Jun-Nov, A cholera epidemic in Kisumu and other towns around Lake Victoria killed 200 people over this period due to contaminated drinking water. The disease peaked in January after some 3,000 deaths across East Africa.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.T14)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.E4)
1997 Jul 7, In Kenya 9 people died during protests for constitutional reform.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A8)(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 9, Armed police shut down the Univ. of Nairobi and clubbed students who demanded free and fair elections.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 14, Thousands of students fought riot police in Nairobi and demanded constitutional reforms. Nairobi Univ. and Jomo Kenyatta Univ. were closed indefinitely.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 8, A nationwide strike was called and declared illegal by the government. In Nairobi a crowd of some 2,000 gathered and killed Gilbert Simiyu, a plainclothes police officer. The strike turned into a riot with looting.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 12, It was reported that the World Bank joined the IMF in withholding credit due to government corruption.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 14, Six officers and 7 civilians were killed in Mombasa when assailants burned down a police station.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A17)
1997 Aug 19, Some 300 kiosks were burned in Malindi.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 20, Police arrested 2 KANU politicians for instigating violence along the coastal region. Karisa Maitha and Omar Masumbuko lent credence that KANU officials were attempting to divert attention from the reformist movement.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 22, Armed marauders attacked a church filled with some 2,500 refugees and killed 2 refugees and wounded a police guard in Linkoni.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 29, Thousands fled from the Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast in fear of ethnic violence and attacks from government security forces.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug, Kenyan police with US investigators raided the home of Wadih el-Hage and seized his papers and computer. Hage was arrested a year later for his ties to Osama bin Laden and terrorist conspiracy.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A21)
1997 Sep 4, It was reported that the unemployment rate was 35%.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 11, The Parliament approved some constitutional reforms but opponents charged the measures were only meant to diffuse protests. Detention without trial was ended and greater media access to the opposition was to be established.
(WSJ, 9/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 6, The government refused to legalize the Safina (Swahili for ark) Party led by Richard Leakey.
(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A18)
1997 Oct 10, Riot police beat up opposition members of parliament while Pres. Moi gave a speech on “Moi Day," marking 19 years in power.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 13, Teachers ended a 12-day strike after the government agreed to a 200% raise. Their salaries had averaged $35 per month.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 2, John Kagwe of Kenya won the 28th New York City Marathon in two hours, 8 minutes and 12 second.
(WSJ, 11/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 7, Pres. Daniel arap Moi signed a package of political and constitutional reforms that make Kenya a multiparty democracy and provide residents greater freedom of speech.
(SFC,11/8/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 10, Pres. Moi dissolved parliament in preparation for general elections. The National Convention Assembly denounced the move as illegal.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 26, The government lifted a ban on the liberal Safina party.
(SFC,11/27/97, p.B6)
1997 Dec 29, General elections were scheduled. The law required the winner to receive 25% of the vote. The elections were extended one day amid widespread delays and confusion at the polls. Two people were killed during a riot near Nairobi.
(SFC,11/13/97, p.B2)(SFC,12/26/97, p.B7)(WSJ, 12/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 31, Projected counts indicated that Moi would win the elections with about 40% of the vote. Former vice-president Mwai Kibaki had about 30%.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)
1997 Dec, In north-eastern Kenya large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep began dying in the Garissa district. A month later people began dying as the Rift Valley Fever infected some 90,000 people. Hundreds died in 5 countries.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.83)
1997 Oscar Kamau Kingara (d.2009 at 37) set up a legal aid organization called the Oscar Foundation to help poor Kenyans fight courts that favored the rich.
(SFC, 3/7/09, p.A2)
1997 Safaricom Ltd. was formed as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. It grew to become the leading mobile network operator in Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone group Plc of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company.
(Econ, 3/30/13, p.75)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safaricom)
1998 Jan 5, Daniel arap Moi was scheduled to be inaugurated as president after the elections gave him 40% or 2,445,801 votes.
(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A12)
1998 Jan 16, The WHO recommended that travelers take precautions against Rift Valley Fever, a mosquito born disease that has killed 300 people.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 28, It was reported that 77 people died in the month in attacks aimed at ethnic Kikuyus, who opposed Pres. Moi’s re-election.
(WSJ, 1/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 5, Pres. Moi imposed a curfew on towns in the Rift Valley where over 100 people have died in ethnic and political violence. Jomo Kenyatta Univ. in Nairobi was closed following a protest against the violence.
(WSJ, 2/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 26, A fire at a school near Mombasa killed 25 teenage girls in their dormitory.
(WSJ, 3/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 20, Moses Tanui of Kenya won the 102nd Boston Marathon in 2 hrs, 7 min . and 43 sec.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 15, Three African nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, announced plans for an economic, political and social union.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 16, Rwanda’s former interior minister Seth Sendashonga (b.1951), a Hutu, was shot dead in Nairobi, Kenya.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Sendashonga)
1998 Jul 8, It was reported that elephant poaching had increased in Kenya.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 23, John Msafari, head of the revenue collection authority, was ordered arrested along with 15 other officials and businessmen on charges of defrauding the government of some $3.9 million.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.D2)
1998 Jul 29, John Harun Mwau, head of the anti-corruption authority, was suspended by Pres. Moi.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D2)
1998 Aug 7, Two powerful bombs exploded at the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The bombings killed 224 people and marked the first large-scale attack by al Qaeda. Twelve Americans were among the dead, and over 4,800 were injured. In Nairobi at least 53 buildings were damaged. The adjacent Ufundi Cooperative House was demolished and the 22-story Cooperative Bank House had all its windows shattered. Haroun Fazil of the Comoros Islands was later the 3rd bombing suspect to be charged in the Kenya bombing. Ali Mohamed, a former US Army sergeant, was involved in the US Embassy bombings. In 2000 he pleaded guilty for his role under the direction of Osama bin Laden. In 2001 Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-‘Owhali (24) of Saudi Arabia, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed (27) of Tanzania, Wadi El-Hage (40) of Texas, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh (36) of Jordan were convicted on 302 counts. In 2007 Walid Muhammad bin Attash told a military tribunal at Guantanamo that he was responsible for organizing the 2000 Cole attack in Yemen as well as the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. In 2014 Adel Abdul Bary, a suspect in the bombings, pleaded guilty to lesser charges of making threats against Americans. Plaintiffs began suing Sudan in 2001 in federal court in Washington for harboring and providing support to al Qaeda. In 2020 the US Supreme Court refused to hear Sudan's bid to avoid paying $3.8 billion in damages to family members of people killed or injured in the bombings.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/7/99)(SFC, 10/21/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A13)(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 3/20/07, p.A3)(SFC, 9/20/14, p.A5)(Reuters, 1/13/20)
1998 Aug 7, Catherine Bwire (25) was one of 25 people blinded by the bombing in Nairobi. She was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter on Oct 27.
(SFC, 11/25/98, p.A16)
1998 Aug 7, In Pakistan Sadik Howaida (34), later named as Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, was detained at the Karachi airport. He reportedly confessed to participating in the bombing in Nairobi. He said that he and 2 coconspirators had left Nairobi and planned to enter Afghanistan a few days before the bombing. He acknowledged that the team was recruited and financed by Osama bin Laden who was ensconced in a fortress-style hideout in Kandahar. Odeh later refused to admit responsibility to American officials.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A17)(SFC, 8/17/98, p.12,17)(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A6)
1998 Aug 8, A group called the Liberation Arm of the Islamic Sanctuaries claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks. Israeli troops began to arrive to assist in rescue efforts.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/10/98, p.A13)
1998 Aug 8, Pres. Clinton in weekly radio address vowed the bombers of 2 US embassies in Africa would be brought to justice, "no matter how long it takes or where it takes us.''
(AP, 8/8/99)
1998 Aug 9, Americans, Kenyans and Tanzanians held church and memorial services to mourn those killed in bombing attacks on two U.S. embassies.
(AP, 8/9/99)
1998 Aug 18, FBI agents, acting on a tip from Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, raided The Hilltop Hotel in Nairobi and confiscated 175 pounds of TNT. The room was reported to have been occupied by 2 Palestinians, a Saudi and an Egyptian from Aug 3 to Aug 7.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 27, Two suspects in the August 7 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya were sent to the United States to face charges. Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to carry out the bombing; both were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 8/27/08)
1998 Sep 7, In Kenya the Central Bank took closed the Reliance Bank due to insufficient deposits. Five businessmen and 4 officials were charged with fraud.
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A22)
1998 Sep 17, In Kenya the Central Bank took over the Trust Bank due to insufficient funds, the 2nd closure in 10 days.
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A22)
1998 Sep, Richard Leakey was asked by Pres. Moi to head Kenya’s wildlife services. In Oct. Leakey resigned from parliament to spend full time with the wildlife services.
(SFC, 10/28/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 5, In Kenya teachers went on a nationwide strike over failed pay raises. 7 million students were idled.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 1, John Kagwe of Kenya won the NY Marathon in 2:8:45. Franca Fiacconi of Italy won among the women in 2:25:17.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Kenya’s population at this time was about 28 million.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1999 Jan 19, From Kenya it was reported that Pres. Daniel arap Moi ordered the prohibition of new political parties.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Feb 1, In Nairobi, Kenya students protested for a 3rd day against plans for construction in a virgin forest.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 3, It was reported that Kenyan fisherman were using toxic agricultural chemicals instead of nets to increase their catch and income from $8 to $240. The idea supposedly originated in Uganda. Some fishermen were arrested and beaches were closed.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 16, Turkish commandoes captured Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 24, In Kenya a train enroute to Mombasa derailed at high speed in Tsavo East National Park and at least 32 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A9)
1999 Apr 14, The US pledged $37 million to help the Kenyan victims of the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Nairobi.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.A15)
1999 Apr 19, The 103rd Boston Marathon was won by Joseph Chebet of Kenya in 2h:9m:52s. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the women's category in 2:23:25.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 May 29, It was reported that army worms had destroyed over 247,000 acres in Kenya alone and that Burundi and Rwanda were also infested.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A4)
1999 Jul, An estimated 3,000 members of the 28,000 member Mukurwe-ini Coffee Growers Cooperative took up arms in an effort to split and sell directly to bean millers due to alleged corruption. Farmers were lucky to see 6 cents per pound for beans that sold fort $1.06 to $1.16 per pound on the int'l. market.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.B5)
1999 Sep 23, In Kenya police reported that 23 people in Embu were killed by methanol liquor disguised as whiskey.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 30, In Kenya Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter that warned of civil arrest due to corruption, poverty and other problems. Pres. Moi was blamed for stalling constitutional reform.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.D4)
1999 Oct 2, It was reported that the flamingos of Lake Nakuru had migrated away to other locations. Environmental stress from industrial refuse and other wastes was blamed. Fluctuating salinity was also suspect in that flamingoes feed on the algae spirulina platensis, which blooms in saline waters. It was later reported that tens of thousands of flamingos on Lake Bogoria had died since July due to heavy metals. Flamingo deaths in 2000 were estimated at 600 per day.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A9)(SFC, 3/4/00, p.A8)(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A12)
1999 Oct 22, US Sec. of State Albright visited Kenya and discussed efforts to curb AIDS which was claiming 500 Kenyans a day.
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A11)
1999 Oct 30, In Kenya it was reported that thousands of residents were feared to have been exposed to radiation from a thorium compound used in roadway construction materials in Msambweni
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A8)
1999 Kenya's census found the country's population at 28.7 million, but it did not make public the figures about ethnicity.
(AP, 8/24/09)
1999 The US designated the Somali Bantus in Kenya as persecuted and eligible for resettlement in the US.
(NW, 9/2/02, p.35)
2000 Jan 16, Prince Ernst August of Hannover (b.1954), a great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II, slapped hotel owner Josef Brunlehner on Lamu Island, Kenya, allegedly as a symbolic reproach over noise from a disco. He was pursued in Germany where the law allows prosecutors to charge citizens who commit crimes abroad. August was convicted in 2004 and fined $633,000. In 2010 August was retried on charges of causing serious bodily harm. On march 9, 2010, a German judge sentenced Prince August to pay a fine of euro200,000 ($270,000) after convicting him for the decade-old altercation.
(AP, 1/13/10)(SFC, 1/14/10, p.A2)(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-6780117.html)(AP, 3/9/10)
2000 Jan 24, In Uganda members of the Karamojong tribe attacked and killed 14-100 herders from Kenya's Pokot tribe in the northern Moriat Hills.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A15)
2000 Jan 30, A Kenyan Airbus 310 crashed into the sea after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Kenya Airways Flight 431 carried 179 people. 10 survivors were pulled from the water.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 18, It was reported that some 10,000 cattle, 25,000 camels and 20,000 goats had starved to death over the last 3 months. 2 million people face famine and 20 died in the last 2 weeks in the Wajir district.
(SFC, 3/18/00, p.C16)
2000 Mar 29, In Kenya at least 101 people were killed when a speeding bus collided with another bus in Kericho. The death toll was reduced to 74.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.A18)(SFC, 3/31/00, p.E4)
2000 Apr 17, Elijah Lagat of Kenya won the 104th Boston Marathon. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the women’s race.
(WSJ, 4/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr, Nearly 200 lions were culled from the Aberdare National Park in an effort to protect the bongo antelope population from extinction.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A11)
2000 Jun 17, An ongoing drought was reported to have caused hungry baboons into villages in search of food. A crop failure for the 3rd consecutive year placed 22 million Kenyans on the brink of starvation.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.D8)
2000 Jul 7, The East African Community (EAC), founded in 1967, was resurrected following its collapse in 1977. The regional club included six members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2005 members agreed on a customs union and in 2010 they agreed on a common market.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.51)
2000 Jul 21, It was reported that the drought in Kenya had caused water and electricity rationing in Nairobi and an appeal to the UN for $88 million to feed 3.3 million people. 13 million people in 6 countries around the Horn of Africa were at risk of starvation.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B7)
2000 Aug 20, In Kenya 16 people were killed after 9 runaway train cars carrying liquefied gas derailed and exploded at the Athi River station. 9 of 37 injured died soon after.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A10)(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 24, John Kaiser (67), an American priest of the Society of St. Joseph, was found shot to death near Naivasha, Kenya. Kaiser was critical of the government’s human rights record. In 2007 a Kenyan court ruled that his death was a homicide.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D7)(AP, 8/11/03)(AP, 8/1/07)
2000 Sep 4, It was reported that Tiomin Resources, a Canadian mining firm, planned to build a $150 million strip mine at a 6,000-acre site at Kwale, 39 miles south of Mombasa. Some 5,000 small farmers were to be affected. Tiomin was offering deeded owners $115 an acre and $25 per year for use of the acre. A 20-year production run was planned to start in 2002.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 18, It was reported that Kenya was losing 50,000 ebony trees annually due to the thriving wood-carving industry. An estimated 80,000 carvers used the wood.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 16, Officials reported that 68 people had died over the last 2 days from home-brewed alcohol laced with high-octane fuel and mentholated spirit. The toll was raised to 113 a day later.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D2)(SFC, 11/18/00, p.C16)
2001 Jan 15, In East Africa the presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda formed a regional partnership, reviving one that collapsed in 1978.
(SFC, 1/16/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 6, In Kenya the 1st experimental AIDS vaccine, specifically designed for Africa, was administered.
(SFC, 3/7/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 26, A dorm fire at the Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos killed 58 youths. One of 2 doors was bolted shut and arson was suspected. The toll soon rose to 64 as more students died from burns.
(SFC, 3/27/01, p.F1)(SFC, 3/30/01, p.D4)
2001 Apr 1, A bus rammed a vehicle on a bridge and both plunged into the Sabaki River. At least 35 people were killed.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 16, Lee Bong Ju of South Korea won the men’s Boston Marathon in 2:09:43. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won among the women in 2:23:53.
(WSJ, 4/17/01, p.A1)
2001 May 26, Sec. of State Colin Powell met with Pres. Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and urged to step aside for the 2002 elections.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A12)
2001, Aug 25, It was reported that Eric Wainaina (27), singer, had a hit with his song “Nchi Ya Kitu Kidogo," Kiswahili for “The Country of Something Small," a reference to bribes and corruption.
(SFC, 8/25/01, p.A8)
2001 Nov 4, Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia won the NYC Marathon in record time, 2:07:43. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set a woman’s record of 2:24:21.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 10, In Kenya Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, an al Qaeda operative, was arrested in Mandera near the Somalia border for involvement in the Aug 7, 1998 US Embassy bombing.
(SFC, 12/11/01, p.A13)
2002 Mar 3, In Kenya the Taliban gang (Kikuyu) killed 2 members of the Mungiki gang (Luo). The violence in east Nairobi left at least 20 people dead.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Apr, The government ended an air traffic controllers’ strike by firing them.
(SSFC, 4/21/02, p.C7)
2002 May 8, The parliament approved an Amended Books and Newspapers Act that made it illegal to sell publications that had not been submitted to the government for review.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A20)
2002 Jun, A Masai village donated 14 cows to the US after belatedly hearing of the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A15)
2002 Jul 13, Police in northern Kenya opened fire on protesters outside a U.N. refugee camp, killing three people.
(AP, 7/13/02)
2002 Jul 19, Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse university students protesting in downtown Nairobi in a second day of rioting over the shooting death of a student.
(AP, 7/19/02)
2002 Jul 19, Britain's government said it would pay $7 million in compensation to more than 220 Kenyans who say they are victims of unexploded ammunition left behind by British troops.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Oct 14, In Kenya Pres. Moi anointed Uhurru Kenyatta (41), the son of former 1st Pres. Jomo Kenyatta, as his successor. Tens of thousands gathered to protest his decision.
(SFC, 10/15/02, p.A9)
2002 Oct 24, In Kenya would-be carjackers shot and killed Esterlin Abdi Arush (45), a Somali human rights activist, at the gate of the house where she was staying in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Oct 25, In Kenya Pres. Daniel arap Moi announced the end of his 24-year rule, dissolved parliament and kicked off the campaign for a new elections.
(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A6)
2002 Nov 3, The NYC marathon was won by Rodgers Rop of Kenya in 2:08:06; Joyce Cehpchumba of Kenya won the women’s title in 2:25:55.
(WSJ, 11/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 28, In Kenya 3 suicide bombers attacked an Israeli-owned hotel, killing 13 other people. Gunmen fire two MANPADS at a Boeing jet carrying 271 passengers and crew as it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. Both missiles missed.
(AP, 11/28/02)(SFC, 11/29/02, p.A1)(SFC, 11/30/02, p.A1)(AP, 6/11/13)
2002 Dec 5, Kenya’s Pres. Moi and Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi met at the White House with Pres. Bush to discuss terrorism as well as drought, AIDS and other problems facing Africa.
(AP, 12/6/02)
2002 Dec 27, In Kenya political veteran Mwai Kibaki (71), head of an opposition alliance that promised to fight corruption and revive Kenya's ailing economy, won the elections over Uhuru Kenyatta 62% to 31%. The opposition alliance won 125 of 210 elective seats in the National Assembly, breaking the ruling party's 39-year grip on power. Kibaki promised to curb corruption.
(AP, 12/28/02)(SFC, 12/28/02, p.A11)(AP, 1/2/03)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.65)
2003 Jan 6, In Kenya 12 people were killed when members of the outlawed Mungiki sect attacked minibus operators over control of bus stops in Nakuru, 84 miles northwest of Nairobi. 38 people were soon arrested.
(AP, 1/7/03)
2003 Jan 17, In Kenya FBI informer William Mwaura Munuhe (27) was found dead at his home in the affluent Nairobi suburb of Karen, two days after the US Embassy and Kenyan police tried to trap Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga. Munuhe's body was partially dissolved in acid.
(AP, 1/21/03)(Econ., 5/23/20, p.37)
2003 Jan 24, A plane carrying members of Kenya's new government crashed, killing one minister, two pilots and injuring at least three other members of the government.
(AP, 1/24/03)
2003 Feb 25, In Kenya Pres. Mwai Kibaki ordered the release of 28 death row inmates and commuted the death sentences of another 195 inmates to life in prison, following his campaign pledge to reform Kenya’s prison system.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Mar 3, In Kenya US diplomats opened a new embassy in Nairobi, replacing the one destroyed 4 ½ years ago when terrorists launched attacks.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 May 4, In Kenya floods caused by two weeks of heavy rain have washed out roads and submerged entire villages, killing at least 30 people and forcing thousands from their homes.
(AP, 5/5/03)
2003 May 15, Britain cancelled all flights to and from Kenya following US warnings of a possible terrorist attack.
(SFC, 5/16/03, p.A12)
2003 May 26, Thomas R. Odhiambo (72), the Kenyan scientist who founded an int'l insect research center renowned for giving African farmers low-cost solutions for pest control, died. He founded the African Academy of Sciences in 1985.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 Jun 3, Police in Nairobi, Kenya, said a landlord's thugs had hacked 9 people to death in a campaign to drive out shanty tenants and raise rents.
(WSJ, 6/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 2, A group of 650 Kenyan women won the right to sue the British Ministry of Defense for rapes by British soldiers that took place over a 26 year period beginning in 1977.
(SFC, 7/3/03, p.A14)
2003 Jul 19, In Kenya a twin-engine plane carrying 12 American tourists and two South African crew members en route to a game reserve crashed into Mount Kenya, apparently killing everyone on board.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Kenya a terrorist suspect detonated a hand grenade as he was being arrested near Mombasa's central police station, killing himself and a policeman.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 19, It was reported that women in Kenya had begun rebelling against a traditional "cleansing" ritual whereby new widows were required to sleep with a designated "cleanser" in order to be inherited by male relatives and freed of haunting spirits.
(SFC, 8/19/03, p.A10)
2003 Aug 23, Michael Kijana Wamalwa (58), Kenya's 8th Vice President, died of an undisclosed illness after several months of treatment in a hospital near London.
(AP, 8/23/03)
2003 Aug, Odhiambo Mbai, Kenya political scientist, was assassinated. He was a key man in efforts to redraft the constitution.
(Econ, 10/11/03, p.50)
2003 Sep 15, In Kenya gunmen burst into the home of a senior delegate to a constitutional convention and shot him to death.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Oct 6, Pres. Bush met with Kenya's Pres. Kibaki, who asked for help in stabilizing Somalia.
(WSJ, 10/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct, In Kenya Pres. Kibaki suspended half of the 12-man appeal court and 17 of the high court's 44 judges. 82 or the country's 254 magistrates were also sent home. An official inquiry revealed that some judges had specific charges for favorable verdicts. Replacements were chosen by members of the "Mount Kenya Mafia," a group of ministers and mates from the president's Kikuyu tribe.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.44)
2003 Nov 4, Kenyan-born former physicist M.G. Vassanji was awarded this year's Giller Prize, Canada's most glamorous and lucrative literary award. He took home C$25,000 prize for his novel, "The In-Between World of Vikram Lall."
(AP, 11/5/03)
2003 Nov 11, It was reported that the 1st issue of Kwani (So What) magazine, edited by Binyavanga Wainaina (32), was launched as a quarterly journal of Kenyan creative writing.
(SFC, 11/11/03, p.D9)
2003 Dec 4, In Kisumu, Kenya, Tommy Thompson, US Sec. of Health and Human Services, dedicated a new $6.4 million field laboratory to be operated by the CDC. It was the largest of its kind in Africa. The local TB and malaria rates were among the highest in the world.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.A5)
2003 Kenya launched a free primary school education program. It soon earned praise across the world as more than 1 million children who had never been to school enrolled.
(AP, 1/26/10)
2004 Jan 8, In Kenya a new agreement, between the Ministry of Education and the country's largest and oldest orphanage for HIV-positive children, allowed a group of children infected with the virus that causes AIDS to attend public schools.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Feb 7, In northern Kenya tribal fighting between cattle rustlers and herdsmen killed at least 13 people, including three children.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Feb 19, In Kenya a fire raced through a Nairobi slum, destroying hundreds of ramshackle tin and timber houses and leaving 4,500 families homeless.
(AP, 2/20/04)
2004 Apr 19, In the Boston Marathon Timothy Cherigat of Kenya won for the men at 2:10:37; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won for the women at 2:24:27.
(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr, Pres. Kibaki’s government announced that Kenya would no longer recognize Somali passports.
(Econ, 6/12/04, p.46)
2004 Aug 1, A Kenyan government spokesman said 7 truck drivers taken hostage in Iraq have been released.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ngugi wa Thiongo (b.1938), exiled Kenyan writer, was accosted by assailants during a return trip to Nairobi. His face was burned with cigarettes and his wife was raped.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.70)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngugi_wa_Thiongo)
2004 Sep 28, Kenya said it will push for an international ban on trade in lion trophies and skins, expressing concern that the African lion is "under threat."
(AP, 9/28/04)
2004 Oct 8, Wangari Maathai (64) of Kenya won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. During the 1980s and 1990s, she also campaigned against government oppression and founded Kenya's Green Party in 1987. She was repeatedly arrested and beaten for protesting former President Daniel arap Moi's environmental policies and human rights record. In 1991 Maathai won the Goldman Environmental Prize.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Nov 18, The UN Security Council opened an extraordinary two-day session in Nairobi, the first outside its New York headquarters in 14 years. Sudan topped the agenda. Great Lakes regional foreign ministers approved a pact for greater cross-border cooperation and confidence-building. It was due to be adopted at a summit in Dar es Salaam.
(AP, 11/18/04)(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Rebel officials and the Sudanese government committed themselves to ending the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan before January, signing an agreement at a special meeting of the UN Security Council in Kenya.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged leaders of Africa's blood-soaked Great Lakes region to implement a peace plan that could herald a "new era" for millions of Africans.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 29-Dec 3, Kenya hosted a conference on landmines in Nairobi. An estimated 40 people per day were killed by landmines. 144 countries had signed the 1997 Ottawa treaty banning landmines, but China, Russia, Pakistan, India and the US still refused to sign.
(www.reviewconference.org/)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.46)
2004 Kenyan MPs awarded themselves an average $169,625 a year in salary. The average Kenyan income was $400.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.65)
2005 Jan 1, Kenya was forecast for 3.7% annual GDP growth with a population at 33.3 million and GDP per head at $360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 29, In northern Kenya fighting over the last 2 weeks between the Garre and Murule clans forced 30,000 people to flee and left 30 people dead. Recent fighting between Masai and Kikuyu left 10-30 people dead.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.46)
2005 Feb 7, John Githongo, Kenya president's adviser on corruption, stepped down. The US in response quickly suspended $2.5 million in funding for anti-corruption work. He fled to Oxford Univ. after receiving death threats.
(AP, 2/11/05)(Econ, 1/28/06, p.45)
2005 Apr 18, The Boston Marathon was won by Hailu Negusie of Ethiopia, 2:11:45; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya led the women, 2:25:13.
(WSJ, 4/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 25, In Kenya 24 people were killed after drinking an illegal brew laced with industrial alcohol. By the next day death toll climbed to 49 with 174 people hospitalized.
(AP, 6/26/05)(SFC, 6/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 12, A raid by hundreds of Ethiopian bandits on a remote village in northern Kenya, left at least 45 people dead, including more than two dozen children. Kenyan security forces pursued the bandits, who numbered between 300 and 500, and killed 16 of them.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 13, In Kenya in an apparent revenge attack, men believed to be from the Gabra tribe killed 10 members of the rival Borana tribe as they were being driven to a seminar in Marsabit, 250 miles northeast of Nairobi.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 14, In central Kenya Luigi Locati (b.1928), the bishop of Isiolo diocese, was shot to death in what appeared to be an attempted robbery. Five men shot and killed the Bishop after a row over cash donated to the Isiolo diocese. In 2014 Father Waqo Guyo was named as the mastermind of the plot. He and four others were sentenced to death on Nov 6, 2014.
(AP, 7/15/05)(AFP, 11/6/14)
2005 Jul 20, In Kenya riot police beat demonstrators with truncheons and fired tear gas canisters as protests in Nairobi persisted over proposed constitutional amendments that critics say leave the president with too much power.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 26, John Goldson (69), a prominent British hotelier, was killed in Kenya’s central Rift Valley when he went to investigate a break-in by about seven gunmen at the lodge outside Naivasha, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Nairobi. In 2006 police arrested Ibrahim Abdi Noor, believed to be the leader of the gang that shot and killed Goldson.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2005 Jul, Britain banned Kenya’s minister Chris Murungaru from visiting Britain. No reason was given but allegations of corruption in Kenya were believed to be a major factor.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)
2005 Oct 14, A consortium led by South Africa’s Sheltam Trade Close won the privatization bid for the rail line linking Mombasa, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda. Nicknamed since 1895 as the “lunatic express," it was renamed the Rift Valley Railways.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.68)
2005 Nov 6, Paul Tergat of Kenya won the NYC marathon by a third of a second in the closest finish ever. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia took the women’s race.
(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 11, Police fired on a rally in Mombasa against Kenya's draft constitution, fatally wounding four men. Police broke up the rally because President Mwai Kibaki, who has supported the proposed constitution ahead of a referendum on Nov. 21, was visiting the port city at the time.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 21, Kenya held a referendum on the country’s 1st proper constitution since independence. Voters divided into 2 factions over the referendum: bananas called for a yes vote and oranges said no. Voters rejected the new constitution (57-43%), supported by Pres. Kibaki, the most serious political setback since he was elected nearly 3 years ago.
(AP, 11/22/05)(Econ, 11/26/05, p.58)
2005 Nov, John Githongo, Kenya’s former adviser on corruption, sent a 36-page summary of his investigations to Pres. Kibaki and to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. When neither responded he passed the dossier to a Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation, which began exposing the contents on Jan 22, 2006. In 2015 seven former officials were charged with fraud exposed by Githongo.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.45)(Econ., 3/21/15, p.42)
2005 Dec 9, Kenya swore in a new Cabinet whose difficult formation reflected increasing questions about the president's political strength.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 17, A first group of southern Sudanese refugees began their journey home after two decades of living in a camp in Kenya.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 29, Drought was reported to have triggered extreme food shortages in the East African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting millions of people at risk of famine as the lean dry season approaches.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Kenya’s population grew to some 34 million.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.94)
2006 Jan 1, East African leaders said that millions of people in the region faced hunger because poor rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2005 David Anderson authored “Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire."
(SSFC, 5/8/05, p.B1)
2005 Caroline Elkins authored “Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya."
(SSFC, 5/8/05, p.B1)
2006 Jan 12, In Kenya gunmen shot and killed, Joan Wells Root (69), a well-known British environmentalist and wildlife filmmaker, at her home in the central Rift Valley.
(AFP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 13, A battle for livestock between Ethiopian and Kenyan nomads left 38 people dead in drought-stricken northern Kenya, in the remote village of Lokamarinyang, along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The fighting killed 30 of the Dongiro raiders and eight Kenyans, all of them women and children. A drought that has impoverished some 11.5 million people in the area, most of them nomads, has exacerbated tensions between the tribes.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 23, In Kenya a five-story building collapsed in central Nairobi with more than 280 construction workers inside, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60. The government next day said the owner and contractor of a building were rushing workers to complete the structure before the concrete on lower levels had set.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Feb 1, In Kenya Four suspended senior officials of the City Council of Nairobi were charged with negligence in the Jan 23 collapse of a building in Nairobi that killed at least 17 people and injured more than 100.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 1, In Kenya David Mwiraria resigned as finance minister under allegations of involvement in a multimillion-dollar scandal.
(SFC, 2/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 8, Kenya’s government and the UN said Kenya needs $221.5 million in aid to help feed 3.5 million people threatened by starvation due to drought and avoid a "massive humanitarian catastrophe."
(AP, 2/8/06)
2006 Feb 18, Conservation officials said a searing drought in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania has killed dozens of hippopotamuses and other wild animals, and disrupted the annual migration of wildebeests and zebras between the two East African nations.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 2, In Kenya masked gunmen identifying themselves as police raided the country's oldest newspaper and its sister television station, two days after three journalists were detained for a story about Kenya's president. The closures of The Standard and the Kenya Television Network, ordered by security minister John Michuki, appeared to mark the first time a Kenyan government has shut down the operations of a major media company.
(AP, 3/2/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.52)
2006 Apr 10, A Kenyan military plane carrying politicians to a peace conference crashed while attempting to land in northern Kenya, killing a Cabinet minister, six other politicians and at least seven other people.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 17, In the Boston Marathon was won by Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot in a record time of 2:07:14. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya won among the women in 2:23:38.
(WSJ, 4/18/06, p.A1)(AP, 4/17/07)
2006 Apr 18, In Kenya officials said the Sabaki River, swollen by heavy rains, had overflowed its banks, forcing at least 10,000 people to flee their homes.
(AP, 4/18/06)
2006 Apr 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 May 13, The Kenyan government banned smoking in public places in order to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
(AFP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 18, In Kenya hundreds attended the burial of Robert Wambugu, a black man shot by Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley, one of Kenya's wealthiest landowners. In 2005 Cholmondeley was charged with murder in the shooting a Massai game warden investigating reports of illegal wildlife trading. The charge was dropped for lack of evidence.
(AP, 5/18/06)(AFP, 5/7/09)
2006 May 21, In SF some 62,000 runners participated in the annual Bay to Breakers race. Gilbert Okari (27) of Kenya won in 34 minutes and 20 seconds. Among the women Ukrainian Tetyana Hladyr won in 39:09. Mayor Newsom finished the 7.46 miles in 59:04.
(SFC, 5/22/06, p.A1)
2006 May 24, Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley (38), a descendant of Kenya's first white settlers, was charged with murder in the shooting of Robert Njoya Wambugu (37), who was shot in the back and died en route to a hospital. Cholmondeley’s attorney said the victim unleashed several dogs on Cholmondeley after the man was caught poaching an impala. In 2009 Cholmondeley (40) was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 months in prison. He was released on Oct 23.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/14/09)(AP, 10/23/09)
2006 May 31, Kenya approved legislation that included provisions to punish those found guilty of child prostitution and sex tourism and trafficking. The new law aimed at curbing increasing sex abuse drew protest for failing to criminalize marital rape while penalizing false rape reports.
(AP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 9, In Kenya police commissioner Hussein Ali deported Artur Margariyan and Arthur Sargsian, who claimed to be Armenian brothers, for mercenary activities including organizing police raids on television and newspaper offices.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.54)
2006 Jun 24, Transparency International, a global anti-corruption group, fired Mwalimu Mati, the executive director of its Kenya chapter, accusing him of misusing at least $26,800 through double billing and other financial improprieties.
(AP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jul 6, It was reported that African scholars have launched the continent's first bible commentary which tackles issues like female circumcision, HIV/AIDS and ethnic violence to make the scriptures more relevant for Africans. The African Bible Commentary was launched this week in Kenya and is meant to interpret the bible for Africans by using local proverbs and tradition and by applying Christian teaching to contemporary problems on the poorest continent.
(Reuters, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul, Some 15% of Kenyans attended Pentecostalist churches. Muslims made up about 8% of the population.
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.46)
2006 Aug 11, In north Kenya authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the border. Brigadier General Kemal Gelchu, a dissident Ethiopian general who defected this week to neighboring Eritrea, said that he would be joining the OLF to fight for his Oromo people's rights.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 28, US Sen. Barack Obama urged Kenyans to take control of their country's destiny by opposing corruption and ethnic divisions in government during a policy speech at the main university in his father's homeland.
(AP, 8/28/06)
2006 Aug 31, Kenya stepped up criticism of US Senator Barack Obama, accusing him of insulting the Kenyan people and trivializing their achievements during a visit to his father's homeland. Obama had rebuked Kibaki's government for failing to address corruption and said Kenya's democratic progress "is in jeopardy... being threatened by corruption."
(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Sep, In Kenya farmers in the Machakos region built small dams and water retention ponds on the Ikiwe River with some $70,000 in aid from people in Archbold, Ohio. The Archbold Mennonite Church project was part of Foods Resource Bank, a Michigan-based hunger fighting organization that connects urban churches with rural farm groups.
(WSJ, 4/23/07, p.A1)
2006 Oct 6, The UN refugee agency said the number of Somalis fleeing fighting to seek refuge in Kenya has risen dramatically and could stretch the capacity of aid organizations to critical levels.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 17, Kenya reported its first case of polio in 22 years at a refugee camp near the Somali border as the United Nations appealed for urgent help to cope with a surge in refugees from Somalia.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Kenya thousands of delegates from around the world opened a UN conference on next steps to ward off the worst effects of climate change.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 8, A Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner called on people around the world to plant 1 billion trees in the next year, saying the effort is a way ordinary citizens can fight global warming.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 16, In Kenya the UN conference on climate change ended. The participating 180 countries reached no agreement on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_12/items/3754.php)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.60)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 30, The East African Community (EAC) said Rwanda and Burundi have been accepted as members, expanding the regional economic bloc to five nations. The EAC previously grouped Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which hoped to transform the region into a political federation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Kenya 11 African heads of state attending the 2nd International Conference on the Great Lakes Region signed a landmark $2 billion (1.5-billion-euro) security and development pact to forestall fresh violence in the area.
(AFP, 12/15/06)
2006 In the waters off East Africa unmarked fishing ships carried 23mm anti-aircraft guns and fished illegally impacting the local fishermen of Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania. Fish stocks fell as coral reefs were ripped, and numberless dolphins and turtles were getting snagged.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.43)
2006 Family and friends of San Francisco-based Stefan Lyon (11) traveled to Kakamega, Kenya, to supervise the conversion of a cowshed into classroom. The project was begun by Stefan Lyon with funds raised by selling cookies and selling “My Adventures with Stitch," a book about his pet rat.
(www.stefanlyon.com)(SSFC, 12/7/08, p.B1)
2007 Jan 2, Ethiopian helicopters pursuing Somali Islamists missed their target and bombed a Kenyan border post, prompting Kenyan fighter planes to rush to the area. A gun collection program in Mogadishu began with little response.
(AFP, 1/2/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)
2007 Jan 3, Kenya sent extra troops to its border with Somalia to keep Islamic militants from entering the country after Ethiopian helicopters attacked a Kenyan border post by mistake while pursuing suspected fighters.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 4, Kenya said it has closed its border with Somalia in an apparent effort to keep Islamic militants and refugees from entering the country.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 7, A senior Kenyan health official said about 75 people have died of Rift Valley fever (hemorrhagic fever) during the past three weeks and another 183 are infected with it. The last outbreak of the disease in East Africa was between 1997-1998, when 478 people died in Somalia and Kenya. Currently there was no human vaccine.
(AP, 1/8/07)(WSJ, 1/9/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 16, In Kenya deaths due to Rift Valley fever (hemorrhagic fever) had climbed to at least 95 for the past month.
(AFP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, Alice Lakwena, a Ugandan warrior priestess who led an insurgency in the 1980s, died at a Kenyan refugee camp. She was known as Alice Auma and claimed to have been possessed by a spirit called Lakwena, which gave her spiritual powers to protect her fighters from bullets by anointing them with oil. Her cousin, Joseph Kony, is the messianic leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
(AP, 1/18/07)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.87)
2007 Jan 20, In Nairobi, Kenya, more than 80,000 people from around the globe descended on the massive Kibera shanty-town, home for at least 700,000 of Kenya's poorest, to kick-off the seventh annual World Social Forum.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 20, The last major warlord in Somalia surrendered his weapons and 200 militiamen to the army, while an Islamic leader claimed responsibility for a string of guerrilla attacks and promised there would be more until the government agreed to talks. An Ethiopian military convoy was ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to the war-torn country. Kenya handed over 34 Islamic militiamen to Somalia's transitional government. A Somali government spokesman said that some of them may be senior leaders of the country's Islamic movement.
(AP, 1/20/07)(AFP, 1/20/07)(AP, 1/21/07)
2007 Jan 26, In Kenya a regional director for the aid agency CARE was killed.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Jan 27, Gunmen carjacked a US Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital and killed two women in the car.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Kenya a top Kenyan AIDS researcher was killed and an American woman traveling with him was shot in the face.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Feb 7, The US Embassy issued a travel advisory saying violent crime was on the increase in Kenya.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Mar 23, A human rights group said Kenya has deported more than 100 people from 19 countries to Somalia after they crossed the border between the two countries illegally during fighting earlier this year, and the deportees were subsequently arrested by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Apr 16, Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his 3rd Boston Marathon in 2:14:13. Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva won in 2:29:18.
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.A1)
2007 May 5, A Kenya Airways jet with 114 people on board crashed after sending out a distress signal over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from 23 countries. There were no survivors.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 20, In Kenya 6 men were beheaded over the weekend in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. This came weeks after members of the Mungiki sect fought with the police over control of minibus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers. 7 people were soon arrested in connection with the beheadings.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 31, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya’s police over the last few months have arrested 2,464 suspected followers of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect whose members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson announced a program aimed at saving elephants in Kenya, as he boarded his airline's first flight to the east African nation.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 5, Kenyan police overnight killed more than 20 suspected members of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect, accused in a string of beheadings and the deaths of two police officers in the Mathare slum the previous day.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 7, Gunfights erupted in a Nairobi slum, killing at least 10 people, as police conducted house-to-house searches for members of an outlawed sect accused of terrorizing Kenyans and leaving behind a string of beheaded corpses.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 9, A concrete wall collapsed onto a maze of homes in a Kenyan slum, killing at least 10 people, including three babies.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Kenya an explosion went off outside a hotel in downtown Nairobi during morning rush hour, killing two people, injuring more than 30.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Kenya at least 20 people were killed overnight in and around Nairobi, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gunbattles.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 26, Kenyan police killed two suspected members of a banned sect blamed for a string of recent murders and beheadings in a mounting crackdown.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jul 1, Kenya police said 12 suspected criminals and members of a murderous sect were killed over the last 24 hours, as a fierce crackdown on surging crime intensified.
(AFP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jul, Rwanda and Burundi became members of the East African Community (EAC), which included Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Aug 15, In Kenya hundreds of journalists wearing black gags marched silently through Nairobi to protest a proposed law that would allow courts to compel reporters to reveal their sources.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 28, In Kenya a crash in the Kisii area killed 22 people when the bus they were traveling in rammed a truck head-on.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, In Kisii, Kenya, an oil tanker truck rolled down a hill and smashed into four minibuses, killing 29 people and injuring more than 30. The death toll was expected to rise.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Sep 7, The Kenya Wildlife Service warned in a report that wild animals are vanishing from Nairobi National Park, Kenya's oldest game reserve which borders the airport at Nairobi.
(AFP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 21, The Red Cross warned that a massive aid effort is needed to cope with floods in 18 countries across Africa that have already affected at least 1.5 million people and killed at least 270 in Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and other countries.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Oct 5, Record floods, that have wreaked havoc across Africa, killed at least 20,000 wildebeests making their way to Kenya during their annual “great migration." The animals, also known as gnus, were swept away by a river that broke its banks in southern Kenya's Maasai Mara park. Kenya Wildlife Service on Oct 13 said floods that have wreaked havoc across Africa killed 5,000 wildebeests, and not tens of thousands, blaming tourists for exaggerating the toll.
(AFP, 10/11/07)(AFP, 10/13/07)
2007 Oct 6, In western Kenya Stanley Livindo, a ruling party candidate for parliament, was arrested after his bodyguards allegedly shot and killed a supporter of Kenya's largest opposition party and injured two others. The shootings came as tens of thousands of people rallied in the capital to kick off the presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, who has mounted a serious challenge to President Mwai Kibaki in December general elections.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Nov 7, Kenya’s official human rights commission reported that state security agents had killed 454 people since the summer in and around Nairobi. They were said to be members of the Mungiki sect, a Kikuyu gang that has terrorized central Kenya for years.
(Econ, 11/10/07, p.58)(http://allafrica.com/stories/200711080157.html)
2007 Nov 13, Researchers in Kenya unveiled a 10-million-year-old jaw bone they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. A Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment, dating back to between 9.8 and 9.88 million years, in 2005 along with 11 teeth. The fossils were unearthed in volcanic mud flow deposits in the northern Nakali region of Kenya.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 14, The EU reached an accord with the East African Community (EAC) states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They will enjoy duty free, quota free access to the EU for all products, except sugar and rice, from January 1. Originally established in 1967, the EAC collapsed a decade later amid diverging economic philosophies. It was resurrected in 2000 as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to create an EU-style common market for their 90 million citizens. Rwanda and Burundi became members in July this year.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Dec 7, Officials said swarms of desert locusts have invaded Kenya's arid northeast for the first time since 1962.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 25, Mobs in Kenya's opposition heartland beat up and killed at least 3 policemen accused of taking part in a plan to rig Dec 26 elections in favor of President Mwai Kibaki.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 27, Kenya held elections. President Mwai Kibaki tried to fend off fiery opposition leader Raila Odinga. In Nairobi monitors from the EU saw tens of thousands of votes pinched for Kibaki. In 2009 Philip Alston, a UN investigator, published a report documenting around 500 death-squad executions in the months leading up the elections. Post-election violence eventually left some 1,400 people dead.
(AP, 12/27/07)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.37)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(Econ, 8/19/17, p.42)
2007 Dec 29, Kenya's presidential rivals were neck-and-neck with nearly 90 percent of official results counted as accusations of rigging ignited ethnic violence across the east African nation.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 30, President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the closest presidential election in Kenya's history, a contest marked by allegations of rigging and two days of deadly violence. Kibaki beat Raila Odinga by 231,728 votes. Kivuitu, the electoral commission chairman, acknowledged problems, including a constituency where voter turnout added up to 115 percent and another where a candidate ran away with ballot papers.
(AP, 12/30/07)
2007 Dec 31, Kenyan police battled thousands of opposition supporters enraged over President Mwai Kibaki's allegedly fraudulent re-election, firing tear gas and live ammunition as the death toll from the violence rose to 103.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 In Kenya Pastor Jacob Momposhi Samperu founded the Hope for the Maasai Girls center to rescue girls from circumcision.
(AFP, 10/4/11)
2007 In Kenya police death squads killed some 500 people this year.
(Econ, 7/31/10, p.34)
2007 In 2011 prosecutors at the world war crimes court said Kenya's Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta organized deadly attacks on the opposition after disputed 2007 polls to keep the ruling party's power by "any means necessary." Some 1,400 lives were lost in the politically stoked fighting following the flawed elections.
(AFP, 9/22/11)(Econ, 2/18/17, p.40)(Econ, 8/19/17, p.42)
2007 Kenya’s population climbed to 38 million people, half under age 20, and projections suggested it would reach 57 million by 2025. The official minimum wage stood at about $700 per year, with GDP per head at about $1,500. An MP’s salary was about $60,000, which doubled with allowances. The Kikuyu tribe comprised about 22% of Kenya’s population.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.39)
2007 Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile phone operator, launched M-PESA, a mobile-money scheme. It allowed people to pay bills and even save money, though without interest.
(Econ, 9/26/09, SR p.17)
2007 Uganda began construction of the $860 million Bujagali Dam for hydroelectric power from Lake Victoria water. About 55% of lower water levels on Lake Victoria were attributed dams built by the Ugandan government. This severely impacted farmers and fishermen in adjoining Kenya and Tanzania as well as Uganda.
(SFC, 6/24/08, p.A14)
2008 Jan 1, In Kenya a mob torched a church sheltering hundreds of people fleeing election violence. Up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus were killed in the fire in the Assemblies of God Church in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret. The death toll from ethnic riots triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election soared to nearly 200.
(AP, 1/1/08)(Reuters, 1/1/08)(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, International pressure mounted on Kenya's leaders to end postelection violence that has killed more than 300 people. Vice President Moody Awori told a local television station that the violence has cost the country $31 million a day.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 3, In Kenya riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to beat back crowds heading for a banned rally to protest the disputed election, and the president said he is willing to talk to the opposition once calm has been restored.
(AP, 1/3/08)
2008 Jan 4, Kenya's opposition called for a new presidential election to settle a dispute that has sparked deadly riots from the capital to the coast, but a government spokesman said a new vote could come on only on orders from the highest court. The World Food Program warned that 100,000 people faced starvation in western Kenya.
(AP, 1/4/08)(SFC, 1/5/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 5, Kenya’s government said President Kibaki is ready to form "a government of national unity" to help resolve disputed elections that caused deadly riots. Some 300 people have been killed and the UN said 250,000 made homeless in violent protests and clashes since the vote.
(AP, 1/5/08)
2008 Jan 7, Kenya's opposition leader canceled nationwide protests, saying he wanted to avoid new violence and give mediation a chance to resolve the election dispute that has killed nearly 500 people in political and ethnic bloodletting. The chief US envoy for Africa said the vote count from Kenya's election was rigged, but both parties could have been involved, declining to blame either President Mwai Kibaki or the opposition leader who ran against him.
(AP, 1/7/08)
2008 Jan 8, Kenya's opposition leader rejected talks with the president, describing an invitation to meet as "public relations gimmickry" that would undermine attempts to end the ethnically-charged election standoff that has killed more than 500 people.
(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Jan 9, African Union chief John Kufuor met Kenyan leaders to try to break a political deadlock following disputed presidential polls that sparked widespread violence and left at least 600 dead. Hundreds of Kenyans tried to flee the country's west amid escalating opposition anger after the president named half of a new Cabinet, a line-up packed with his allies.
(AFP, 1/9/08)(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 10, An African Union statement said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is taking over mediation in Kenya's disputed presidential election. Kenya's feuding political leaders agreed to an immediate cessation of violence and any acts that may harm efforts to end the country's post-election crisis,
(AP, 1/10/08)(AFP, 1/10/08)
2008 Jan 12, A leading Kenyan human rights group said some of the worst violence in the country's deadly disputed presidential election was the work of militias paid and directed by politicians. Maina Kiai, chairman of the state-funded human rights body, said that in response to attacks on Kikuyu, government politicians have recruited the Mungiki, a Kikuyu gang blamed for a string of beheadings carried out in Nairobi's slums this year. The EU, US and UN urged Kenya's politicians to agree to a peaceful and democratic end to violence that has killed some 575 people since the disputed December 27 polls. The instability thus far cost the country and estimated $1 billion.
(AP, 1/12/08)(Reuters, 1/12/08)(WSJ, 1/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 15, Kenya’s legislators chose an opposition member as parliament speaker in a close vote, giving a victory to foes of the president as they prepared for mass protest rallies. Grace Kaindi, the police chief of Kisumu, said she had ordered her officers to fire on a rioting crowd, saying she was forced to because police were overwhelmed during protests over disputed elections. Of the 612 deaths government officials have attributed to election violence, 53 were in Kisumu; hospital records show 44 of those were killed by police bullets.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 16, In Kenya police fired tear gas and bullets to disperse thousands of protesters in several cities at the start of three days of opposition rallies that reignited post-election violence. At least one person was fatally shot by police.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 18, In Kenya a weakened opposition said it would turn to economic boycotts and strikes to keep up pressure over the East African nation's disputed election. 12 new deaths raised the toll to at least 22 people killed in three days of protests called by the opposition, all but five blamed on police.
(AP, 1/18/08)(AP, 1/19/08)(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 19, In Kenya 5 people died in ethnic clashes when three ethnic groups, Kalenjin, Kisii and Kikuyu, fought each other with bows and arrows and machetes in villages around the Catholic Kipkelion Monastery in the Rift Valley.
(AP, 1/20/08)
2008 Jan 20, In Kenya renewed ethnic fighting broke out in a Nairobi slum following the deaths of more than 20 people in demonstrations against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki. Several people were beaten and hacked to death with machetes.
(AP, 1/20/08)(AP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 24, In Kenya Pres. Kibaki and Opposition leader Odinga talked for the first time since the election, but the president angered the opposition by insisting after the hour-long meeting, mediated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that his position as head of state was not negotiable.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 25, In Kenya street battles engulfed the western city of Nakuru, tense with ethnic rivalries, leaving bodies in the roadways with gashes in their heads and arrows lodged in their torsos in the latest fighting set off by the disputed presidential election. Overnight, half the town of Total Station was burned down and at least two people were killed.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 26, In Kenya sporadic gunshots rang in Nakuru as those forced from their homes by postelection violence threatened revenge. Police took 16 charred bodies to a mortuary, where onlookers sobbed.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Jan 27, In western Kenya gangs armed with machetes and bows and arrows burned and hacked to death members of a rival tribe, as the death toll from the latest explosion of violence over disputed presidential elections rose to 69.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 28, In Nakuru, Kenya, the provincial capital of the fertile Rift Valley, 64 bodies were counted at the morgue. In Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria, armed mobs of young men torched houses and buses, burning alive anyone inside and blocking blood-spattered roadways.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 29, In Kenya former UN chief Kofi Annan launched formal mediation efforts to end the post-election crisis, where the killing of an opposition legislator stoked bloody protests. Gunmen killed Mugabe Were, an opposition lawmaker in Nairobi, triggering a new flare-up of the ethnic fighting. A gang hefting machetes dragged a doctor from the president's Kikuyu tribe from his clinic "and then cut and cut until his head was off."
(Reuters, 1/29/08)(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 31, In Kenya an opposition lawmaker was gunned down by a police officer in the second fatal shooting of an opposition legislator this week. National police chief Hussein Ali said the police officer, who has been arrested, shot David Too in a dispute over the officer's girlfriend. The opposition said it was an assassination plot. Kenyan police killed four people as mobs set scores of houses and businesses ablaze in a western Kenyan town. In Kisumu police fired tear gas and then live rounds at scores of protesters trying to block the main road. Kofi Annan suspended crisis talks aimed at ending Kenya's political crisis after the lawmaker was shot dead, triggering further clashes. In Ethiopia UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Pres. Kibaki at the African Union summit and warned that the violence in Kenya could spiral out of control unless quick action was taken.
(AP, 1/31/08)(AFP, 1/31/08)(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 1, Kenya's rival sides said they had agreed to take action to end monthlong violence from a disputed presidential election, but the death toll mounted when police fired on mobs setting homes and businesses ablaze in the west of the country. At least 14 people were killed as the death toll rose to over 800 with some 300,000 forced from their homes.
(AP, 2/2/08)(SFC, 2/2/08, p.A5)
2008 Feb 3, The leader of Kenya's opposition called for the African Union to send peacekeepers to help stem violence sparked by the country's disputed presidential election.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 4, Kenya said violence over disputed elections had eased enough to lift a monthlong ban on live television broadcasts. The fighting has killed over 1,000 people and made 300,000 homeless since the Dec. 27 presidential election. Violence continued as former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said the government and governing party have rejected his choice to lead mediation efforts. At least 7 people were killed overnight in battles between Kisii and Kalenjin communities 155 miles west of the capital.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 7, The US said it was barring 10 leading Kenyan politicians from entering the US, the first time Washington has blamed them for the postelection violence that has brought the African country to the brink of collapse.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 8, Former UN chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating talks between Kenya's political rivals, said they were close to a deal aimed at ending weeks of postelection bloodshed but no power-sharing agreement had been reached yet.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 9, Raila Odinga, Kenya's opposition leader, demanded that Pres. Kibaki resign, a sharp turnaround from his conciliatory tone during talks with the government earlier this week.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 13, Kenya's rival parties sequestered themselves at a luxury lodge in a game park as they attempted to hammer out a peace deal to end weeks of bloodshed.
(AP, 2/13/08)
2008 Feb 14, A UN spokesman said political rivals trying to lead Kenya out of weeks of violence signed an agreement, but no details were released and the talks were to continue next week.
(AP, 2/14/08)
2008 Feb 26, Mediator Kofi Annan suspended the talks to end Kenya's deadly postelection crisis after weeks of negotiations brought little progress.
(AP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 28, Kenya's rival politicians, aided by AU chairman Jakaya Kikwete, signed a power-sharing agreement and shook hands after weeks of bitter negotiations on how to end the country's deadly postelection crisis.
(AP, 2/28/08)(Econ, 3/1/08, p.49)
2008 Mar 3, In western Kenya dozens of people with assault rifles and machetes stormed a village, killing at least 13 people, including six children. Some were burned alive in their homes. National Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the attack in Embakasi village was over land, not the country's disputed Dec. 27 presidential election.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 8, It was reported that Kenya’s wild animal populations has fallen by about 70% in the last 30 years.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.86)
2008 Mar 9, An army operation began in western Kenya pursuing members of a group linked to bloody clashes over land. Up to 30,000 people fled their homes.
(AP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 18, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki signed into law two bills passed by parliament that put in place a power-sharing deal which halted post-election unrest.
(AFP, 3/18/08)
2008 Apr 1, In Kenya police tear gassed about 100 protesters who demonstrated in Nairobi against plans to increase the number of Cabinet posts.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 3, Kenya’s president and opposition leader agreed on a cabinet as part of their power-sharing deal to end violence.
(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 8, Kenya’s opposition party suspended talks with the government and hundreds of backers set fires to protest delays in reaching a power-sharing agreement.
(SFC, 4/9/08, p.A7)
2008 Apr 13, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki named rival Raila Odinga as prime minister, implementing a power-sharing deal after protracted negotiations over the agreement they signed more than a month ago.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, Kenyan police in Nairobi fired bullets and tear gas to clear machete-waving Mungiki gang members who blocked roads and set a police post on fire to protest the killing of an imprisoned gang leader's wife. At least 13 people were killed.
(AP, 4/14/08)(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 May 6, Kenya froze the assets of businessman Felicien Kabuga, the most wanted suspect in Rwanda's genocide, saying it would stop him avoiding capture or helping other fugitives.
(Reuters, 5/6/08)
2008 May 14, In Kenya an international aid worker said officials backed by armed police are forcing some 9,000 Kenyans displaced by postelection violence to leave a refugee camp in Kitale.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 25, A nationwide power outage hit Kenya as a result of a transmission fault from its hydro-electric plants, sparking panic in the east African nation.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 Jun 9, Safaricom Ltd., a Kenya-based mobile-phone operation, made its debut in East Africa’s largest public offering valued at about $800 million. Shares in a 25% stake were offered at 5 Kenyan shillings and closed at 7 shillings. The company enabled customers to transfer money and at this time moved some $1.5 million a day across Kenya.
(WSJ, 6/10/08, p.C1)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.78)
2008 Jul 8, Amos Kimunya, Kenya’s finance minister, was forced to resign following the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel to Libyans, without taking bids and advertising the sale. The hotel had been confiscated from Kamlesh Paul Pattni, a businessman alleged to have paid hundreds of millions to individuals close to former Pres. Daniel arap Moi, for the export of gold and diamonds that did not exist.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.60)
2008 Jul 16, The United States signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 21, An aid agency said Kenyan armed forces are preventing aid workers from helping homeless, hungry families caught between a brutal militia and an army crackdown.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Aug 24, Kenya took home 14 medals from the Beijing Olympics, 5 of them gold.
(Econ, 9/6/08, p.55)
2008 Sep 25, Pirates seized the 530-foot, Ukrainian cargo vessel, MV Faina, with 21 people aboard off eastern Somalia. Russia's navy soon sent a warship to Somalia's coast a day after pirates seized the Ukrainian vessel loaded with 33 tanks, ammunition and 3 Russian crew members. The ITAR-Tass news agency said the military equipment had been sold to Kenya. It was later reported that the arms were destined for southern Sudan and that Kenya’s cooperation would be rewarded in the future with cheap oil. The shipped was released on Feb 5, 2009, following a ransom of $3.2 million.
(AP, 9/26/08)(SFC, 9/27/08, p.A5)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.49)(AP, 2/5/09)
2008 Sep 29, US warships and helicopters surrounded a hijacked cargo ship loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms to keep the weapons from falling "into the wrong hands." The shipment of 33 Russian-designed tanks, rifles and ammunition on the Ukrainian-operated Faina was headed for Sudan, not Kenya as previously claimed by Kenyan officials. Somali pirates demanded a $20 million ransom.
(AP, 9/29/08)(SFC, 9/29/08, p.A12)
2008 Oct 1, Kenyan police arrested Andrew Mwangura, a maritime watchdog official, on suspicion of criminal activity just days after the official gave reporters sensitive information about a hijacked arms freighter off Somalia's coast.
(AP, 10/2/08)
2008 Oct 7, In Kenya Jerome Corsi, who wrote "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," was picked up by police and deported for not having a work permit.
(AP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 16, In Kenya violence re-started between the Murule and Garre in Mandera town triggered by need for space for 920 families displaced by flash floods. A security operation was then set up to intervene following a request by the area members of parliament when the conflict took a cross-border dimension with one clan getting support from Al-Shabaab militants from Somalia. In 2009 Human Rights Watch issued a 51-page report, called "Bring the Gun or You'll Die," saying Kenyan security forces tortured hundreds of civilians and raped at least a dozen women during a three-day operation to disarm militias in the Mandera region.
(www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-7LQ47Q?OpenDocument)(AP, 6/29/09)
2008 Oct 16, The European Commission announced 15 million euros (20 million dollars) of emergency food aid for victims of drought and soaring food prices in five east African countries. The biggest share will go to Ethiopia and Somalia and smaller amounts to Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.
(AFP, 10/16/08)
2008 Nov 5, Africans across the continent sang, danced in the streets and wrapped themselves in US flags to cheer for America's first black president. Kenya will party for two days, after Pres. Kibaki declared a national holiday for Nov 6 in honor of Obama.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 10, Gunmen in northern Kenya seized two Italian Catholic nuns from a church before dawn and took them across the border into a Somali region largely controlled by Islamist insurgents. The nuns were free on February 19, 2009.
(AP, 11/10/08)(AP, 2/19/09)
2008 Nov 17, The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said a ton of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on wildlife crime. Operation Baba also seized cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets, airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 23, Kenyan PM Raila Odinga called for the deployment of African Union peacekeepers to Zimbabwe to bring President Robert Mugabe back into line.
(AFP, 11/23/08)
2008 Dec 2, In Kenya a government anti-corruption watchdog said it is suing seven current and former Kenyan officials for a total of a quarter of a million dollars, saying they obtained the money dishonestly.
(AP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 7, Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga said foreign troops should prepare to intervene in Zimbabwe to end a worsening humanitarian crisis and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be investigated for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 16, Somalia's UN-backed government crumbled further as the president defied parliament and Kenya announced sanctions against him in a strong public rebuke.
(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Bridge International Academies, a for-profit school system, opened its headquarters in Kenya. It was founded by friends Shannon May, Jay Kimmelman and Phil Frei, who met at Harvard University to solve for some of the most intractable problems in education and development.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_International_Academies)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.53)
2009 Jan 2, Kenya's Pres. Mwai Kibaki signed into law a media bill that opponents say threatens the country's hard-fought reputation for having one of Africa's most vigorous press. A controversial part of the bill, which parliament passed last month, allows the government to shut down media outlets by declaring a state of emergency. Kibaki said that part was not included in the bill he signed.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 9, Kenya’s government said 10 million people risked going hungry after harvests failed following a drought.
(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 16, Kenya's president declared the country's food crisis a national disaster and asked international donors to contribute $406 million toward emergency food aid. The US and Britain signed legal agreements with Kenya, essentially extradition treaties, in which Kenya agreed to try suspected pirates.
(AP, 1/16/09)(WSJ, 2/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Jan 28, In Kenya a massive fire swept through a supermarket in downtown Nairobi. 28 shoppers were burned alive.
(AP, 1/30/09)(AP, 2/3/09)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.42)
2009 Jan 31, In Kenya an overturned gasoline tanker exploded as hundreds of people tried to scoop up free fuel. Some 120 people were killed and 200 injured in the inferno. Several witnesses said some police were charging 1,000 Kenya shillings ($13) for 60 liters of fuel, an amount that usually costs about $65, which enraged the crowd.
(AP, 2/1/09)(AP, 2/2/09)(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 24, The Kenya National commission on Human Rights released a video showing a Kenyan policeman, who was later killed, saying he saw other officers execute 58 suspects instead of arresting them.
(SFC, 2/25/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 24, Iran’s Pres. Ahmadinejad arrived in Kenya with a delegation of nearly 100 officials and business people. He soon struck a deal to export 4 million tons of crude oil a year, to open direct flights between Tehran and Nairobi, and to provide scholarships for study in Iran.
(http://tinyurl.com/yewhqnk)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.49)
2009 Feb 25, Kenya announced its first polio infection in 20 years, after a 4-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease along the country's remote border with Sudan.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Mar 5, In Kenya Oscar Kamau Kingara (37) and John Paul Oulu, who investigated extrajudicial killings, were shot at close range night while their car was stuck in traffic near the Univ. of Nairobi. The next day Kenya's top human rights group charged that the slaying was part of a pattern of assassinations of people who made allegations about police death squads.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 6, The EU and Kenya agreed to allow the country to prosecute suspected pirates captured by European forces on the high seas.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 10, In Kenya youths threw stones at police officers and looted stores and cars following a march by about 1,000 university students through the Nairobi to protest the deaths of a fellow student and two activists.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 10, Germany's navy handed over nine suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities and they will be taken to a court to face charges. The nine were arrested March 3 after they attacked the Hamburg-based MV Courier cargo ship.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Apr 6, In Kenya justice minister Martha Karua resigned in protest of Pres. Kibaki’s decision to appoint judges without consulting her.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p.53)
2009 Apr 8, Somali pirates hijacked a US-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard. The 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 21, In central Kenya villagers clashed overnight with an outlawed criminal gang using machetes, axes and clubs, killing about 40 people. Residents near the town of Karatina fought Mungiki members because the gang had been extorting money from them.
(AP, 4/21/09)(Econ, 4/25/09, p.53)
2009 Apr 21, The 114th Boston Marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga for the men and Salina Kosgei of Kenya for the women.
(WSJ, 4/21/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 25, It was reported that Kenya’s government included 94 ministers and deputies, each earning over $15,000 a month.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p53)
2009 Apr 27, In Kenya 2 men pleaded guilty in court to illegally possessing 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms) of elephant tusks in what was believed to be the largest seizure of illegal ivory in recent years. Rangers and police arrested the two, a Kenyan and a Tanzanian, on April 25, when the Kenya Wildlife Service acted on a tip about planned ivory smuggling in Amboseli National Park.
(AP, 4/27/09)
2009 Jun 10, The US Navy handed over 17 suspected Somali pirates to Kenya, taking the total number held in the east African nation to 101.
(AFP, 6/10/09)
2009 Jun 26, The UN refugee agency said that the bloody conflict in Somalia has created the world's largest refugee camp, with 500 hungry and exhausted refugees pouring into a wind-swept camp in neighboring Kenya every day.
(AP, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun, In Kenya three young men and a boy told police that Rev. Renato Kizito Sesana, an Italian priest, had been sexually molesting them for years at a shelter for poor children. No church investigation followed. Kenyan police later said they found no evidence and believed Sesana is innocent. Soon after going to the police, three of the four complainants, including a 17-year-old, withdrew their accusations, saying they had been forced to make them by con men planning to take over church property. But in 2010 the 17-year-old told the AP that he recanted only because he and his mother repeatedly received anonymous text messages threatening them with death. He insisted he really had been abused but did not seek to press charges again because he felt no one would believe him.
(AP, 4/11/10)
2009 Jul 9, An African Union panel said former UN chief Kofi Annan handed the International Criminal Court the names of key suspects in Kenya's post-poll violence which he helped end last year.
(AFP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 14, In Nairobi, Kenya, authorities seized over 660 pounds of illegal ivory and black rhinoceros horn, some of it still bloody, on a Mozambique-to-Asia plane.
(SFC, 7/15/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 21, In southwest Kenya a bus driver swerved at a sharp corner and collided with another bus, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Aug 3, Kenya's Pres. Mwai Kibaki said all prisoners on death row will immediately have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Kenya's 97 prisons were built for a population of about 15,000 but currently have an inmate population of more than 40,000.
(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 5, In Nairobi, Kenya, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Kenya for rampant graft and corruption as she made the case that business and trade across Africa cannot grow without good governance and solid democracy.
(AP, 8/5/09)
2009 Aug 11, In southeastern Kenya assailants armed with arrows, spears and machetes killed Campbell Bridges (72), a Scottish-born geologist, in an apparent dispute over mining rights. In 1968 Bridges became the first to record the discovery of gemstone-quality tsavorite, in Tanzania. Tsavorite, mined in Tanzania and Kenya, is a green variety of garnet that shines even before polishing. On Aug 19 Kenyan police arrested Alfred Makogo Njiruka, the chairman of a small miners association and the suspected mastermind in the killing of Bridges.
(AP, 8/13/09)(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 24, Kenya began its first national census in a decade amid an outcry over one question that asks people to identify their ethnic group, a contentious issue in this East African nation. Kenya’s 2009 census put the population at about 39 million.
(AP, 8/24/09)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.45)
2009 Aug 25, The World Food Program said that 3.8 million Kenyans need emergency food aid because of a prolonged drought, which is even causing electrical blackouts in the capital because there's not enough water for hydroelectric plants.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Sep 8, Kenya replaced its police chief on months after human rights groups complained that some his officers killed and raped during the violent aftermath of the disputed December 2007 elections, but activists said more reforms are needed to restore confidence in a notoriously predatory police force.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Sep 9, Conservationists said poaching and drought-related hunger have killed more than 100 of Kenya's famous elephants in the north of the country so far this year. Around 23,000 elephants live in Kenya but populations can be devastated by poaching within a couple of years. A recent survey in Chad showed its elephant population had declined from 3,800 to just over 600 in the past three years.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, A Kenyan magistrate sentenced Jon Cardon Wagner, an American who founded a popular chain of coffee shops, to 15 years' imprisonment for the statutory rape of three teenage Kenyan girls. Wagner's lawyer Mohammed Nyaoga said his client is the victim of an extortion racket and will appeal. Nairobi Java House began a culture of gourmet coffee drinking nine years ago and now has eight coffee shops in the capital.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Kenya clashes between the Samburu and Pokot tribes killed 24 people and wounded dozens as the country's scorching drought exacerbates tensions over land and water in the arid north.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 16, Kenyan government trucks took 1,500 slum residents to new homes as part of a UN-backed plan to eliminate the shantytowns that house more than half the capital's population.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 29, Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities seized more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of ivory from nearly 100 illegally killed elephants. Specially trained dogs sniffed out a consignment of bloodstained tusks at Kenya's national airport. Another shipment of tusks sent by the same individual had been seized a day earlier at the airport in Ethiopia's capital.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Sep 30, Aaron Ringera, Kenya's anti-corruption chief, resigned after weeks of public protest and a parliamentary vote against his reappointment. Ringera led the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission for five years before President Mwai Kibaki reappointed him in August. The commission had not successfully concluded one case of high-level corruption. Ringera blamed the commission's lack of powers to prosecute.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 16, A top southern Sudanese official said former enemies in north and south Sudan have reached agreement on details for a key referendum on the south’s full independence. Clashes broke out in the remote border region between southern Sudan and north-west Kenya. At least three Kenyan soldiers were reported killed in cross border raids.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Kenya a 3-story building collapsed in Nairobi killing at least 6 people with 14 left missing.
(AP, 10/20/09)(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28 murder charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His Mungiki gang was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Nov 16, It was reported that thousands of people, including children, are being secretly recruited and trained inside Kenya to battle Islamic insurgents in neighboring Somalia. Recruiters, about 2 months ago, started openly operating in Kenyan towns and in nearby huts and tents of the refugee camps.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12 million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the 12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania members of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) signed a common market agreement in Arusha, headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 4, Kenyan health officials said a cholera epidemic was sweeping across the country with 4,700 cases reported in the past month along with 119 deaths.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 7, Kenyan police arrested a suspected weapons smuggler with up to 100,000 bullets and an assortment of guns, a huge cache in a country with stringent gun laws.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 12, In Kenya 12 players of the Eritrean national football squad failed to show up at the airport to return home. They were later reported to have disappeared in Nairobi with the intention of seeking asylum.
(AFP, 12/15/09)
2009 Dec 17, Oxfam said some areas of East Africa had received less than 5% of the normal November rains and that many people are malnourished in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It was the sixth failed rainy season for war-ravaged Somalia and the worst drought there for 20 years. The European Commission announced that it would immediately release an extra $75 million to fund emergency relief for drought-stricken areas of East Africa. It estimated that 16 million people will need aid in the coming months.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, Kenya was said to be steadily losing the democratic gains it has made in recent years as human rights abuses increase and perpetrators aren't held accountable according to the Release Political Prisoners Trust, a human rights watchdog.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 20, Four of the world's last known 8 northern white rhinos landed in Kenya and were transported to a game park. No white rhinos are known to remain in the wild, and the animals transported have produced no offspring after nearly 24 years in a Czech zoo. Officials hoped the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their subspecies. Two northern whites remained behind; two others are in San Diego.
(AP, 12/20/09)
2009 Dec 28, In central Kenya poachers killed an endangered southern white rhino in a privately owned ranch and cut off its horns. Wildlife Service rangers tracked down the suspected poachers and suspected buyers on Dec 3 and caught them with two rhino horns weighing more than 7 kg (16 pounds) and 647,000 Kenyan shillings ($8,500) in cash. 12 suspects, all of them Kenyans, were arrested as other suspects escaped.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 The book “It's Our Turn to Eat," written by the veteran British journalist Michaela Wrong, was published in the UK. It is the story of whistleblower John Githongo's crusade against political corruption in Kenya. It portrays President Mwai Kibaki and his ethnic group, despite pledges to clean up one of the sleaziest bureaucracies in the world, as bent on making themselves rich and keeping power at all costs.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2010 Jan 4, In Kenya US citizen Sharon Brown (39) and her daughter Margaux (1) were trampled to death when a lone elephant charged out of the brush just outside Mount Kenya National Park.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2010 Jan 5, Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric, was stuck in Kenya despite attempts to deport him because other nations are refusing to allow him to transit through their countries. He has called for Americans, Hindus and Jews to be killed. The British government has said he was a key influence on July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay.
(AP, 1/5/10)
2010 Jan 5, In Nairobi, Kenya, public transit was paralyzed after minibus drivers went on a 3-day strike following claims of extortion and corruption by police.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Jan 7, Kenya attempted to deport Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric, to Gambia after several countries, including the United States, denied him a transit visa. Kenya's immigration minister said Gambian authorities have agreed to help el-Faisal find his way home to Jamaica. Attempts to deport el-Faisal failed because he was denied a transit visa when he arrived in Nigeria en route to Gambia, which had agreed to host him. El-Faisal was flown back to Kenya on Jan 10.
(AP, 1/7/10)(AP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 15, In Kenya at least two people were killed during a demonstration in Nairobi by Muslim youth protesting the arrest of a radical Jamaican-born Muslim cleric whose teachings influenced one of the 2005 London transport system bombers.
(AP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 21, In Kenya radical Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal was flown out of the country enroute to Jamaica. El-Faisal once served four years in a British jail for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred by urging followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews.
(AP, 1/21/10)
2010 Jan 26, In Kenya US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said the US has suspended a five-year plan to fund Kenya's education programs following allegations that more than $1 million in funds went missing at the Education Ministry. Britain announced in December it was suspending its funding of the program.
(AP, 1/26/10)
2010 Mar 25, Kenyan police arrested an American of Somali origin who was on a terror watch list as he and two associates attempted to fly to Somalia. American Suleman Essa, Canadian Ahmed Ali Hassan and Kenyan Muhammed Hussein Hash were about to board a plane ferrying aid to Somalia when they were arrested. All 4 were released the next day.
(AP, 3/25/10)(AP, 3/26/10)
2010 Apr 1, Kenya's parliament unanimously passed a draft constitution that is one of several key reforms experts say are needed to avoid a repeat of political violence that shook the country after the disputed 2007 election. This set the stage for Kenya to go to a referendum on the draft charter within 90 days, marking the final steps in a decades-long process to rewrite the constitution.
(AP, 4/2/10)
2010 Apr 1, The International Criminal Court announced that it will investigate members of Kenya's two ruling parties on charges that they instigated violence that killed more than 1,000 people after the disputed 2007 presidential election.
(AP, 4/1/10)
2010 May 19, Kenya signed a new treaty for the equitable sharing of waters of the Nile after four other upstream countries inked the deal last week.
(AFP, 5/19/10)
2010 Jun 6, In Kenya police arrested Philip Onyancha after tracking him down through a mobile phone he was using to send ransom demands to the family of a 9-year-old kidnap victim. Onyancha soon confessed to killing 19 people in three years and told police he was planning to kill 100 people.
(AP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 13, In Kenya 2 grenade blasts ripped through a downtown Nairobi park at dusk as a rally against the country's proposed constitution was concluding. 6 people were killed as the crowd of thousands stampeded out of the park after the second explosion. Those at the rally opposed the draft constitution because it would allow abortions in life-threatening pregnancies and recognize Islamic courts. The draft will be voted on Aug 4.
(AP, 6/14/10)(AP, 6/15/10)(Econ, 6/19/10, p.50)
2010 Jun 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report released saying Somalis seeking safety must first get past abusive Kenyan police trying to take what little they have left. Kenya's police rejected the report.
(Reuters, 6/17/10)
2010 Jun 29, In Kenya doctors drilled a hole in the head of PM Raila Odinga to drain fluids that were putting pressure on his brain.
(AP, 6/30/10)
2010 Jul 2, Kenyans expressed outrage after members of parliament this week recommended giving themselves a $175,000 annual pay package as farmworkers averaged $40 per month.
(SFC, 7/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 17, In Kenya Pastor John Kamau and accomplice Samuel Chege Gitau were arrested with a substance believed to be ammonium nitrate, a detonator and a safety fuse.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Aug 4, Kenyans formed long lines before sunrise across the country to vote on a new constitution that would reduce the powers of the presidency in the nation's first ballot since postelection violence left more than 1,000 dead. 67% of Kenyans backed the new constitution to replace a British colonial-era draft that inflated the powers of the president. The new constitution provided for a wider measure of devolution to 47 new counties.
(AP, 8/4/10)(AP, 8/6/10)(SFC, 8/6/10, p.A3)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.46)
2010 Aug 24, A Kenyan official said wildlife officers have seized two tons of elephant ivory and five rhino horns at the main airport that were to be illegally shipped to Malaysia.
(AP, 8/24/10)
2010 Aug 26, Interpol said police have seized about 10 metric tons of counterfeit medicines and arrested 80 people in a sweep across eastern Africa. Authorities across Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar took part in the bust.
(Reuters, 8/26/10)
2010 Aug 27, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki signed a new constitution into law that institutes a US-style system of checks and balances and has been hailed as the most significant political event since Kenya's independence nearly a half century ago.
(AP, 8/27/10)
2010 Aug 27, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for whom international arrest warrants have been issued over the Darfur conflict, returned home after a trip to Kenya.
(AFP, 8/28/10)
2010 Sep 3, Kenya allowed the International Criminal Court to open an office in the country, a development that comes after Kenya's commitment to the court came into question when the nation hosted Sudan's indicted leader last week.
(AP, 9/3/10)
2010 Sep 6, A Kenyan court convicted and sentenced seven Somali pirates to five years in jail. A court in the Kenyan port town of Mombasa found the Somalis guilty of attacking a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden on March 29 last year.
(AP, 9/7/10)
2010 Sep 15, Uganda police arrested Al-Amin Kimathi of the Kenyan Muslim Human Rights Forum and lawyer Mbugua Mureithi as they arrived to attend the hearing of 34 people charged for allegedly taking part in the July 11 bomb attacks, that targeted large groups gathered to watch the televised World Cup final. Uganda's police said the two were with a wanted al-Shabab militant that police had been trailing for days before the arrests.
(AP, 9/17/10)
2010 Sep 21, The International Criminal Court (ICC) said it will launch cases against as many as six suspected instigators of postelection violence in Kenya that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007-08.
(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Kenya 7 fans died in a stampede while trying to enter a stadium where a football match between two of the country’s most popular teams in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 27, Kenya's foreign minister Moses Wetangula said he is resigning to allow investigations into allegations of a multimillion dollar scandal involving five Kenyan embassies in Africa, Europe and Asia.
(AP, 10/27/10)
2010 Nov 6, In Kenya a police officer in Siakago town went on a shooting rampage, killing 10 people in three different bars. The man was said to be accusing a girl of having infected him with HIV and when he went to look for her he did not find her.
(AP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 8, Three gunmen from Somalia crossed the Kenyan border and killed a community organizer working with Somali refugees.
(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 Nov 9, A judge in Kenya's second-highest court said that the country does not have jurisdiction to try pirates if attacks have taken place outside Kenya's waters, a decision that could harm US and international efforts to have pirates tried in East Africa.
(AP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 16, The United States said it has banned four senior Kenyan government officials and a prominent Kenyan businessman from traveling to the US because they are suspected of being involved in drug trafficking.
(AP, 11/16/10)
2010 Nov 26, Kenya’s Wildlife Service said its agents shot dead 2 suspected poachers shooting at a herd of elephants in a national park.
(SFC, 11/27/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 28, Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga said homosexuals who are found in the midst of sex acts will be arrested. Odinga's spokesman said in a statement later that night that the prime minister was quoted out of context.
(AP, 11/29/10)
2010 Dec 3, In Kenya two attacks in Nairobi killed three police officers. Police asked the US FBI for help and hoped that advanced forensics would determine whether the attacks were linked and if they were carried out by terrorists.
(AP, 12/4/10)
2010 Dec 15, Kenya's police commissioner said authorities will act swiftly and firmly against any outbreaks of violence connected to the announcement of suspects by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo was expected to announce the names of six Kenyan leaders suspected of fanning the flames of violence after the country's December 2007 presidential election. Officials from the UK, Canada, World Bank and UNICEF demanded that the Kenyan government prosecute corrupt officials who stole money earmarked to help send poor children to school.
(AP, 12/15/10)
2010 Kenya’s technology-related services exploded to $360 million, compared to $16 million in 2002. Products were designed for mobile phones rather than computers.
(Economist, 8/25/12, p.52)
2010 The population of Kenya was estimated at over 40 million.
(Econ, 2/20/10, p.46)
2011 Jan 4, Kenya's industrialization minister resigned over a car imports scandal that will see the country's anti-graft agency taking him to court on corruption charges.
(AP, 1/4/11)
2011 Jan 20, In Kenya photos on the front page of Daily Nation, Kenya's largest newspaper, showed shocking images of what appeared to be undercover police shooting three compliant suspects at point-blank range in the middle of the day on a busy Nairobi highway. 3 police officers were suspended and placed under investigation.
(AP, 1/20/11)(SFC, 1/20/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 27, Kenya's government said it is removing the tax on maize and wheat imports in a bid to cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices. PM Raila Odinga told parliament that the government also wants to remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking.
(AP, 4/27/11)
2011 May 6, Kenyan authorities said they have seized the tusks of 58 elephants, totaling one ton of ivory, after sniffer dogs led investigators to containers at the country's main airport that were bound for Nigeria.
(AP, 5/6/11)
2011 May 8, In Kenya four children were killed and one seriously injured after playing with unexploded ordnance they found near a military training ground near the village of Ole Maroroi.
(AP, 5/8/11)
2011 Jun 22, Kenyan activists demanded the arrest of the education minister over revelations that $45 million donated for elementary education was stolen. A government audit last week found that $45 million in education funding had been stolen, far above the $1 million a 2009 audit found had been stolen.
(AP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 24, UNESCO added the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia, Japan's remote Ogasawara Islands and the Kenya Lake System in the Rift Valley province, to its heritage list.
(AFP, 6/24/11)
2011 Jun 27, Kenya's PM Raila Odinga paid more than $37,000 in back taxes to abide by a new constitution that requires lawmakers to pay taxes on their hefty allowances. Kenya's Revenue Authority last week said lawmakers' properties will be auctioned if they don't each pay nearly $21,000 in back taxes.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 28, In Kenya the aid group Save the Children said more than 800 Somali children arrive each day at overcrowded refugee camps in the northeast to escape a devastating drought in their war-ravaged country. They were among nearly 1,300 people who arrive each day at the Dadaab refugee camps.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 30, In Kenya two people were killed and dozens injured after a riot broke out in part of the Dadaab camp, Africa's biggest refugee camp, where thousands of Somali refugees have been arriving weekly in search of food and shelter. The population at Dadaab camp surpassed 370,000 last week and showed no sign of stabilizing.
(AP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 10, The head of the UN refugee agency said that drought-ridden Somalia is the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world. The World Food Program estimated that 10 million people already need humanitarian aid. More than 380,000 refugees had moved into Kenya’s Dabaab refugee camp.
(AP, 7/10/11)
2011 Jul 12, Aid organization CARE said that cases of rape and violence against women and girls fleeing to an overcrowded refugee camp in Kenya have risen sharply this year. CARE said 136 cases had been reported since January in two of three camps in Dadaab in the east of Kenya, compared to 66 in the same period in 2010.
(AFP, 7/13/11)
2011 Jul 13, The United Nations made its first aid delivery to a rebel-held Somalia region after the insurgents lifted a ban on the operations of foreign aid agencies. The worst drought in 60 years affected over 10 million people in northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti.
(AFP, 7/17/11)(Econ, 7/9/11, p.44)
2011 Jul 15, UNICEF said at least 17,584 measles cases, including 114 deaths, have been reported by Ethiopian health officials in the first half of the year. The WHO said says at least 462 cases of measles, including 11 deaths, have been confirmed in recent months among Somali refugee children in the Kenyan refugee complex known as Dadaab.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 20, Kenyan authorities burned five tons of contraband elephant ivory in hopes of raising awareness about rising levels of poaching. Africa had 1.3 million elephants in the 1970s but only 500,000 remained today.
(AP, 7/20/11)
2011 Aug 19, The UN said tens of thousands of people have already died in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It warned that the famine has not peaked and that 12 million people in the area need food aid.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 20, In central Kenya a group of 23 relatives and friends were killed after their minibus lost control, hit the barrier of a bridge and crashed down a rocky slope before landing in a dry river bed 90 miles east of Nairobi.
(AP, 8/21/11)
2011 Sep 6, The chairman of the Kenya National Union of Teachers said 200,000 teachers in public schools have started a strike to protest the diversion of funds meant to hire more teachers and ease classroom overcrowding. The money has gone to the ministry of defense. The government soon said it will make all 18,000 temporary teachers permanent and hire 5,000 extra teachers in January. On Sep 9 union head Wilson Sossion said the union accepts the terms but will formally endorse them on Sep 11.
(AP, 9/6/11)(SFC, 9/7/11, p.A2)(AP, 9/9/11)
2011 Sep 7, Kenya handed two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui a three-rank promotion in the national administration police force in recognition for his stunning weekend victory at the world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea.
(AFP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 7, In Somalia the al-Shabab Islamist militia said they have captured two Kenyan soldiers near the country's shared border.
(AP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 9, In Kenya thieves broke into the offices of a Kenyan investigative magazine, the Nairobi Law Monthly, and stole computers containing information about government corruption.
(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 11, Kenya police said armed men killed a British man and kidnapped his wife from a beach resort in the north near the border with lawless Somalia. Publishing executive David Tebbutt (58) was killed his wife Judith (56) was taken hostage. On Sep 19 Kenyan Ali Babitu Kololo was charged with robbery with violence and kidnapping with intention to murder in the northern coastal town of Lamu. On Sep 21 Issa Sheikh Said was also charged with robbery with violence and kidnapping with intention to murder. On July 29, 2013, Kololo was sentenced to death.
(AP, 9/11/11)(Reuters, 9/19/11)(AP, 9/21/11)(Reuters, 7/30/13)
2011 Sep 12, In Kenya a leaking gasoline pipeline in Nairobi exploded, turning part of a slum into an inferno. At least 95 people were killed and more than 100 hurt.
(AP, 9/12/11)(AFP, 9/13/11)(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 14, Kenya police said two women and 15 men have died since Sep 11 in different bars in Nyahururu town after ingesting a locally brewed alcoholic drink. 9 people were reported arrested in connection with the mass poisoning.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 15, Somalia officials and residents said Kenyan helicopter gunships fired missiles around Elwak region near the Kenyan border. Explosions were also heard around the Islamist controlled Kismayo region in the south of the conflict-torn country.
(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 25, Wangari Maathai (71), Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Prize winner (2004), died. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977.
(AFP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 27, The 6th annual Internet Governance Forum opened in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme this year was “Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation."
(Econ, 10/1/11, p.63)(www.intgovforum.org/cms/)
2011 Oct 1, In Kenya 10 gunmen snatched Marie Dedieu (66), a disabled Frenchwoman, from her home near a luxury resort on Manda island and then fled towards Somalia. Kenyan coastguards attempted to intercept them at sea. Several of the abductors were injured but they managed to enter Somalia.
(AP, 10/1/11)(AFP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 13, Somali Islamist Shebab rebels kidnapped two female Spanish aid workers from Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, the third kidnapping of foreigners in just over a month.
(AFP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 16, Kenyan military forces moved into southern Somalia, a day after top Kenyan defense officials said the country has the right to defend itself after a rash of militant kidnappings of Europeans inside Kenya.
(AP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 16, Kenya police arrested two British men (18), one of Pakistani origin and the other of Somali origin, in the resort town of Lamu on suspicion of trying to join Somali militants. Police said the men would be deported. Mohamed Mohamed Abdallah, of Somali descent, and Iqbal Shahzad, of Pakistani descent were deported to Britain on Oct 26. British authorities arrested them under terrorism laws and then freed them six hours later.
(AP, 10/18/11)(AFP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 17, Somalia's al-Shabab militant group threatened Kenya with suicide attacks, saying Nairobi's skyscrapers would be destroyed and its tourism industry ruined in an ominous warning one day after Kenyan troops poured into Somalia.
(AP, 10/17/11)
2011 Oct 18, In Somalia a suicide car bomb exploded near the Foreign Ministry, killing at least four people even as Somali and Kenyan leaders met and agreed to cooperate on military action against Islamist insurgents. Kenyan operations were limited to the Lower Juba region.
(AP, 10/18/11)(AP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 19, Kenyan jets struck in Somalia in a bid to rid the border area of Islamist rebels blamed for a spate of abductions, including that of a French woman who died in captivity. The foreign ministry in Paris announced the death of Marie Dedieu (66), a wheelchair-bound woman who was snatched from her beach house in the Kenyan resort of Lamu earlier this month and taken to Somalia by her kidnappers. The first attack reportedly saw the death of 73 Shebab. Kenyan deaths included five killed in a helicopter crash.
(AFP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 20, Kenya said it intends to push its troops to Somalia's insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and will stay until there are no Islamist insurgents left.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 20, Kenyan police arrested Imam Hassan Mahat Omar, a Muslim cleric on a UN sanctions list, over his alleged support of an al-Qaida-linked militant group in neighboring Somalia. 9 other people were arrested including 2 doctors who ran a clinic in the predominantly Somali neighborhood of Eastleigh.
(AP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 20, France said that the Somali kidnappers of Marie Dedieu (66), a disabled Frenchwoman who died after being snatched from her home in Kenya, are demanding a ransom for the return of her body.
(AFP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 23, Kenya warplanes targeted the Shebab-held Somali port city of Kismayo as troops advanced on the insurgents. The US warned of an imminent threat of attack on foreigners in Kenya.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 24, In Kenya one person was killed and 29 were wounded in two grenade attacks in Nairobi. Police the next day arrested a suspect with 13 grenades and six guns. On Oct 26 suspect Elgiva Bwire Oliacha (28) said he is a member of the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab. Oliacha had supplied the grenades to Felix Otuko. On Oct 28 Oliacha was sentenced to life in prison. Felix Otuko, suspected of carrying out the two grenade attacks, was killed in a standoff with police on May 18, 2013.
(AP, 10/26/11)(AP, 10/28/11)(AP, 5/19/13)
2011 Oct 24, A French military spokesman said France would soon help supply Kenyan troops fighting al-Qaida-linked militants.
(AP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 24, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged another $100 million in food aid to drought-hit East Africa amid warnings that millions of people face starvation for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 27, Kenyan troops clashed heavily with Shebab fighters in southern Somalia, the latest battle since an unprecedented military incursion 12 days ago, while four people were killed in a rocket attack in northern Kenya.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 29, In Somalia at least 10 people died during an insurgent attack on an African Union base in Mogadishu. Kenya said its troops will stay in southern Somalia until Kenyans feel safe again, raising questions about whether Kenya risks becoming bogged down in an open-ended occupation of its war-ravaged neighbor. The Shebab claimed to have killed 80 Ugandan soldiers in the battle. A Shebab spokesman said American citizen of Somali origin was said to have been one of the two suicide bombers behind the twin attack.
(AP, 10/29/11)(AP, 10/30/11)
2011 Oct 30, A Kenyan raid on a southern Somali town killed at least five civilians, including three children. Kenya insists it hit a Shebab target but witnesses and aid sources said one bomb ploughed into a camp of displaced civilians. The air raid struck a camp hosting 9,000 internally-displaced Somalis in Jilib.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
2011 Oct 31, Kenya and Somalia called for other nations to help in their fight against Islamist insurgents.
(SFC, 11/1/11, p.A3)
2011 Nov 1, Kenya's military said it had reliable information that two aircraft landed in the Somali town of Baidoa with weapons on board intended for al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 2, Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said that military planes would target and attack weapons flown into the Somali town of Baidoa so they cannot be used. A July UN report said illicit flights with weapons or fighters for Somali militants could be originating from Eritrea, Yemen or the United Arab Emirates. The report also said Eritrea gives about $80,000 a month to al-Shabab-linked individuals in Nairobi.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 5, In Kenya attackers threw a grenade at a house inside a compound of the East African Pentecostal Church in Garissa late in the day, killing two people living inside.
(AFP, 11/6/11)
2011 Nov 11, Kenyan military and Somali government forces killed 4 al-Shabab members.
(AP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 12, A Kenyan official said more than 30 Kenya-based members of Somalia's top militant group have accepted a police amnesty and are providing information to help Kenyan police secure the country against threatened suicide attacks by the group. Kenyan and Somali government troops killed nine members of an al-Qaida-linked militant group they were pursuing in Somalia.
(AP, 11/12/11)(AP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 14, A Kenya government statement said PM Raila Odinga asked Israeli President Shimon Peres for assistance in building the capacity of the Kenyan police to deal with attacks by al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 11/14/11)
2011 Nov 16, The presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Somalia said the dual-fronted fight against Islamist al-Shabab militants presents a "historic opportunity" to restore stability in Somalia.
(AP, 11/16/11)
2011 Nov 24, Kenya said its warplanes destroyed two Islamist insurgent bases in neighboring Somalia. Two grenade attacks in the eastern town of Garissa close to the border with Somalia killed three people and injured 27.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 28, A Kenyan judge issued a warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by an international court for genocide, after the government failed to arrest him during a visit last year.
(AFP, 11/28/11)
2011 Dec 3, The Kenyan army said it had lost four troops killed in action against Somalia's Shebab Islamist rebels while 10 had been hospitalized with wounds since it launched its incursion in mid-October.
(AFP, 12/3/11)
2011 Dec 5, Kenya military jets bombed two al-Shabab camps in Somalia, killing an unknown number of militants. 5 al-Shabab fighters on a boat attacked a Kenyan naval vessel. The navy sunk the attacking boat. A roadside bomb exploded in Kenya’s largest refugee camp near the border with Somalia, killing one police officer and wounding three.
(AP, 12/5/11)(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 6, Kenya’s military reported a large battle over the weekend (Dec 3-4) in which it said 11 Somali government soldiers and more than 40 al-Shabab fighters were killed.
(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 7, The Kenyan parliament approved a plan for their troops in southern Somalia to join a 9,000 strong African Union force supporting the weak UN-backed government based in Mogadishu.
(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 7, In Kenya hundreds of doctors from public medical facilities marched through Nairobi to demand a larger stock of drugs in their hospitals, better equipment and better pay.
(AP, 12/7/11)
2011 Dec 8, The World Bank said high food and fuel prices, the Horn of Africa drought and the euro crisis will dampen Kenya's economic growth in 2011, and possibly into 2012.
(AFP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 11, In northern Kenya twin blasts killed one police officer and wounded nine soldiers, in the latest in a string of attacks since Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia two months ago.
(AP, 12/11/11)
2011 Dec 12, In Kenya an explosion wounded six people, including a high-ranking intelligence official, in the northern town of Wajir during celebrations of Kenya's Independence Day.
(AP, 12/12/11)
2011 Dec 19, In Kenya a police officer was killed and two others seriously wounded after a suspected landmine attack on their patrol vehicle in the northern Dadaab refugee camp.
(AFP, 12/19/11)
2011 Dec 20, Kenyan military jets targeted several locations in Hosingow in the Lower Juba region of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border. 11 people, most of them civilians, were reported killed in the raid.
(AFP, 12/21/11)
2011 Dec 22, Kenyan authorities said they have seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container at the main port of Mombasa in one of the largest hauls of tusks in recent years. The items were wrapped in plastic bags in a container which documents said was destined for Dubai.
(AFP, 12/22/11)
2011 Dec 29, Kenyan troops clashed with Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab militants leaving several dead, the latest casualties in weeks of dragging conflict in southern Somalia.
(AFP, 12/30/11)
2011 Dec 31, In Kenya 5 people were killed in a New Year's Eve hand grenade attack and shooting in a bar in the eastern town of Garissa near the border with Somalia. The assailants were described as four men dressed in military uniform.
(AFP, 1/1/12)
2011 Dec, In Kenya founder Anthony Ragui (37) launched www.ipaidabribe.or.ke, a website where people can share their stories on corruption a bribery. He used software from an Indian site, also called ipaidabribe, that has collected information on more than 15,000 bribes since it was put up in 2010.
(AP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 1, In Kenya at least eight people drowned after a boat capsized in rough seas off the Kenyan tourist island of Lamu. More than 20 of the over 80 passengers on board were unaccounted for.
(AFP, 1/2/12)
2012 Jan 4, Kenya's military said its forces killed three militant fighters from al-Shabab in a battle in Somalia. A Kenyan soldier was also killed in the battle.
(AP, 1/4/12)
2012 Jan 5, Wilson Sossion of the Kenya National Union of Teachers said that rioting parents have forcefully closed at least 10 primary schools. They are angry that their children failed national exams that determine if the children get into high school.
(AP, 1/5/12)
2012 Jan 6, Kenyan police seized landmines and homemade explosive devices in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp and site of several attacks and blasts in recent months.
(AFP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 6, In Somalia at least 60 al-Shabab militants were killed in Kenyan airstrikes on Garbaharey town, a base of the al-Qaida-linked group.
(AP, 1/7/12)
2012 Jan 11, In Kenya alleged Somali Islamist gunmen killed six Kenyans including four policemen and abducted three others, in the northeastern region bordering Somalia.
(AFP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 12, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that Kenyan security forces were abusing civilians and Somali refugees in northeastern regions.
(AFP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 13, Kenyan police arrested 29 Ugandans suspected of seeking to join Islamist rebels in Somalia.
(AFP, 1/15/12)
2012 Jan 15, Two Kenyan fighter jets, apparently targeting a southern Somali militant camp, instead killed five children in Jilib according to an insurgent spokesman and residents. A resident said she saw 2 dead al-Shabab fighters being transported after the attack.
(AP, 1/16/12)
2012 Jan 18, Aid agencies said thousands of people, more than half of them children, died needlessly and millions of dollars were wasted because the international community did not respond to early warnings of an impending famine in East Africa. Earlier this week food donated by Cargill, the Minnesota-based producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products, was delivered to communities in need in Kenya. Cargill donated 10,000 metric tons of rice to World Food Program USA. The donation, the largest ever food donation to WFP USA, would feed nearly 1 million people for a month.
(AP, 1/18/12)
2012 Jan 23, The International Criminal Court ruled that two leading presidential hopefuls are among four prominent Kenyans whom should face trial over deadly post-election violence four years ago. The ICC said charges of crimes against humanity had been confirmed against William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the country's founding president. Radio host Joshua arap Sang (36) and Francis Muthaura (65), the head of Kenya's civil service, will also face trial.
(AFP, 1/23/12)
2012 Jan 26, Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta resigned after the International Criminal Court ruled this week he should stand trial for his alleged role in 2007-8 post-election violence. Head of public service Francis Muthaura, one of the most influential men in President Mwai Kibaki's circle, who also had the charges against him confirmed by The Hague-based court, resigned as well. Kenyatta, one of Africa's wealthiest men, and Muthaura, often described as Kibaki's right-hand man, faced five counts including orchestrating murder, rape, forcible transfer and persecution in the aftermath of the December 2007 polls.
(AFP, 1/26/12)
2012 Jan 29, Kenyan police arrested Abdi Rogo Mohammed, a Muslim preacher. They said they found a cache of weapons in his house. He had been previously arrested but acquitted of the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa which killed 15 people.
(AFP, 1/29/12)(AP, 1/30/12)
2012 Feb 3, In Kenya gunmen opened fire in Garissa, killing two people. In western Kenya a truck crashed into a minibus killing 25 people in Kisumu city.
(AP, 2/3/12)(AP, 2/4/12)
2012 Feb 10, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said more than 40,000 people have fled recent clashes between two northern Kenyan tribes over access to water and pasture. The clashes pit two traditional rivals, the Borana and the Gabra, around the town of Moyale on the Ethiopian border.
(AFP, 2/10/12)
2012 Mar 2, Kenya launched the construction of a massive port, railway and refinery near a UNESCO-listed Indian Ocean island in a project it bills as the biggest ever in an African nation. Residents of the coastal island of Lamu had protested against the planned port.
(AP, 3/2/12)(AFP, 3/2/12)
2012 Mar 8, Kenya sacked 25,000 nurses taking part in a strike, creating a potentially devastating shortage. The nurses went on strike on March 1 to protest the government's failure to implement a salary increase agreed last year.
(AFP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 9, In Kenya hundreds of nurses marched through the capital in a demand for better pay, even after the government sacked all 25,000 taking part in the strike.
(AFP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 10, In Kenya a grenade attack blamed on Somali Islamist militia killed six people and wounded 42 at the Machakos bus terminus in Nairobi. 3 more people died of their wounds over the next two days. Four grenades were thrown only yards apart from a car driving past the busy terminal. 4 people were soon arrested.
(AFP, 3/11/12)(AP, 3/12/12)(AFP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 12, Kenya said it will avail 4,660 soldiers to the African Union force in Somalia, where it already has troops fighting the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents.
(AFP, 3/12/12)
2012 Mar 14, In Kenya tens of thousands of nurses agreed to end a two-week strike after talks with PM Raila Odinga, who revoked their mass dismissal during the standoff. It was agreed that all the issues raised by the health workers would be addressed exhaustively.
(AFP, 3/14/12)
2012 Mar 20, Kenya wildlife officials said fires raging across Mount Kenya may have been set by poachers trying to create a diversion from their illegal attacks on animals.
(SFC, 3/21/12, p.A2)
2012 Mar 21, British hostage Judith Tebbutt (57), captured in Kenya on Sep 11, 2011, ago by gunmen who killed her husband, was released in central Somalia and flown out to Nairobi.
(AP, 3/21/12)
2012 Mar 26, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki said oil has been struck in the northwestern Turkana region after exploratory drilling by Anglo-Irish firm Tullow Oil. Commercial viability was yet to be established.
(AFP, 3/26/12)
2012 Mar 31, In Kenya Agnes Wanjiru (21) was last seen by witnesses walking out of a Nanyuki bar accompanied by two British soldiers. Her body was later discovered behind a room where the soldiers had stayed, with missing body parts and a stabbing injury. She left behind a five-month old daughter. As of 2021 no-one was convicted of her murder.
(BBC, 10/26/21)
2012 Apr 4, In Kenya massive boulders crashed onto houses in Mathare, a Nairobi slum, killing at least six people and trapping many underground after a night of heavy rains.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 16, Kenyan priest John Webootsa was awarded a French-German human rights prize for his work in Korogocho slum, one of the most overcrowded slums in Kenya.
(AFP, 4/16/12)
2012 Apr 16, In San Francisco the annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were presented 6 individuals. They included Sofia Gatica of Argentina work on diseases related to agrochemicals; Caroline Canon of Alaska for her village efforts against oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean; Ma Jun of China for his efforts on air and water violations by major manufacturers; Ikal Angelei of Kenya for her efforts to protect Lake Turkana; Evgenia Chirikova of Russia for her efforts to protect the Khimki Forest; and Father Edwin Gariguez of the Philippines for advocating against mining developments on indigenous lands.
(SFC, 4/16/12, p.A10)
2012 Apr 21, Kenyan rangers shot dead five suspected elephant poachers overnight in a firefight at Chepareria in West Pokot County.
(AFP, 4/21/12)
2012 Apr 22, In Kenya 7 people were killed when flash floods hit as they were trekking through Hell's Gate national park.
(AFP, 4/23/12)
2012 Apr 22, Kenya's Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany triumphed in the London Marathon. Claire Squires (30) collapsed and died near the end of her charity run in the race.
(AFP, 4/22/12)(SFC, 4/25/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 24, In Kenya a stone thrown by a rioter killed one protester in the coastal city of Mombasa after police blocked members of an outlawed group from entering a court house. Riot police fired teargas to stop more than 100 members of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) from reaching the court to hear a case in which they are challenging the ban on their group. The MRC has repeatedly claimed that the Mombasa region, predominantly Muslim, is not part of Kenya.
(AFP, 4/24/12)
2012 Apr 29, In Kenya one person died and 15 people were wounded when a grenade was thrown at God's House of Miracles International Church in Nairobi during Sunday service. A church elder said his church may have been targeted by neighbors who claim to own the land on which it is built. On May 15 police charged Ibrahim Kibe Kagwa, a Kenyan, with six counts of causing grievous body harm during the grenade attack.
(AP, 4/29/12)(AP, 5/16/12)
2012 May 15, In Kenya a landmine killed a policeman and seriously wounded two others, when it exploded beneath their vehicle as they escorted aid workers near the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. Attackers fired shots and detonated four grenades outside a nightclub in the coastal town of Mombasa after they were denied entry, killing a security guard and wounding 4 people. One suspect was arrested. Both attacks were blamed on Kenyan recruits of the al-Shabab Somali militant group.
(AFP, 5/15/12)(AP, 5/16/12)
2012 May 22, Sri Lankan authorities seized 1.5 tons of African ivory marked as plastic waste and addressed to a buyer in Dubai. They informed the authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya to take action against the shipper and the consignee.
(AFP, 5/23/12)
2012 May 23, In Kenya Sylvester Opiyo, also known as Musa Osodo, was abducted by armed men after the car he was traveling in with five other people broke down in western Kenya. Police have denied they are holding him. Opiyo, sympathetic to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, was arrested in March after three grenades were thrown at a Nairobi bus stop, killing nine people. He was released without charge.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 28, In Kenya a blast ripped through shops in central Nairobi, killing one person and wounding dozens in what PM Odinga called a "terrorist" attack despite initial police reports of an accidental cause.
(AFP, 5/28/12)(AP, 5/31/12)
2012 May 30, The Somali militant group al-Shabab threatened to bring down skyscrapers in Kenya within two weeks, a warning that followed a bomb attack in Nairobi's city center. Kenya naval forces bombarded the Somali town of Kismayo, a key stronghold of the Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. Ground troops attacked Afmadhow.
(AP, 5/31/12)(SFC, 5/31/12, p.A2)
2012 May, Kenya police said Alexander Monson (28), a British national, has died of a drug overdose while under police custody. Monson had been arrested in the beach resort of Diani for possession of cannabis. In 2018 Kenya's director of public prosecutions ordered the arrest of four police officers for killing Monson. In 2019 a trial of four Kenyan policemen accused of killing Monson opened in a Mombasa court. In 2021 the four police officers were given jail terms of between nine and 15 years but between five and six years were suspended in each case.
(http://tinyurl.com/y84ao5vy)(AP, 6/28/18)(Reuters, 1/22/19)(AP, 11/16/21)
2012 May, In Kenya Magd Najjar, a Swiss national, was arrested. On June 6 he was charged in Nairobi of "engaging in organized criminal activities by being a member of Al Shebab."
(AFP, 6/6/12)
2012 Jun 2, Kenyan troops were officially integrated into the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defense minister signing an agreement at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/2/12)
2012 Jun 10, Kenya's Internal Security Minister George Saitoti (66) was killed with five other people in a helicopter crash near Nairobi.
(AP, 6/10/12)
2012 Jun 19, Double amputee Spencer West completed his ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania. West (31) of Canada, lost the use of both legs at the age of five. West and his two best friends, David Johnson and Alex Meers made the ascent to raise money for Free the Children, an organization that supplies drinking water to hundreds of people in Kenya.
(AFP, 6/23/12)
2012 Jun 20, In Kenya 6 lions were speared to death overnight on the outskirts of Nairobi after they strayed from the city's national park and killed four goats. Kenya has been losing 100 lions a year for the best part of the past decade, leaving the country with just 2,000 of its famous big cats. On June 22 an official said Maasai warriors who speared to death the six lions will be arrested for killing wildlife.
(AFP, 6/20/12)(AP, 6/22/12)
2012 Jun 19, Kenyan police officers arrested two Iranians suspected of being involved in terrorism. Officials later said the men, who led authorities to a cache of explosives after their arrest, planned to attack Israeli, US, British or Saudi targets inside Kenya.
(AP, 6/22/12)(AFP, 7/3/12)
2012 Jun 24, In Kenya a grenade and gunfire attack on a bar outside the coastal city of Mombasa left at least 3 people dead and some 25 wounded.
(AP, 6/25/12)
2012 Jun 28, In Kenya demonstrators in Nairobi left 49 mock coffins at the gates of parliament to bury 49 years of impunity, charging political rulers with corruption and calling for change ahead of elections due next year. Kenya has been mired in multiple corruption scandals since independence in 1963, but high level suspects have seldom faced justice.
(AFP, 6/28/12)
2012 Jun 29, In Kenya gunmen killed at least one person and kidnapped 4 aid workers in the Dadaab refugee camp complex near the border with war-torn Somalia. The 4 aid workers were released safely in southern Somalia after a short overnight gunfight on July 2.
(AFP, 6/29/12)(AFP, 7/2/12)
2012 Jul 1, In Kenya gunmen killed 17 people and wounded dozens in gun and grenade attacks on two churches in the town of Garissa near the border with Somalia.
(AFP, 7/1/12)
2012 Jul 4, Three Kenyan musicians were charged for inciting ethnic violence through their songs, under laws set up following deadly post-poll violence four years ago.
(AFP, 7/4/12)
2012 Jul 13, Thailand customs officials discovered a half ton of ivory hidden in crates aboard a flight from Kenya. One official estimated that the 158 pieces of ivory were from the tusks of around 50 elephants.
(AP, 7/17/12)
2012 Jul 27, In Kenya Olga Fonseca Gimenez (57), the charge d'affaires and acting ambassador of Venezuela, was found dead at her official residence in Nairobi. Police said she was murdered by strangulation. Fonseca arrived in Kenya in July to replace Ambassador Gerardo Carillo-Silva, who had fled the country after three male workers at the ambassador's residence filed a complaint with the police accusing him of sexual harassment. Dwight Sagaray, First Secretary at the embassy, was arrested the next day in connection to the murder.
(AP, 7/27/12)(AFP, 7/30/12)
2012 Aug 3, In Kenya a grenade attack killed one person in a Somali suburb of Nairobi, on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the city.
(AFP, 8/3/12)
2012 Aug 6, Kenyan authorities charged Dwight Sagaray, the first secretary of Venezuela's embassy, with the murder of that country's acting ambassador to Kenya. Police believed the killing was motivated by a battle over embassy leadership. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Sagaray's friend and an alleged co-conspirator, was also charged. Prosecutor Tabitha Ouya said the two suspects strangled Olga Fonseca Gimenez on the night of July 26 to 27.
(AP, 8/6/12)
2012 Aug 12, In Kenya three Russian-made Mi-24 combat helicopters from Uganda went down in a remote mountainous region. One was found a day later, with all seven servicemen on board rescued. 3 soldiers were later confirmed dead in another crash. 8 surviving Ugandan servicemen were found on Aug 14. The helicopters were flying to Somalia to support African Union troops battling Shebab insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda.
(AFP, 8/14/12)(AP, 8/15/12)
2012 Aug 22, In southeast Kenya at least 52 people were killed in clashes over land between pastoral and farming communities. Another 50 were missing. Last week the Orma, a pastoralist community, attacked Pokomo farmers.
(AP, 8/22/12)(AP, 8/23/12)
2012 Aug 23, Kenya's government said it will conduct a countrywide operation to disarm all communities with illegal weapons.
(AP, 8/23/12)
2012 Aug 27, In Kenya deadly riots broke out in Kenya's main port of Mombasa after the assassination of a radical cleric linked to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab militants. Thousands of angry protestors took to the streets after Aboud Rogo Mohammed, who was on US and UN sanction lists for allegedly supporting the Shebab, was shot dead. One civilian was killed in the riots.
(AFP, 8/27/12)(AP, 8/29/12)
2012 Aug 28, In Kenya angry youths threw a grenade at a police truck, killing a prison officer and injuring 16 officers as riots rocked the port city of Mombasa for a 2nd day after the killing of a radical Islamist cleric. Two more officers died of their wounds the next day.
(AFP, 8/28/12)(AP, 8/29/12)
2012 Aug, Yao Ming, former basketball star and a goodwill ambassador to WildAid, a nonprofit dedicated to ending illegal wildlife trading, took a trip to Kenya, where he spent several days interacting with wildlife officials and seeing some of the effects of poaching. Ming accepted to work as an ambassador for elephant conservationists hoping to convice the Chinese public not to buy trinkets from African ivory.
(Econ, 11/3/12, p.48)(http://tinyurl.com/au6uxs5)
2012 Sep 4, The Kenyan Navy said it has shelled Somalia's port town of Kismayo, the remaining significant stronghold of al-Qaida-linked militants, in preparation for the ground forces to capture the town. 7 people believed to be members of the al-Shabab militia group were killed in the shelling that occurred on Sep 1 and Sep 3.
(AP, 9/4/12)
2012 Sep 7, In southeastern Kenya fighting between a community of cattle herders and farmers over land and water killed 12 people in Tana River delta.
(AP, 9/7/12)
2012 Sep 10, In southeast Kenya clashes between farmers and herders escalated with 38 people killed, including nine police officers. The Red Cross suggested the military be deployed to the area.
(AP, 9/10/12)
2012 Sep 11, In Kenya armed raiders killed four people in the southeast despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent further clashes between two tribes that have left more than 100 people dead.
(AP, 9/11/12)
2012 Sep 14, Kenyan police disrupted a major terrorist attack in its final stages of planning, arresting two people with explosive devices and seizing a cache of weapons and ammunition. A manhunt was launched for eight more suspects including would-be bombers and the masterminds behind the planned attack.
(AP, 9/14/12)
2012 Sep 25, Kenya's military said that its bombing of the Somali port city of Kismayo destroyed a warehouse and armory belonging to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which controls the city.
(AP, 9/25/12)
2012 Sep 28, One Somali journalist was shot dead by gunmen. A second journalist, a day earlier, was beheaded and his body dumped in the street. The two attacks brought the number of Somali journalists killed this year to 15. Kenyan troops invaded Kismayo, al-Shabab's last stronghold in Somalia, coming ashore in a predawn assault.
(AP, 9/28/12)
2012 Sep 30, In Kenya an explosive device set off in a Sunday school class killed one child and seriously wounded three. The Somali militant group al-Shabab were suspected behind the attack at an Anglican church in Nairobi.
(AP, 9/30/12)
2012 Oct 5, Britain's High Court ruled that three elderly Kenyans tortured during a rebellion against British colonial rule can proceed with compensation claims against the British government.
(AP, 10/5/12)
2012 Oct 9, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki vetoed a move by the country's parliament to award legislators bonuses of up to $110,000 at the end of their term next year. The legislators last week quietly awarded themselves the bonuses, sparking public outrage. Earlier this year parliament inaugurated a new 350-seat chamber, where each of the seats cost about $3,000.
(AP, 10/10/12)
2012 Oct 15, In Kenya 3 members of the Mombasa Republican Council, a banned secessionist group, were killed when its leader Omar Hamisi Mwamnuadzi was arrested. The group had won a court battle this year to get legal status.
(Econ, 11/3/12, p.48)
2012 Oct 17, In Kenya a terror suspect threw a grenade at officers, wounding four of them in the Mombasa area. Three suspects were killed in the clash.
(AP, 10/17/12)
2012 Oct 20, Hong Kong officials said customs officers have confiscated 4 tons of ivory valued at $3.4 million in containers shipped from Tanzania and Kenya.
(SSFC, 10/21/12, p.A4)
2012 Oct 31, A top a top Kenyan official said more than 2,700 African Union troops from Uganda have died in Somalia. About three dozen Kenyan forces have died there over the last year.
(AP, 10/31/12)
2012 Nov 2, In Kenya a separatist leader said the Mombasa Republican Council will not allow the coast to take part in general elections in March if their succession demands are not met.
(AP, 11/2/12)
2012 Nov 10, In northwestern Kenya at least 34 police officers were killed when they were ambushed while pursuing men who had stolen cattle. 7 officers remained missing.
(AP, 11/12/12)(SFC, 11/13/12, p.A3)
2012 Nov 18, In Kenya an explosion on a bus in Nairobi killed 7 people and wounded 29. A UN Security official at the scene of the explosion said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device.
(AP, 11/18/12)(AP, 11/19/12)
2012 Nov 19, Police in Kenya fired bullets into the air and tear gas into the streets to stop two groups from clashing. 3 Kenyan soldiers were killed.
(AP, 11/19/12)(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 20, In northern Kenya 13 people were shot and one woman died as hundreds of shops burned to the ground amid rising Somali-Kenyan tensions.
(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 27, The Open Society Justice Initiative said four suspects in the Jul 11, 2010, bombings in Uganda claimed men who identified themselves as US FBI agents beat them up during questioning. Human rights groups have said Kenya and Tanzania circumvented their extradition laws to illegally deport suspects to Uganda where they could be interrogated at length by local and foreign agents without scrutiny.
(AP, 11/27/12)
2012 Dec 2, In Kenya Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister William Ruto announced an alliance to run for the presidential and vice presidential seats in the country's March election. They both faced crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal court. Kenyatta faced charges of committing murder, forcible deportation, persecution and rape against supporters of the prime minister after the 2007 election. Ruto has been charged with the murder, forcible deportation and persecution of supporters of the president's party.
(AP, 12/2/12)
2012 Dec 5, Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy said that two male black rhinos and two female black rhinos were killed over the weekend. The four deaths brought Lewa's rhino population to 71. Kenya had about 600 rhinos in total.
(AP, 12/5/12)
2012 Dec 7, In Kenya a grenade thrown at worshippers leaving a mosque in a Somali neighborhood of Nairobi killed 3 people and wounded 15.
(SFC, 12/8/12, p.A2)
2012 Dec 13, A Kenyan official said an intelligence message intercepted from an al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group shows that the rebels are being offered up to $8,000 as a reward for killing Kenyan security officers.
(AP, 12/13/12)
2012 Dec 14, Kenya’s government decided that all refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia must return to the large refugee camp complex known as Dadaab, a seemingly endless expanse of refugee housing on the sands of Kenya close to the Somali border. More than 400,000 refugees live in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world.
(AP, 12/14/12)
2012 Dec 21, In southeastern Kenya at least 39 people were killed when farmers raided a village of herders. The Pokomo tribe of farmers raided a village of the semi-nomadic Orma herding community at dawn in the Tana River Delta. 13 children, 6 women, 11 men and 9 attackers were killed.
(AP, 12/21/12)
2012 Anthony Sinclair authored “Serengeti Story: Life and Science in the World’s Greatest Wildlife Region."
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.88)
2013 Jan 4, Hong Kong customs officials said they have intercepted a container with 779 elephant tusks weighing 2,900 pounds from Kenya.
(SFC, 1/5/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 5, In Kenya a poaching gang used gunfire to kill an entire family of 11 elephants in Tsavo National Park for their ivory tusks.
(AP, 1/8/13)
2013 Jan 8, Kenya’s The National Police Service Commission suspended three senior police officers from the Rift Valley province where Joshua Waiganjo (34) operated as a fake officer extorting money from civilians. Commission Chairman Johnston Kavuludi said Waiganjo's case has prompted a detailed audit of all police to weed out "ghost" officers.
(AP, 1/9/13)
2013 Jan 9, Legislators in Kenya voted themselves a hefty pay package in a late-evening vote on the last day of session before national elections. The bill also would give Kenya's president, vice president and prime minister hefty retirement packages, in a move that could tempt President Mwai Kibaki not to veto the legislation.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 9, In eastern Kenya 7 people were killed in tribal violence near the Tana River after more than 100 people launched an attack on a local village.
(AP, 1/9/13)
2013 Jan 10, A Kenyan community retaliated with their own tribal assault, killing 10 people and furthering a tribal feud that threatens to explode as March elections approach.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 12, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki vetoed legislation in which members of parliament gave themselves a hefty send-off package in a late-evening vote on the last day of session before national elections. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission said it was unconstitutional for legislators to set their own pay under the constitution the country adopted in 2010.
(AP, 1/12/13)
2013 Jan 12, The Kenya Red Cross said at least 200 people have been killed in violence in the southeast since August in fighting that could be related to political tensions ahead of March elections.
(AP, 1/12/13)
2013 Jan 15, Kenyan custom officials in Mombasa seized 638 pieces of illegal elephant ivory estimated to be worth $1.2 million. The ivory was in a container destined for Indonesia. The tusks were said to be from Tanzania.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 16, In Kenya hundreds of demonstrators angered at the conduct of outgoing Kenyan legislators doused 221 coffins with gasoline and set them on fire, causing an inferno outside parliament's main entrance.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 16, A Kenyan official said gunmen suspected to belong to Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebels have shot dead five people and seriously wounded three others at a restaurant in Garissa town.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 25, Twitter suspended the account used by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group two days after al-Shabab used the platform to announce a death threat against Kenyan hostages unless Kenya's government meets its demands.
(AP, 1/25/13)
2013 Feb 11, Millions of Kenyans watched and listened to the nation's first-ever presidential debate. The two front-running candidates, Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta and PM Raila Odinga. traded barbs over the looming trial of Kenyatta in the International Criminal Court.
(AP, 2/12/13)
2013 Feb 13, In Kenya the families of seven people shot dead in 2007 and eight wounded survivors filed a lawsuit to sue the government claiming the shots were fired by police during a dispute over who won Kenya's 2007 presidential election.
(AP, 2/15/13)
2013 Feb 15, In Somalia Al-Qaeda-linked militants claimed that they have executed a Kenyan soldier after the Nairobi government failed to meet their demands.
(AP, 2/15/13)
2013 Feb 16, In Kenya a suspected militant died while planting an improvised explosive device in Garissa at a venue where one of the country's presidential contenders was going to hold a campaign rally.
(AP, 2/21/13)
2013 Feb 21, In eastern Kenya gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles opened fire at a mosque, killing 7 people in the remote and tiny village of Maayleey.
(AP, 2/21/13)
2013 Feb 27, Kenya police said 32 people have died after the bus they were travelling in rolled in the Tulimani area.
(AP, 2/27/13)
2013 Mar 4, Kenyans waited in long lines to vote in the nation's presidential election. A secessionist group in Mombasa and nearby Kilifi launched multiple attacks which killed 19 people. 47 county governments and the Senate were established following the General Election as part of the implementation of devolution.
(AP, 3/4/13)(https://softkenya.com/kenya/devolved-government/)
2013 Mar 5, In Kenya the electronic transmission system meant to collate voting results broke down a day after the elections.
(Econ, 3/9/13, p.44)
2013 Mar 8, In Kenya the latest vote tally by the election commission showed Uhuru Kenyatta with 50.5 percent of the vote. The Kenyatta family reportedly owned half a million acres, according to the Kenya Land Alliance pressure group, along with interests in banking, property, hotels, an airline and a TV network.
(AP, 3/8/13)(Econ, 3/16/13, p.50)
2013 Mar 9, Kenya's election commission named Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of the country's presidential election with 50.07%. Opponent, PM Raila Odinga, refused defeat and alleged multiple failures in the vote saying Kenya's democracy was on trial.
(AP, 3/9/13)(SSFC, 3/10/13, p.A5)
2013 Mar 11, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) dropped charges of crimes against humanity against Francis Muthaura, Kenya’s former public service chief, after a key witness recanted.
(SFC, 3/12/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 16, Police in Kenya lobbed tear gas on crowds supporting the PM Raila Odinga as he filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to void the presidential election, a vote Odinga says was neither free nor fair.
(AP, 3/16/13)
2013 Mar 25, Kenya’s Supreme Court ordered the election commission to recount votes in 22 of the country's 291 constituencies to see if any of the tallies exceed the number of registered voters.
(AP, 3/25/13)
2013 Mar 30, Kenya's Supreme Court upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president. Protests led to clashes leaving 5 people dead.
(AP, 3/30/13)(SFC, 4/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Apr 9, Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the Kenya's 4th president in a stadium filled with tens of thousands and a dozen African leaders.
(AP, 4/9/13)
2013 Apr 18, In Kenya a masked gunman believed to be a member of an al-Qaida-linked Somalia militant group stormed a hotel near the border with Somalia and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing nine people.
(AP, 4/19/13)
2013 May 2, A Kenyan court found 2 Iranian nationals guilty of terror-related charges. Officials accused them of planning to attack Western targets inside Kenya. Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested in June 2012 and led officials to a 15-kg (33-pound) stash of the explosive RDX. On May 6 the two men were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 5/2/13)(AP, 5/6/13)
2013 May 13, Kenya police searched for 40 mentally ill patients who escaped from Mathari Mental Hospital, the country's only public psychiatric facility. The escapees had earlier complained that the drugs they were being given are ineffective.
(AP, 5/13/13)
2013 May 18, Kenya police shot dead a couple suspected to be terrorists after they threw four grenades, wounding five officers. The man killed was Kenyan national Felix Otuko, who was suspected of carrying out two grenade attacks on October 24, 2011.
(AP, 5/19/13)
2013 May 21, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report whose findings showed that his father, the country's first president, presided over a government responsible for numerous human rights violations, including political assassinations and illegal allocation of land. The report also finds that two former presidents, Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, who succeeded the late Jomo Kenyatta, presided over governments responsible for massacres, economic crimes and large-scale corruption, among other violations.
(AP, 5/22/13)
2013 May 25, In Kenya gunmen believed to be Somali militants killed six people in a late night attack on police posts near the border with Somalia. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility in Twitter updates.
(AP, 5/26/13)
2013 May 26, Kenya’s anti-terrorism police killed Khalid Ahmed, a wanted terrorist, and recovered a cache of weapons in the port city of Mombasa. The Somali national had sneaked into Kenya from Somalia where he had undergone paramilitary training.
(AP, 5/26/13)
2013 May 28, Kenya MPs unanimously voted to remove a directive reducing their salaries and then many walked out following the vote, even though there were other important reports and motions to be discussed.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 29, Human Rights Watch in a report released saying Kenya police had arrested more than 1,000 asylum seekers between mid-November and late January and accused Kenyan policemen of raping, beating, and extorting money from refugees of Somali origin.
(AP, 5/29/13)
2013 May 31, A UN official said more than 23,500 people have fled fighting in South Sudan's Jonglei state and sought refuge in neighboring countries of Uganda (2.5k), Kenya (5k) and Ethiopia (16k).
(AP, 6/1/13)
2013 Jun 6, Britain expressed regret about the abuse of Kenyans by colonial forces during the Mau Mau insurgency in the 1950s and announced a compensation package for more than 5,200 survivors worth a total of 20 million pounds.
(AP, 6/6/13)
2013 Jun 17, In Kenya police in Mombasa killed Kassim Omolo Otieno and Salim Mohammed Nero for suspected links with terrorists. Family and witnesses later said the suspects were arrested without a fight. One was handcuffed, one begged for his life and both were executed.
(AP, 6/26/13)
2013 Jun 28, Kenya's High Court ordered Deputy President William Ruto to surrender a 100-acre farm in the lush Rift Valley and pay compensation to a farmer who had accused the politician of grabbing the land during election violence five years ago.
(Reuters, 6/28/13)
2013 Jun 30, Somalia's government called for a neutral force in the disputed port city of Kismayo, accusing Kenyan troops there of backing one militia against others in ongoing fighting for control of the strategic southern city.
(AP, 7/1/13)
2013 Jul 11, In Kenya Joshua Walde, a US information management officer at the Nairobi embassy, rammed into a full mini-bus, killing a father of three whose widow is six months pregnant. Embassy officials rushed Walde and his family out of Kenya the next day leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance to pay for a funeral and for hospital bills for the eight or so others who were seriously injured.
(AP, 8/2/13)
2013 Jul 24, Kenyan police said they have discovered a large quantity of explosives packed in boxes on a bus in the capital Nairobi that was headed to a town in the coastal region.
(Reuters, 7/24/13)
2013 Jul 24, The EU said it will give Kenya 40 billion shillings ($458.45 million) between 2014 and 2020, for use in agriculture and other sectors, extending an aid program to the African country.
(Reuters, 7/24/13)
2013 Jul 25, In central Kenya a small plane went missing. On July 27 three Swiss nationals were found dead along with the wreckage of their plane on Aberdares mountain.
(AP, 7/27/13)
2013 Jul 30, A Kenyan court in Mombasa sentenced nine Somalis to five years in prison each for attempting to hijack the German merchant vessel MV Courier in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009.
(Reuters, 7/30/13)
2013 Jul 31, A Kenyan court awarded compensation to 11 victims of the largest illegal deportation of terrorism suspects in Africa to countries with appalling human rights records. Their 2007 deportation from Kenya to Somalia and finally Ethiopia was ruled unlawful and unconstitutional.
(AP, 8/1/13)
2013 Aug 4, African leaders meeting in Uganda said the Somali city of Kismayo "should be handed over" to the central government, a decision that puts pressure on Kenyan troops who face charges of backing a powerful militia in the disputed port city.
(AP, 8/4/13)
2013 Aug 7, A fire engulfed Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, forcing the indefinite suspension of international passenger flights and choking a vital travel gateway to east Africa. First responders looted electronics, a bank and an ATM during and after the blaze.
(Reuters, 8/7/13)(AP, 8/8/13)
2013 Aug 11, In Kenya a white rhino was found shot and killed by poachers who cut off its horn in Nairobi National Park, the first poaching death of a rhino in the urban park in six years. The killing brings to 35 the number of rhinos killed in Kenya so far this year, a sharp rise from the 29 killed in total in 2012.
(AP, 8/13/13)
2013 Aug 16, In Kenya some 40 armed extremist, believed to be from Somalia's Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, killed at least 4 police in an attack on a police post near the Somalia border.
(AP, 8/17/13)
2013 Aug 29, In Kenya a hacked corpse was left outside the headquarters of the National Police Service Commission in the center of Nairobi. A box containing a head and 2 hands, apparently hacked from the same corpse, was sent to Kenya's police commission chief, viewed as a grim warning against his efforts to reform the force.
(AFP, 8/30/13)
2013 Aug 29, In Kenya the driver of a bus traveling on a dark, country road lost control of the vehicle and it plunged into a valley, shearing the roof off as it rolled and killing at least 41 people.
(AP, 8/29/13)
2013 Sep 5, Kenya’s parliament voted to pull out of the Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC), after legislators staged what amounted to a parliamentary revolt against the trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto, scheduled to start next week.
(AP, 9/6/13)
2013 Sep 21, In Kenya gunmen threw grenades and opened fire killing dozens of people with at least 175 wounded in an attack targeting non-Muslims at the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi that was hosting a children's day event. In 2020 two men were sentenced to 18 and 33 years in jail after they were convicted of helping Islamist militants attack the shopping mall.
(AP, 9/21/13)(AP, 9/22/13)(AFP, 9/23/13)(BBC, 10/30/20)
2013 Sep 22, Kenyan military forces engaged in sporadic gun battles with the Islamic extremists holding an unknown number of hostages inside an upscale Nairobi mall.
(AP, 9/22/13)
2013 Sep 23, In Kenya thick smoke poured from the besieged Westgate shopping center in Nairobi where officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages. 2 terrorists were reported killed. Four huge explosions from military rocket propelled grenades rocked the mall and officials later said this was the likely time that three floors collapsed. Soldiers plundered the Westgate center while searching for attackers.
(Reuters, 9/23/13)(AP, 9/27/13)(Econ, 5/10/14, p.47)
2013 Sep 23, The International Criminal Court briefly excused Kenyan Vice President William Ruto from his crimes against humanity trial so he can deal with the bloody Nairobi shopping mall siege.
(AFP, 9/23/13)
2013 Sep 24, Kenyan officials said 3 soldiers have died and 8 others have been injured in a fight with militants who attacked The Westgate mall in Nairobi. Fighting there continued for a 4th day with at least 62 people killed.
(AP, 9/24/13)
2013 Sep 25, In Kenya bomb disposal experts and investigators searched through the wreckage of the Westgate shopping mall after a four-day attack by Islamist militants that killed at least 67 people with 39 missing. Militants attacked a police patrol in Wajor leaving one bystander dead.
(Reuters, 9/25/13)(SFC, 9/27/13, p.A2)(SFC, 10/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 26, In Kenya al-Shabab fighters attacked the border town of Mandera, killing two police officers, injuring three others and destroying 11 vehicles.
(AP, 9/26/13)
2013 Sep 26, Interpol issued an arrest notice on behalf of Kenyan authorities for Samantha Lewthwaite (29), a Muslim convert and fugitive Briton whom news media have dubbed the "white widow." Her first husband was one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on the London transit system that killed 52 commuters. She was wanted by Kenyan authorities over alleged involvement in a plot to bomb holiday resorts.
(AP, 9/26/13)
2013 Oct 2, The International Criminal Court said it has issued an arrest warrant for Walter Barasa, a Kenyan journalist in Deputy President William Ruto’s political stronghold of Eldoret, for trying to bribe witnesses to withdraw testimony against Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/2/13)
2013 Oct 3, In Kenya Sheikh Ibrahim Omar was shot dead in Mombasa. He preached at a mosque that has in the past been linked to the Somali al Shabaab Islamists who claimed responsibility for the shopping center attack.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 4, In Kenya young Muslims set fire to a church, burned tires and clashed with police in the main port city of Mombasa, after the killing of an Islamic cleric his followers blamed on security forces.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 8, Kenyan customs officers seized 2 tons of elephant ivory in a shipments bound for Turkey. This followed a similar seizure on Oct 4.
(AFP, 10/9/13)
2013 Oct 10, Kenyans demanded justice after three men accused of brutally gang raping a school girl (16) and dumping her in a pit latrine were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 10/10/13)
2013 Oct 12, In Ethiopia foreign ministers of the 54-member African Union agreed that sitting heads of state should not be tried by the International Criminal Court where Kenya's leaders are in the dock. They also called for deferring the cases of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/12/13)
2013 Oct 16, Kenya wildlife officials said they will place microchips in the horn of every rhino in the country in a bid to stamp out a surge in poaching the threatened animals.
(AFP, 10/16/13)
2013 Oct 18, Kenya officials identified Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow (b.1990), a Norwegian-Somali, as one of the four attackers of the Westgate Mall on Sep 21. Charred body parts taken from a collapsed portion of the shopping center still awaited forensics analysis to determine if they were the remains of the assailants.
(AP, 10/18/13)(SFC, 10/18/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 20, Kenya's biggest selling newspaper “The Nation" reported that security camera footage showed soldiers appearing to loot goods during last month's Nairobi shopping mall siege.
(Reuters, 10/20/13)
2013 Oct 20, In Kenya 2 Christian clerics were found killed in separate attacks.
(AFP, 10/21/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Kenya court sentenced 4 Somali pirates sentenced to seven years each in prison after they were found guilty of hijacking a fishing dhow in the Indian Ocean in 2010.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 24, Kenya's media said the police chief has threatened journalists with arrest after they reported on looting and disarray among security forces during the massacre in Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 28, In Kenya a petition campaign demanding justice topped a million signatures after three men accused of brutally gang raping a Kenyan schoolgirl in June were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 10/28/13)
2013 Oct 29, Kenyan police said they are holding five people over last month's attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall, while two soldiers were court martialed for looting during the attack.
(AFP, 10/29/13)
2013 Oct 30, In Kenya a train crashed into a passenger bus as it passed through a rail crossing in the capital, Nairobi, killing at least 11 people.
(AP, 10/30/13)
2013 Oct 31, Kenya MPs voted to set up and appoint a new Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal with the teeth to impose penalties of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings (173,000 euros, $234,000) on offenders and even bar journalists from working.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Oct 31, Kenyan warplanes destroyed a Shebab rebel camp in southern Somalia used to train gunmen who attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Nov 1, Kenya's media reacted with shock and outrage after parliament voted through a bill that could see journalists and outlets slapped with huge fines for violating a code of conduct.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Nov 2, Kenya's chief justice said he has ordered "immediate action" over a case where men accused of brutally gang raping a schoolgirl last June were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 11/2/13)
2013 Nov 4, A Kenyan court charged four Somali men with terrorist offences for helping al Qaeda-linked militants carry out an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.
(Reuters, 11/4/13)
2013 Nov 10, The governments of Kenya and Somalia signed a deal with the UN’s High Commission for Refugees to facilitate voluntary returns.
(Econ, 11/30/13, p.48)
2013 Nov 17, In Kenya poachers infiltrated the privately owned Lewa Wildlife Conservancy during the full moon and killed Meluaya," a 17-year-old black rhino suspected to have been heavily pregnant and with a two-year-old calf.
(AFP, 11/19/13)
2013 Nov 28, Kenya launched construction of a Chinese-funded 13.8 billion dollar (10-billion euro) flagship railway project, hoping to dramatically increase trade and boost Kenya's position as a regional economic powerhouse.
(AFP, 11/28/13)
2013 Nov 30, Five east African countries signed a protocol to establish a monetary union, in a first step towards creating a single currency. At a summit in Kampala, leaders from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda inked the framework to set up a single market modelled after the eurozone.
(AFP, 11/30/13)
2013 Dec 5, Kenyan lawmakers adopted amendments to a controversial media bill despite an opposition walk out and international concern about press freedom.
(AFP, 12/5/13)
2013 Dec 7, In northern Kenya more than 10 people were killed in fighting in the town of Moyale where troops have been sent to stop a week of fighting between rival ethnic groups that has sent thousands fleeing into Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 12/7/13)
2013 Dec 10, In Kenya gunmen killed 8 people including 5 policemen and wounded at least two others in an ambush in the Garissa region close to war-torn Somalia.
(AFP, 12/10/13)(AFP, 12/15/13)
2013 Dec 14, In Kenya one person was killed and three injured in a double explosion at a market in the town of Wajir.
(AP, 12/15/13)
2013 Dec 14, In Kenya a suspected grenade attack on a minibus in Nairobi killed 4 people near a Somali-dominated area of the city. 2 more died of their wounds the next day.
(Reuters, 12/14/13)(AFP, 12/15/13)
2013 In Kenya biometrics were introduced to the refugee camps of Kakuma and Dadaab. This led to a steep drop in their recorded populations saving the World Food Program some $1.4 million a month.
(Econ, 2/11/17, p.50)
2013 Teachers in Kenya, according to a World Bank report, were absent from classrooms about half the time.
(Econ, 2/22/14, p.42)
2014 Jan 2, In Kenya 10 people were wounded when attackers hurled a grenade into a restaurant in Diani, a popular coastal tourist resort town.
(AFP, 1/2/14)
2014 Jan 9, The Kenyan military killed at least 30 Islamic militants in an airstrike on a militant camp in Somalia.
(AP, 1/10/14)
2014 Jan 16, In Kenya an explosive device blew up a trash can and part of the ceiling of the Java House restaurant near the entrance of an international departure terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Four suspects, including a man identified as a Somali diplomat, were soon arrested.
(AP, 2/4/14)
2014 Jan 23, A Kenyan court sentenced 24 Somalis to seven years each in prison for attempting to hijack an Iranian merchant vessel, FV Ariya, in the Gulf of Oman in October 2010.
(Reuters, 1/23/14)
.
2014 Jan 26, Kenya officials said poachers have slaughtered a rhino in the capital's Nairobi National Park, a brazen attack flouting tough new laws designed to stem a surge of such killings.
(AFP, 1/26/14)
2014 Jan 28, A Kenyan court ordered a Chinese man to pay $230,000 in fines or be jailed seven years for ivory smuggling in the first of what will likely be many cases as authorities implement a stringent new law to deter illegal trading in wildlife products.
(AP, 1/28/14)
2014 Jan 29, South Sudan released to Kenya seven of the 11 key leaders held after an alleged coup bid last month, as Nairobi accepted to host the group.
(AFP, 1/29/14)
2014 Feb 2, In Kenya gunfire erupted in and around a mosque in the port city of Mombasa following a raid by armed police who had received a tip-off that Muslim youths were being radicalized and trained for militant attacks. At least one officer and a young man were killed.
(Reuters, 2/2/14)(AP, 2/2/14)
2014 Feb 3, Kenyan police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse Muslim youths rioting for a second day in protest against a raid on a mosque used by firebrand preachers in the port city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 2/3/14)
2014 Feb 10, In Kenya gays and lesbians joined a global effort to protest against an anti-homosexuality bill passed by Uganda's parliament that is now in the hands of the country's president.
(AP, 2/10/14)
2014 Feb 12, In Kenya 70 men arrested during a raid on a mosque in the port city of Mombasa were formally charged with being members of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels.
(AFP, 2/12/14)
2014 Feb 13, A top Kenyan official, Francis Kimemia, accused the United States of trying to overthrow Kenya's government by supporting activists even as baton-wielding police used tear gas to break up an anti-government protest in downtown Nairobi. Kimemia served as the chairman of the National Security Advisory Committee and the secretary of the president's Cabinet.
(AP, 2/13/14)
2014 Feb 26, A Kenyan court dropped charges against 41 men and released on bail 29 others arrested on Feb 2 during a raid on a mosque accused of supporting Islamist extremists.
(AFP, 2/26/14)
2014 Mar 7, Kenya's president and cabinet agreed to a pay cut as part of austerity measures meant to reduce the government wage bill and free up funds for use in economic development. They called on lawmakers to do the same.
(Reuters, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 19, In Kenya scientist Richard Leakey and Paula Kahumbu, the founding former chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service, urged Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta to invoke emergency measures to protect the country's elephants and rhinos from a poaching crisis sweeping Africa.
(AP, 3/19/14)
2014 Mar 20, Kenya's parliament passed a bill allowing men to marry as many women as they want, prompting a furious backlash from female lawmakers who stormed out. Women are not allowed to marry more than one man in Kenya. The bill must now pass before the president to be signed before becoming law.
(AFP, 3/21/14)
2014 Mar 23, In Kenya attackers shot dead 4 worshippers when they burst into a church service near the port city of Mombasa, spraying the congregation with bullets.
(AFP, 3/23/14)
2014 Mar 25, Kenya’s wildlife authority said it needs help to curb the killings of elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns. Poachers this year have killed 18 rhinos and 51 elephants.
(SFC, 3/26/14, p.A2)
2014 Mar 30, In Kenya a man died after an explosive device he was assembling blew up in a residential area of Nairobi. Police looked for three other men who were seen running out of the apartment after the blast.
(AP, 3/30/14)
2014 Mar 31, In Kenya three almost simultaneous blasts in Eastleigh, the main Somali district of Nairobi, left at least 6 people dead.
(AFP, 4/1/14)
2014 Apr 1, In Kenya unknown attackers in Mombasa shot dead Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, more commonly known as Makaburi (meaning graveyard in Swahili). He was accused by the US and the UN Security Council of supporting Somali militants.
(Reuters, 4/4/14)(SFC, 4/3/14, p.A2)(Econ, 4/5/14, p.42)
2014 Apr 8, A Kenyan official said at least 3,000 people have been arrested during four days of security operations following a wave of terror attacks. Most of those arrested were scrutinized by security agencies and released, but 447 were being held in custody under anti-terrorism laws.
(AP, 4/8/14)
2014 Apr 9, Kenya expelled over 80 Somalis as security forces maintained a major crackdown on suspected Islamists that has seen thousands rounded up in the capital.
(AFP, 4/9/14)(SFC, 4/10/14, p.A2)
2014 Apr 11, Kenya's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources said the central government will oversee the running of the country's wildlife authority for the next three months in a bid to stop poaching of the country's elephants and rhinos.
(AP, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 11, Kenya's defense ministry said its troops have freed two Kenyans kidnapped near its northern border by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels in 2011. Officials identified the two as James Kiarie Gichuhi, a driver with CARE International, and Daniel Njuguna Wanyoike, said to be working with a logistics firm that may have been delivering medicines to the charity.
(AFP, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 13, Wilson Kipsang (32) of Kenya captured his second London Marathon title by breaking the course record by 11 seconds in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 29 seconds. Kenya's Edna Kiplagat saw off compatriot Florence Kiplagat to win the women's London Marathon.
(AP, 4/13/14)
2014 Apr 13, In the Netherlands Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the Rotterdam Marathon, but failed in his bid to break the course record on a windy day in the port city.
(AP, 4/13/14)
2014 May 2, Kenya wildlife authorities caught two police officers with six pieces of ivory at a road block while travelling from the central town of Meru to Nairobi.
(AP, 5/3/14)
2014 May 3, In Kenya 4 people were killed when attackers threw an explosive device at passengers at a bus station in Mombasa, and also targeted a luxury hotel in the coastal city.
(Reuters, 5/4/14)
2014 May 4, In Kenya two buses driving along a busy highway in Nairobi were struck by explosive devices thrown at them.
(Reuters, 5/4/14)
2014 May 7, Kenya police and hospitals said at least 63 people have died this week and dozens more are sick after consuming toxic alcohol.
(AFP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 11, China signed a deal with East African leaders to build a $3.8 billion rail link between Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
(AFP, 5/11/14)
2014 May 16, In Kenya at least 10 people were killed and 70 wounded in two explosions in Nairobi.
(AP, 5/16/14)
2014 May 19, In northeast Kenya Somali militants killed 12 people including 3 police reservists in a border ambush for which Al-Shabab claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/20/14, p.A2)
2014 May 20, Kenyan university students threw rocks at police in Nairobi as authorities fired back with tear gas in running battles that didn't end until police cornered students in a campus building and fired dozens of rounds of tear gas inside. Students demonstrated in at least four cities across the country over a proposed increase in university fees.
(AP, 5/20/14)
2014 May 26, Two Kenyan soldiers were killed when militants from Somalia's Shebab rebels ambushed a military convoy near Lamu on the Kenya-Somalia border.
(AFP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 27, Bus operators in Kenya unveiled plans for a cashless fare system aimed at protecting passengers from theft and police extortion which they say siphon a third of their revenue away.
(AFP, 5/27/14)
2014 Jun 5, Kenyan authorities said they have seized 228 whole elephant tusks and 74 others in pieces as they were being packed for export in the port city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 6/5/14)
2014 Jun 5, Kenyan gunmen shot and killed an Australian media executive Carey Eaton, a co-founder of the online marketplace One Africa Media. This was the second such attack on an Australian citizen in the past year in the crime-ridden capital Nairobi.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 10, In Kenya gunmen shot and killed moderate Muslim leader Sheik Mohamed Idris, the chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK). He was the fourth prominent Muslim to be shot dead in Mombasa in two years. On April 15, 2016, Sudi Mohamed Sudi (44) was sentenced to death for killing Idris, who had campaigned against radical interpretations of Islam.
(AP, 6/10/14)(AP, 4/15/16)
2014 Jun 15, In Kenya at least 50 people were killed after suspected al Shabaab gunmen in two minibuses sped into Mpeketoni town on the coast, shooting soccer fans watching a World Cup match in a television hall and targeting two hotels, a police post and a bank.
(Reuters, 6/16/14)(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 16, In Kenya an attack in Majembeni village left 10 people died. Majembeni is next to Mpeketoni where four dozen people were slaughtered a day earlier.
(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 17, Kenya's president blamed political leaders inside Kenya for carrying out two nights of deadly attacks that killed at least 60 people in coastal communities, saying that despite claims of responsibility from al-Shabab, the Islamic extremists were not behind it.
(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 19, Kenyan fighter jets attacked two bases belonging to Islamist al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia and killed at least 80 militants. Al Shabaab rebels denied any of its fighters had been killed.
(Reuters, 6/23/14)
2014 Jun 20, Kenya's Interior Ministry said security forces have shot and killed five people suspected of killing 60 residents in two nighttime attacks on a coastal town this week.
(AP, 6/20/14)
2014 Jun 23, The first-ever United Nations Environmental Assembly opened in Kenya, as more than 150 high-level delegations began a weeklong examination of the intersection between global economic progress and the environment.
(AP, 6/23/14)
2014 Jun 23, In Kenya 5 people were killed in attacks in Witu, near Mpeketoni where some 60 people were killed last week.
(SFC, 6/25/14, p.A2)
2014 Jun 25, Kenyan police arrested Lamu county Governor Issa Timamy in connection with gun attacks in his area that killed about 65 people. Timamy denied responsibility and was released on bail on June 30.
(Reuters, 6/26/14)(AP, 6/30/14)
2014 Jul 2, In Kenya 4 people were killed when a cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff at the international airport in Nairobi.
(AP, 7/2/14)
2014 Jul 2, African nations agreed to suspend military operations for six months against Congo-based Rwandan rebels in order to give them more time to lay down their arms. The suspension was announced after a meeting in Angola of foreign ministers from a regional bloc including Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
(Reuters, 7/3/14)
2014 Jul 5, In Kenya at least 22 people were killed in late night attacks by gunmen in the coastal towns of Hindi and Gamba. Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed responsibility but Kenyan officials blamed local separatists.
(AP, 7/6/14)(Reuters, 7/6/14)(SFC, 7/7/14, p.A4)
2014 Jul 7, In Kenya thousands of people rallied in Nairobi against President Uhuru Kenyatta's rule, with some calling for him to step down because he had failed to improve the lives of Kenyans more than a year after he came to office.
(AP, 7/8/14)
2014 Jul 11, In Kenya gunmen raided Pandanguo village in Lamu County where they locked up men praying in a mosque, looted medical supplies from a local dispensary and took six rifles from police reservists.
(AP, 7/11/14)
2014 Jul 12, In Kenya Mohamed Shahid Butt, a prominent businessman who was facing terrorism-related charges, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Mombasa.
(SSFC, 7/13/14, p.A7)
2014 Jul 24, In Kenya a female tourist from Germany was killed in the port city of Mombasa in the same area where a Russian visitor was murdered earlier in July by a criminal gang.
(Reuters, 7/24/14)(AFP, 7/25/14)
2014 Jul 31, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said a vast coastal zone nearly the size of Luxembourg around a proposed multi-billion dollar port area had been stolen “under dubious and corrupt circumstances" by 22 companies between 2011 and 2012, fuelling a wave of massacres. Kenyatta said he ordered the lands ministry "to revoke and repossess these land parcels with immediate effect."
(AFP, 7/31/14)
2014 Aug 1, In Kenya journalist Godwin Chepkurgor was attacked and killed while on assignment for a magazine by a bull elephant that scooped him up with its trunk and threw him in the air. In 2005 Chepkurgor made headlines after revealing that he had written Clinton to ask for daughter Chelsea's hand in 2000 during the then-president's visit to Kenya.
(AP, 8/6/14)
2014 Aug 12, Kenya Wildlife Direct chief executive Paula Kahumbu delivered a petition on this World Elephant Day calling for the arrest of Feizal Ali Mohamed, whom Wildlife Direct alleges is a Mombasa-based businessman evading an arrest warrant in relation to a massive ivory seizure in June.
(AP, 8/12/14)
2014 Aug 14, South Korea’s Korean Air Lines Co. said will suspend flights to Kenya in a measure to prevent the spread of Ebola.
(AP, 8/14/14)
2014 Aug 18, Human Rights Watch said it has documented at least 10 cases of unlawful killings and 10 cases of enforced disappearances carried out by the Kenya Anti-Terror Police Unit from last November to June.
(SFC, 8/19/14, p.A2)
2014 Aug 20, In Kenya suspected Shebab Islamist militants kidnapped a group of traders and took them to the dense Boni forest area in Lamu county. The militants released three of them who were Muslims and beheaded a Christian.
(AFP, 8/23/14)
2014 Aug 27, Muslims for Human Rights alleged that corrupt Kenyan wildlife rangers have been killing poachers to cover up the officers' collusion with the criminals slaughtering the country's elephants. The group has documented the disappearances of 18 suspected poachers over the last three years.
(AP, 8/27/14)
2014 Aug 28, Somalia took its maritime border dispute with Kenya to the United Nations' top court, which could decide the fate of potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves off east Africa. Somalia said the maritime frontier should follow on in the same direction as the land border, while Kenya argued that it has always been taken in a horizontal line from the point where the two countries meet at the coast.
(AFP, 8/29/14)(BBC, 3/14/21)
2014 Sep 4, In northern Kenya anthropologists discovered a complete skull of a baby ape dating back 13 million years. It belonged to an undiscovered species and was named Nyanazpithecus alesi.
(http://tinyurl.com/ydfq4ev8)(SFC, 8/19/17, p.A9)
2014 Sep 28, In Germany Dennis Kimetto of Kenya knocked 26 seconds off the world marathon record. Kimetto won the 41st edition of the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 57 seconds, becoming the first man to complete a marathon in under 2 hours, 3 minutes.
(AP, 9/28/14)
2014 Oct 1, A Kenyan court ordered two Iranians held under anti-terrorism laws to serve two years in jail or pay a hefty fine after they pleaded guilty to using fake Israeli passports to enter the East African country last month.
(Reuters, 10/1/14)
2014 Oct 3, In Kenya protesters blocked truckers on the only highway from Mombasa port to the capital Nairobi, threatening to choke the main trade artery with much of east Africa. More than two hundred residents in Voi halted traffic with burning tires to demand jobs from a Chinese company contracted to build a section of a railway in the area.
(Reuters, 10/3/14)
2014 Oct 6, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation in an address before parliament that he would temporarily step down as president while attending a hearing at the International Criminal Court this week insisting that he be a private citizen during the court hearing and not the first president to sit before the court.
(AP, 10/6/14)
2014 Oct 7, International prosecutors accused the Kenyan government of failing to hand over phone and bank records they said would help them show President Uhuru Kenyatta paid collaborators to take part in post-election violence in 2007.
(Reuters, 10/7/14)
2014 Oct 7, In Kenya transgender activist Audrey Mbugua won a landmark case when the High Court ordered the Kenya National Examinations Council to change her name on her academic certificates.
(Reuters, 10/7/14)
2014 Oct 18, Kenyan and Somali soldiers killed five suspected Islamic extremist bombers attempting to cross into the country from Ethiopia in a car laden with explosives and six suicide vests.
(AP, 10/19/14)
2014 Oct 25, In Kenya armed bandits attacked two vehicles belonging to an advanced security team and killed three officers and two civilians.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Oct 27, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to Ethiopia that the EU and several regional development banks have pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa. Countries targeted are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
(AFP, 10/27/14)(AP, 10/27/14)
2014 Nov 1, In northern Kenya raiders ambushed and killed 22 police. Regional powerbrokers later said the attackers mistook the police for an invading tribe.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Nov 2, Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta ordered all guns and attackers be turned over to authorities in the North Rift region after raiders killed 22 police a day earlier. Troops shot and killed 6 machete-wielding attackers who tried to gain entry into a barracks on the coast.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Nov 3, In northwestern Kenya 4 more refugees were killed, bringing the total number of people killed over the past week to 8. Violence at the Kakuma camps were sparked by reports of the attempted rape of a young refugee girl on Oct 28.
(AFP, 11/4/14)
2014 Nov 6, A Kenyan Roman Catholic priest, Father Guyo Waqo, and four others were sentenced to death by a court in Nairobi for murdering Italian Bishop Luigi Locati in 2005.
(AP, 11/6/14)
2014 Nov 17, In Kenya nearly 1,000 people marched through the streets of Nairobi to protest a recent rash of attacks by mobs of men on women who have been deemed too provocatively dressed. A mob of Kenyan men attacked and stripped a woman claiming she was inappropriately dressed just hours after the march.
(AP, 11/17/14)(AP, 11/18/14)
2014 Nov 17, Kenyan officials said police have shot dead a man and arrested about 250 others when they searched two mosques in Mombasa that they said were used to recruit militants and stash weapons. About 10 youths chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), killed a shopkeeper who tried to close his store in case of a riot. The youths killed the two other men when they attacked people on public transport.
(Reuters, 11/17/14)(Reuters, 11/18/14)
2014 Nov 22, Somalia's al Shabaab Islamists staged an attack in Kenya in which gunmen ordered non-Muslims off a bus and shot 28 dead, while sparing Muslim passengers outside Mandera town. Kenya’s military responded with air strikes that destroyed the attackers’ camp in Somalia and reportedly killed over 100 militants.
(Reuters, 11/22/14)(SSFC, 11/23/14, p.A5)(SFC, 11/24/14, p.A2)
2014 Nov 25, Kenyan police used teargas to disperse demonstrators shouting "President, Stop the killings!" outside President Uhuru Kenyatta's offices, in a protest over 28 people killed in a weekend attack claimed by Islamist militants.
(Reuters, 11/25/14)
2014 Nov 30, Police in Kenya arrested 37 Chinese nationals with advanced communications equipment in a house in an upscale Nairobi neighborhood following a fire that left one person dead. 40 more Chinese nationals were arrested on Dec 3 and police consulted technical experts to see if they were committing espionage.
(AP, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 2, In northeast Kenya Somali al Shabaab Islamist militants killed 36 non-Muslim workers at a quarry near the Somali border. Thus prompted Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta to sweep out his top security officials to tackle a relentless wave of violence.
(Reuters, 12/2/14)
2014 Dec 4, In Kenya two men were reported jailed for gang raping children after Kenya's high court in 2013 ordered the police to re-open 10 cases where officers had yelled at, demanded bribes from and even locked up girls who tried to report rape to them.
(Reuters, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 4, A Kenyan military aircraft crashed in the region of the southern Somali city of Kismayu due to technical problems after a combat mission.
(Reuters, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 5, Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court withdrew their crimes against humanity charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta said he was "vindicated" after the ICC's decision.
(Reuters, 12/5/14)(SFC, 12/6/14, p.A4)
2014 Dec 11, In Kenya more than 20 machete-wielding men, said to be members of the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), attacked a police camp. The outlawed group wants independence for Kenya's Indian Ocean coastal regions, citing decades of neglect by the government.
(Reuters, 12/22/14)
2014 Dec 17, In Kenya 6 people died and 11 were injured in a central Nairobi building collapse, with fears that the toll could rise as crews continued to dig through the rubble.
(AFP, 12/18/14)
2014 Dec 18, In Kenya fistfights and scuffles broke out in parliament as legislators passed controversial security measures which the government says will help fight terrorism but which critics say are meant to silence dissent by curtailing civil liberties.
(AP, 12/18/14)
2014 Dec 19, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a contentious bill saying it will help the country fight terrorism, but which critics say will be used to crush dissent by curbing civil liberties.
(AP, 12/19/14)
2014 Dec 22, Kenyan police arrested Feisal Mohammed Ali, an alleged ivory trafficker, at a rental house in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On Dec 24 a Kenyan court charged him with smuggling tusks.
(AP, 12/23/14)(AFP, 12/24/14)
2014 In Kenya Islamic extremists killed 173 people this year, the highest number in the three years that Kenya has experienced violence blamed on neighboring Somalia's al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 2/25/15)d
2015 Jan 2, Kenya's High Court suspended key parts of a controversial new national security law that the opposition had warned risked turning the east African nation into a dictatorship.
(AFP, 1/2/15)
2015 Jan 4, In Kenya Fidel Odinga (41), the son of main opposition leader Raila Odinga, was found dead in his home near Nairobi, prompting a major police investigation and minor unrest in the capital.
(AP, 1/4/15)
2015 Jan 4, In Kenya at least 2 people were killed and several others were injured when a six-storey residential building collapsed in Nairobi.
(AFP, 1/5/15)
2015 Jan 14, In Kenya one soldier and five suspected Islamists insurgents loyal to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab fighters were killed in a battle in the coastal Lamu district.
(AFP, 1/14/15)
2015 Jan 19, Kenyan police fired tear gas at children as young as eight protesting against the seizure of their school playground by a property developer.
(AFP, 1/19/15)
2015 Jan 26, In Kenya at least seven people were injured in clashes between police and protesters from the Maasai ethnic group who accuse a local governor of corrupt handling of tourism funds from the Maasai Mara game reserve.
(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Feb 3, Teachers in northern Kenya bordering Somalia have refused to return to work, fearing attacks by Islamic extremists. Some 700 teachers demonstrated outside parliament in Nairobi demanding that the government transfer them to schools in safer regions.
(AP, 2/3/15)
2015 Feb 7, In Kenya a masked gunman shot and killed a Kenyan lawmaker on a street in Nairobi. George Muchai, was killed alongside his two bodyguards and a driver after they stopped to buy a newspaper.
(AP, 2/7/15)
2015 Feb 17, In Kenya eight international organizations launched a global campaign to stem the spread of AIDS among adolescents. They said AIDS has become the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa and the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally.
(AP, 2/17/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenya's Constitutional Court threw out parts of a new anti-terrorism law, including restrictions on the media, but left most of it intact, including a provision allowing police to hold terrorism suspects for a year without charge.
(Reuters, 2/23/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenyan police arrested 101 Ethiopian nationals suspected of traveling illegally through Kenya on their way to South Africa.
(AP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 3, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to 15 tons of elephant tusks during World Wildlife Day to discourage poaching.
(AP, 3/3/15)
2015 Mar 4, A court in Kenya charged 12 businessmen and former officials including an ex-minister in connection with a multi-million dollar corruption scam involving bogus state contracts. The case relates to the "Anglo-Leasing scandal," which came to light in 2004 when it emerged the government had set up a vast network of phantom companies and inflated invoices to embezzle money meant for security services.
(AFP, 3/4/15)(AP, 3/4/15)
2015 Mar 12, In Kenya three Danish women pleaded guilty to breaking customs laws by attempting to smuggle suitcases stuffed with a narcotic herb out of the country.
(AP, 3/12/15)
2015 Mar 13, In northern Kenya Islamic militants attacked the convoy of a governor, killing 3 people in the second attack on Governor Ali Roba's convoy in five months. Al-Shabab militants from Somalia claimed responsibility for the attack.
(AP, 3/13/15)
2015 Mar 13, The International Criminal Court formally halted proceedings against Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta, three months after prosecutors dropped charges implicating him in fomenting postelection violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007 and 2008.
(AP, 3/13/15)
2015 Mar 15, In northern Kenya Somali Shebab militants killed one man and wounded three others in a shooting in the town of Mandera.
(AFP, 3/16/15)
2015 Mar 17, In Kenya 4 people were shot dead in a shop Wajir town by unknown gunmen who wounded three others. Al-Shabab Islamic extremists soon claimed responsibility, bringing the total number of those killed by the militants since March 13 to 12.
(AP, 3/18/15)
2015 Mar 20, Kenya launched Africa's first water fund, a public-private partnership aimed at raising $15 million to provide clean water to 9.3 million people by protecting the basin of the country's longest river.
(Reuters, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 28, Kenya's president suspended four cabinet secretaries and 17 other senior officials to facilitate investigations into allegations of corruption.
(AP, 3/28/15)
2015 Mar, Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) named dozens of top politicians and civil servants in a report that gave a damning indictment of the scale of corruption in the country. A total of 175 people were named in the report, including five cabinet ministers, 13 governors and a host of civil servants, MPs and members of the judiciary.
(AFP, 4/23/15)
2015 Apr 2, In Kenya 148 people, including 6 police and soldiers, were killed when Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed the Garissa University College campus, taking Christians hostage and engaging security forces in an extended shootout. All four of the gunmen wore suicide vests packed with explosives, detonating themselves in huge blasts as the dramatic assault finally ended after some 16 hours. It was later reported that all four gunmen were themselves Kenyan. On June 4 four men from Kenya and one from Tanzania were charged in court in connection with the attack.
(AFP, 4/3/15)(AFP, 4/4/15)(AFP, 4/16/15)(Econ., 4/11/15, p.46)(Reuters, 6/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, Kenya offered a $215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty for the capture of alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher believed to now be in Somalia and said to be the mastermind behind the April 2 Garissa attack.
(AFP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 4, Kenyan police paraded the naked corpses of Somali Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab gunmen who slaughtered 148 people at the Garissa University College campus on April 2. Five men were reported arrested. President Uhuru Kenyatta declared three days of national mourning.
(AFP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 5, Kenya identified one of the al Shabaab gunmen who massacred students at Garissa University as Abdirahim Abdullahi, a university of Nairobi law graduate and the son of government official in Mandera county.
(Reuters, 4/5/15)(AFP, 4/5/15)
2015 Apr 6, The Kenyan air force said it has destroyed two al Shabaab camps in Somalia, in the first major military response since the Islamist group massacred students at Kenya’s Garissa University last week.
(Reuters, 4/6/15)
2015 Apr 8, Kenya froze key money transfer companies vital for Somalia after the police chief issued a list of 85 people and businesses with suspected links to the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.
(AFP, 4/8/15)
2015 Apr 11, Kenya gave the United Nations three months to remove a camp housing more than half a million Somali refugees, as part of a get-tough response to the killing of 148 people by Somali gunmen at a Garissa University.
(Reuters, 4/11/15)
2015 Apr 12, In Kenya one student was killed and 141 injured in a stampede on the campus of the University of Nairobi when students mistook several accidental explosions for an extremist attack.
(AP, 4/12/15)
2015 Apr 20, The annual Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded in San Francisco to six activists. They included: Marilyn Baptiste (44) of Canada, for her work to stop the development of an open pit gold and copper mine that threatened lakes in British Columbia; Berta Caceres (42) of Honduras for her efforts fighting the Agua Zarca Dam, which threatened to cut off the water and hunting grounds of the Lenca people; Phyllis Omido (35) of Kenya for her work exposing lead fumes from a smelting plant; Jean Wiener of Haiti (50) for his efforts to protect and restore marine wildlife; Howard Wood (60) of Scotland for his efforts to restore undersea ecology; and Myint Zaw (39) of Myanmar for halt the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Irrawaddy River that would submerge 50 villages and displace 18,000 people.
(SFC, 4/20/15, p.A6)
2015 Apr 23, Kenya's top anti-corruption officials were suspended following a bitter standoff with parliament and after they alleged widespread graft in the east African nation.
(AFP, 4/23/15)
2015 Apr 25, Thailand officials seized three tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya and destine for Laos.
(SFC, 4/28/15, p.A2)
2015 May 4, In northwest Kenya suspected Turkana cattle rustlers ambushed villages and drove away hundreds of livestock. 54 people lost their lives in the two communities of Pokot and Turkana. The violence reportedly started after an attack by Pokot warriors on a Turkana village in which 100 goats were stolen.
(Reuters, 5/5/15)(AFP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 4, The US said it will give $45 million to UN refugee operations in Kenya to help the country deal with a growing refugee crisis.
(SFC, 5/5/15, p.A2)
2015 May 6, The Kenya Red Cross said some 75 people have been killed in four days of cattle raids and revenge attacks in northern districts.
(AFP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 20, Kenya health officials said at least 65 people are confirmed to have died in a nearly five-month-old cholera outbreak, with infections also continuing to rise in the capital Nairobi.
(AFP, 5/20/15)
2015 May 20, Scientists reported the discovery of stone tools in Kenya that dated back 3.3 million years, pushing back the previous record by some 700,000 years.
(SFC, 5/21/15, p.A6)
2015 May 21, In northeast Kenya militants from Somalia-based al Shabaab attacked a village late today but were beaten back by security forces.
(Reuters, 5/22/15)
2015 May 25, In Kenya Islamist militants from Somalia attacked two police patrols, triggering a gun battle near Yumbis. The militants claimed in a statement that at least 20 police were killed, although Kenyan authorities said that only one officer died and four others were wounded.
(AFP, 5/26/15)
2015 Jun 1, Kenya police said they have launched an investigation into photos posted on social media that appear to show officers mercilessly whipping a group of young Somali men.
(AFP, 6/1/15)
2015 Jun 11, Kenya said it has set a goal to get 100,000 Somali refugees to return home voluntarily by the end of the year.
(AP, 6/11/15)
2015 Jun 14, In Kenya at least 15 Somali al Shabaab militants and 2 soldiers were killed when al Qaeda-linked fighters attacked a military base near the town of Baure, Lamu County, on the coast near to the Somali border. Thomas Evans, a British jihadist fighting for Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate, was believed to be among the dead.
(AP, 6/14/15)(AFP, 6/15/15)
2015 Jun 18, Kenya's president ordered the central bank to issue regulations and then lift restrictions on key money transfer services vital for Somalia suspended over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab.
(AFP, 6/18/15)
2015 Jun 20, In northeastern Kenya Mohamed Barre Abdullahi, a local chief in Wajir, was gunned down by suspected members of the Somali-led Shebab militia.
(AFP, 6/21/15)
2015 Jun, In Kenya Jean Chrysostome Ntirugiribambe, a Rwandan national, was abducted from a busy market street in Nairobi. He had been a defense investigator and legal assistant at the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the court set up to try those deemed responsible for the genocide. He has not been seen since.
(The Daily Beast, 10/18/20)
2015 Jul 7, In northeast Kenya al Shabaab gunmen killed 14 people, mostly quarry workers as they slept in Soko Mbuzi village, Mandera County, in an early morning attack on a residential complex targeting Christians.
(Reuters, 7/7/15)(SFC, 7/8/15, p.A6)
2015 Jul 16, In south-central Somalia a US drone strike destroyed a vehicle belonging to al Shabaab militants. Kenya said at least 30 Shebab militants were killed.
(Reuters, 7/16/15)(AFP, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 24, US President Barack Obama arrived in his ancestral homeland Kenya.
(AFP, 7/24/15)
2015 Jul 25, In Kenya President Barack Obama said the United States was ready to work more closely in the battle against Somalia's Islamist group al Shabaab, but chided his host on gay rights and said no African state should discriminate over sexuality. Obama commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for his commitment to rooting out corruption in the east African state.
(Reuters, 7/25/15)
2015 Jul 26, In Kenya US President Barack Obama ended his visit saying Kenyans need deepen democracy, tackle corruption and end exclusion based on gender or ethnicity.
(Reuters, 7/26/15)(AFP, 7/26/15)
2015 Jul 28, Kenyan rangers found the carcasses of 5 elephants killed overnight with their tusks hacked off in Tsavo West National Park.
(SFC, 7/31/15, p.A4)
2015 Aug 6, Top Kenyan athletes completed a giant 840-km (522-mile) "Walk for Peace" against ethnic violence, accompanied by cheering crowds.
(AFP, 8/6/15)
2015 Aug 21, A court in Kenya granted bail to Feisal Mohammed Ali, the suspected ringleader of an ivory smuggling gang. Government prosecutors said they would appeal. On August 24 his bail was suspended.
(AFP, 8/20/15)(AFP, 8/24/15)
2015 Sep 8, The US mission to war-torn Somalia began work without an ambassador or an embassy and based in neighboring Kenya.
(AFP, 9/8/15)
2015 Sep 11, Kenya announced a new security operation aimed at ousting Islamic extremists from a forest along the border with Somalia.
(AP, 9/11/15)
2015 Sep 14, Kenya media reported that attackers tried to hack off body parts from Enock Jamenya (56), a man with albinism, to sell for witchcraft.
(AFP, 9/14/15)
2015 Sep 15, In Kenya Google launched its Street View service in Samburu park, in a move conservationists said could help protect endangered elephants.
(AFP, 9/15/15)
2015 Sep 17, Kenyan security forces searching one of its ships at Mombasa port discovered undeclared weapons among the consignment of UN vehicles. The consignment of vehicles was from Mumbai, India, and was destined for the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo. On Sep 27 the Norwegian-flagged ship was reported released.
(AP, 9/23/15)(AP, 9/27/15)
2015 Sep 18, Kenya's education ministry ordered all schools to shut because of a three-week teachers' strike over pay.
(AFP, 9/18/15)
2015 Oct 25, Kenya's military says it has destroyed a base in Somalia operated by the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab and killed 15 of its fighters in a dawn attack.
(AP, 10/2515)
2015 Nov 12, Kenya's Journalists for Justice said Kenyan forces fighting militants in Somalia are taking cuts from charcoal and sugar smuggling, earning themselves about $50 million a year and boosting an illegal trade that helps fund the Islamists.
(Reuters, 11/12/15)
2015 Nov 23, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta declared corruption a national security threat and he presented a raft of measures to fight the endemic graft.
(AP, 11/23/15)
2015 Nov 24, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta fired five government ministers embroiled in corruption scandals in a cabinet reshuffle late today amid growing criticism of runaway graft.
(AFP, 11/25/15)
2015 Nov 25, Pope Francis arrived in Kenya and was received at Nairobi's airport by President Uhuru Kenyatta on the first leg of a six-day pilgrimage that will also take him to Uganda and the Central African Republic. Francis urged all Kenyans to work for peace and forgiveness in order to heal ethnic, religious and economic divisions.
(AP, 11/25/15)
2015 Nov 26, In Kenya Pope Francis held his first open-air mass in Africa with huge crowds hailing heavy rains as "God's blessing" as they sang and danced in Nairobi.
(AFP, 11/26/15)
2015 Dec 1, Police in Kenya tear-gassed demonstrators as some 200 people marched against to the Supreme Court and parliament to protest government corruption. 26 people were arrested.
(SFC, 12/2/15, p.A2)
2015 Dec 1, Kenya's sports ministry said it will require all government payments to athletes be made via an electronic system in a bid to stop theft by sports officials.
(AFP, 12/1/15)
2015 Dec 9, Kenya and Britain signed a deal to allow British troops to continue military training in the East African nation for five more years, ending half a decade of protracted negotiations which tested their relations.
(Reuters, 12/9/15)
2015 Dec 16, In Kenya al-Shabab militants attacked a convoy on the Mpeketoni-Lamu road burning vehicles and driving another police vehicle to Somalia. 2 people were shot dead, including a police officer, in the coastal Lamu County.
(AP, 12/17/15)
2015 Dec 21, In Kenya witnesses said 2 people died in the attacks in northern Mandera County when gunmen believed to be Somalia's al-Shabab rebels shot at a bus and truck headed for Mandera town.
(AP, 12/21/15)
2015 Dec 24, Kenya's police chief said about 200 Islamic extremist fighters have split from Somalia's al-Shabab rebels, who are allied to al-Qaida, and have instead pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
(AP, 12/24/15)
2015 Dec 26, A Kenyan police official said an Islamic extremist died in the north when a roadside bomb he was planting exploded in Mandera.
(AP, 12/26/15)
2015 Dec 27, In northeastern Kenya gunmen killed 2 policemen and wounded two others in Mandera County.
(AFP, 12/27/15)
2016 Jan 9, UN officials said at least 10 people have died and over 1,000 fallen sick with cholera in an outbreak among Somali refugees in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya.
(AFP, 1/9/16)
2016 Jan 15, In southwestern Somalia at least 63 Kenyan soldiers were killed when al-Shabab Islamic fighters attacked an African Union base in the town of El-Ade. On Jan 26 Kenya said its troops had vacated the camp, and were now stationed nearby.
(AP, 1/15/16)(Reuters, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Kenya said it will torch its vast stockpile of ivory at a star-studded summit to include Hollywood celebrities, presidents and business leaders against "poaching and illegal trade in ivory." The promised destruction of the remaining stockpile is now slated for April 29 and 30.
(AFP, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Five Kenyan policemen were killed in the coastal county of Lamu after their truck hit an improvised explosive device planted on the road by Islamist militants al Shabaab.
(Reuters, 1/27/16)
2016 Feb 8, In southern Somalia Mahad Karate, also known as Abdirahim Mohamed Warsame, was reportedly killed along with 10 middle-level al-Shabab members by a Kenyan airstrike on Nadris camp. Kenya’s army announced the attack on Feb 18, but the Shehab dismissed the report.
(AFP, 2/18/16)
2016 Mar 1, Four Kenyan policemen were charged with illegal possession of ivory at a Nairobi court.
(AFP, 3/1/16)
2016 Mar 19, In Somalia Kenyan military troops killed 21 fighters from the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab in clashes in the southern city of Afmadow. 2 Kenyan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the incident.
(AP, 3/20/16)(SSFC, 3/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Mar 20, In southern Somalia Kenyan soldiers reportedly killed another 13 militants near Ras Kamboni.
(AP, 3/20/16)
2016 Mar 24, Kenyan officials said the country's examination board has been dissolved and its members will be arrested following reports of widespread cheating in the university entrance exams for high school students.
(AP, 3/24/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) terminated the case against Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto saying there was insufficient evidence he was involved in violence following presidential elections in 2007.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 10, In Kenya scores of Shebab fighters stormed a police post near the Somali border early today, injuring three officers and torching nearby shops as they fled.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Kenya deported a group of 8 Taiwanese to China after they were acquitted in a cybercrime case. On April 12 a 2nd group of 37 was deported in a move that drew an angry reaction from Taipei.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of opposition leaders and their supporters as they marched on the office of the country's electoral commission to demand it disband before next year's election.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 29, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Kenya a six-story building in Nairobi collapsed late today following heavy rain. A woman was rescued on May 5 after being trapped for six days in the rubble. Over the next days the death toll rose to 49 people with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 Apr 30, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the world's biggest ivory bonfire, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end "murderous" trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild. Some 100 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn were destroyed.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A4)
2016 May 5, Kenyan businessman and government critic Jacob Juma was shot dead in his car late today in Nairobi.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 11, Kenya’s interior security minister said the government will close Dadaab refugee camp. It held an estimated 328,000-344,000 refugees mostly from Somalia and is often referred to as the world's largest camp.
(AP, 5/11/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.40)
2016 May 16, Kenyan police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi against an election oversight body they say is biased and should be scrapped. Police officers were seen viciously beating an unresponsive fallen protester as they broke up the demonstrations. At least 15 people were arrested and at least one victim died. A day later Kenya's police chief ordered an internal investigation.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)(AFP, 5/17/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.41)
2016 May 23, In Kenya at least two people died when police shot, beat and tear gassed demonstrators across the country who called for the electoral commission to be dissolved due to allegations of bias and corruption.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 24, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 21 suspected al-Shabab extremists who were plotting an ambush in southern Somalia.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Kenya's opposition said it is suspending weeks of protests to allow for talks with the government after a heavy police crackdown, but warned they would return if no action was taken.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 31, In Kenya South Korea's President Park Geun-hye met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the second day of her three-day visit.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Kenya one man died and six were injured as police opened fire on an anti-government rally in the western city of Kisumu.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Kenya a national commission announced the firing of 302 police officers who refused to be vetted. So far at least 3,000 officers have been vetted with close to 100 fired as part of a reform package.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 14, Eight Kenyan politicians were arrested on suspicion of hate speech in the latest sign of rising political tensions a year ahead of elections and were remanded in custody until June 17.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Kenya eight politicians were charged with hate speech and incitement to violence following public comments and calls to supporters made in recent days.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, Kenya Forest Service rangers and police began a 2-day eviction of more than 200 families of Ogiek hunter gatherers on the wooded slopes of Mt. Elgon. The indigenous people have suffered repeated expulsions since being moved by the British colonial government in the 1930s.
(http://tinyurl.com/zz37v4q)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 20, Somalia's al Shabaab militants killed 5 police officers in a border region in northeastern Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Kenya human rights lawyer Willy Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were abducted while coming from court where Mwenda had been charged with possession of narcotics. Mwenda, a motorcycle taxi driver, had been shot by a plainclothes police officer on April 10, 2015, without provocation. Rights groups later said that in an attempt to cover up the shooting an officer charged Mwenda with drug possession.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jul 1, In northern Kenya suspected al-Shabab gunmen killed at least 6 people when they shot at two buses traveling in Mandera County.
(AP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jul 4, Hundreds of Kenyans including human rights activists, lawyers and taxi operators peacefully protested against what they said are pervasive killings linked to police, as a court ordered three police officers be held for two weeks on charges they murdered three men.
(AP, 7/4/16)
2016 Jul 5, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on counter-terrorism, energy and agriculture, amid tight security on the second leg of his Africa tour.
(AP, 7/5/16)
2016 Jul 6, Kenyan motorcycle taxi drivers burned a police post as thousands demonstrated across the country against extra-judicial killings linked to police that rights activists said is pervasive.
(SFC, 7/7/16, p.A2)
2016 Jul 11, Indian PM Narendra Modi Monday held talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi and agreed to further expand investment ties between the two countries and diversify trade.
(AP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 12, Human Rights Watch urged an end to "forced anal examinations" with a report documenting them in eight countries, mostly in Africa, saying the practice is based on flawed ideas about supposedly proving homosexual conduct. The report drew on interviews with 32 men and transgender women subjected to the exams in eight countries that ban same-sex conduct: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Zambia.
(AP, 7/12/16)
2016 Jul 14, In Kenya a suspected recruiter for the Somali militant group al Shabaab shot dead at least 4 policemen at the Kapenguria police station where he was being held after he snatched a weapon from a guard.
(Reuters, 7/14/16)
2016 Jul 22, In Kenya a court in Mombasa convicted Feisal Mohamed Ali of possessing ivory. He had been accused of leading an ivory smuggling ring. Ali was arrested in Tanzania in December 2014 over illegal elephant tusks weighing more than 2 tons.
(AP, 7/22/16)
2016 Jul 28, In Kenya four schools were set on fire. Over the last three months 117 schools have been partially burnt by arsonists. The government said the burning schools are retribution from a "cartel" formerly linked to the country's exam-setting body, which used to profit handsomely from selling papers and answers.
(AFP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul, In Kenya one hundred kilos of cocaine, said to be worth around $6 million, were seized from a shipping container owned by sugar trader Jack Marrian in the port of Mombasa. Marrian's colleague Roy Mwanthi was also charged. On March 14, 2019, Kenya’s High Court acquitted the British aristocrat. The case against Mwanthi was also dropped.
(AP, 3/14/19)
2016 Aug 4, Kenyan police charged a British national with trafficking nearly 100 kg (220 pounds) of cocaine that was impounded last week at the country's main seaport. Jack Alexander Wolf Marrian denied the charge in court. A Kenyan, Roy Francis Mwanthi, was charged separately with trafficking the cocaine. It was not clear what happened to a third suspect, also Kenyan.
(AP, 8/4/16)
2016 Aug 26, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrived in Kenya to launch the Tokyo Int’l. Summit on African Development which 35 heads of state are expected to attend.
(AP, 8/26/16)
2016 Aug 26, In Kenya Francis Paul, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), was arrested as investigators probed allegations of mismanagement and corruption at the Rio Games. His deputy James Chicha and Stephen Ara Sou, who headed the Kenyan delegation to Rio, were both arrested at Nairobi airport on their return from the Brazil Games.
(AFP, 8/27/16)
2016 Aug 27, In Kenya Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told African leaders that his country will commit $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in the continent.
(Reuters, 8/27/16)
2016 Aug 30, Kenyan scientist Andrew Mude (39) won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for developing livestock insurance, using state-of-the-art technologies, for herders in East Africa's drylands.
(Reuters, 8/30/16)
2016 Sep 13, Somalia hosted regional African heads of state for a summit that was the first of its kind since the nation plunged into conflict in 1991. The one-day meeting in Mogadishu of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) included Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia.
(Reuters, 9/13/16)
2016 Sep 16, In Kenya angry protesters marched in Nairobi against plans to build an elevated railway line over the country's oldest national park, saying the project will threaten wildlife that includes lions, leopards and giraffes.
(AP, 9/16/16)
2016 Nov 9, The first batch of Kenyan troops who had served in a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan arrived home, after Nairobi ordered them to withdraw in response to the sacking of the Kenyan commander of the UNMISS force.
(Reuters, 11/9/16)
2016 Nov 15, Kenya destroyed some 5,250 illegal firearms by fire as part of efforts to fight crimes like cattle rustling, carjackings and to eliminate threats from terrorism.
(Reuters, 11/15/16)
2016 Nov 15, Amnesty International said Kenya is coercing residents of the world's largest refugee camp to leave it and return to Somalia where they risk getting killed or forcibly recruited into the Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab.
(AP, 11/15/16)
2016 Nov 16, Kenya agreed to suspend the closure of Dabaab refugee camp, the world's largest, for six months after coming under fire over the fate of its 280,000 inhabitants, most of them Somalis.
(AFP, 11/16/16)
2016 Nov 19, Kenyan police officers killed four suspected extremists in the volatile Mandera County, a border region hard-hit by recent attacks by the Somali extremist group al-Shabab.
(AP, 11/20/16)
2016 Dec 1, A Kenyan court charged two Iranian men with collecting information to facilitate a terrorist act after they were allegedly found with video footage of the Israeli embassy.
(AP, 12/1/16)
2016 Dec 5, Doctors working in Kenyan state hospitals went on strike to demand fulfillment of a 2013 agreement between their union and the government that would raise their pay and improve working conditions.
(Reuters, 12/5/16)
2016 Dec 7, Kenya’s Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta urged medical workers to return to work saying nearly 20 people have died three days into a strike because of lack of care.
(SFC, 12/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec 9, Kenya deployed army doctors to the country's main teaching and referral hospital where the last remaining doctors joined a five-day strike that has crippled healthcare services around the country.
(AFP, 12/9/16)
2016 Dec 10, In Kenya at least 39 people died when a tanker carrying flammable materials crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha late today.
(AFP, 12/11/16)(SFC, 12/12/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec, Haki Africa, a Kenya-based human rights group, published the names of 81 people, almost all young Muslim men, who it said were killed or disappeared by police since 2012.
(Econ, 2/18/17, p.39)
2016 In Kenya central bank Gov. Patrick Njoroge placed three banks into receivership in less than a year. H alleged that the managing director of one bank had siphoned off $335 million via 20 shell companies over 13 years.
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.58)
2016 Kenya exported some 360 tons of flowers every day out of Nairobi airport, mostly to Europe, but also to Asia and the Middle East.
(Econ, 4/16/16, SR p.8)
2016 Kenya declared qat, a mild stimulant, an officially sanctioned cash crop.
(Econ, 1/21/17, p.38)
2017 Jan 19, University lecturers in Kenya began a strike over pay, joining doctors who walked out in early December, crippling the country's healthcare.
(AFP, 1/19/17)
2017 Jan 27, In Somalia the al-Shabab extremist group attacked a Kenyan military base early today. Kenya's military said nine soldiers were killed and that more than 70 al-Shabab extremists were killed. Al-Shabab said 51 Kenyan soldiers were killed.
(AP, 1/27/17)(SFC, 1/28/17, p.A4)
2017 Jan 31, Kenya extradited Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha to the US. They had been arrested by Kenyan police over two years ago after allegedly handing over 99kg of heroin and 1kg of methamphetamine to people working for America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
(Econ, 2/11/17, p.45)
2017 Jan, In Kenya Aggrey Idri Ezibon, a member of a South Sudanese opposition group, and Dong Samuel Luak, a human rights lawyer disappeared in Nairobi. In 2019 a report by the UN Security Council panel of experts said multiple credible sources suggested that the two men were likely killed by South Sudanese National Security Service (NSS) officers on Jan. 30, 2017, on a farm owned by President Salva Kiir.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2017 Feb 2, Residents in northern Kenya said armed cattle herders have been flooding onto farms and wildlife conservancies in their drought-ravaged area, leading to violence in which at least 11 people have been killed and a tourist lodge torched.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 2, The United Nations' highest court ruled that it has the authority to adjudicate in a maritime boundary dispute between Kenya and Somalia over stretches of the Indian Ocean potentially rich in oil and gas.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 9, Kenya's High Court blocked the government's decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp -- the world's largest -- and force Somali refugees to return home.
(AFP, 2/9/17)
2017 Feb 13, A Kenyan court jailed seven union officials for a month over a doctors strike that has crippled public hospitals for 10 weeks. The seven doctors were released on Feb 15 in an effort to encourage negotiations to end the strike.
(AFP, 2/13/17)(AP, 2/15/17)
2017 Feb 14, Human Rights Watch said the huge newly-built Ethiopian Gibe III dam is cutting off the supply of water to Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.
(AFP, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 18, Kenyan officials said police have arrested two Kenyans who were deported from Turkey on suspicion of training with the Islamic State organization in neighboring Syria.
(AP, 2/18/17)
2017 Mar 2, In Somalia at least 57 al-Shabab members were killed after African Union troops from Kenya and Somali forces attacked one of its camps outside Afmadhow.
(AP, 3/2/17)
2017 Mar 6, In Kenya the body of rancher Tristan Voorspuy was found 190 km (118 miles) north of Nairobi. He was shot dead while inspecting some of his lodges, which had been burned by attackers. 379 pastoralist herders were soon arrested for invading ranches that led to the killing of the British farmer. Samson Lokayi (25), suspected of involvement in the death of Voorspuy, was arrested on March 12.
(AP, 3/6/17)(AFP, 3/14/17)
2017 Mar 6, In Kenya one of Africa's oldest and largest elephants was killed by poachers in Tsavo National Park. Two poachers believed to be responsible for the killing were soon apprehended.
(AFP, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 7, The Kenyan government ordered striking medical staff to go back to work and said it had withdrawn an offer of a 50 percent pay hike after the workers' union became inflexible in their negotiations.
(Reuters, 3/7/17)
2017 Mar 7, National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) executives, led by two-time Olympic champion Kip Keino, defied the IOC at a meeting and refused to make changes to their constitution.
(AP, 3/9/17)
2017 Mar 8, Kenya's state sector doctors, who have been on strike for three months, said they would not resume work after a government order the day before, and would wait for the conclusion of court-supervised resolution of the dispute. Authorities said they would hire foreign doctors to get public hospitals running again after talks failed to end a strike that has crippled healthcare for 94 days.
(Reuters, 3/8/17)(AFP, 3/8/17)
2017 Mar 10, The International Olympic Committee said it has frozen all cash funding for sport in Kenya as it battles the national Olympic body over its governance.
(AP, 3/10/17)
2017 Mar 14, In Kenya thousands of public hospital doctors agreed to end a 100-day strike after the government and union members signed a deal in Nairobi to address pay and other issues in dispute.
(SFC, 3/15/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 15, Kenya announced that it will ban all plastic bags, becoming the 2nd African country to do so after Rwanda. Earlier efforts by Kenya in 2007 and 2011 failed.
(Econ, 3/25/17, p.41)
2017 Mar 17, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the military to deploy to the volatile counties of Baringo and Laikipia in the Rift Valley to calm deadly violence fueled by drought that affects roughly half the country.
(AP, 3/17/17)
2017 Mar 22, It was reported that villagers in northern Kenya have begun to burn piles of animal carcasses, hoping to head off an outbreak of disease as their livestock starve to death in the region's worst drought in five years.
(Reuters, 3/22/17)
2017 Mar 23, Kenya, a pioneer in mobile money, began selling the first ever government bonds via mobile phone, allowing anyone from teachers to shop owners to invest and fund infrastructure projects.
(AFP, 3/23/17)
2017 Mar 26, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 31 Islamist al Shabaab militants in a raid on two of their bases in the southern Somali region of Jubbaland.
(Reuters, 3/27/17)
2017 Apr 21, Kenyan troops killed 52 al Shabaab fighters in an attack on the militants' camp in southern Somalia.
(Reuters, 4/21/17)
2017 Apr 23, In northern Kenya gunmen wounded Italian-born conservationist Kuki Gallmann (73) at her conservation park, in the latest of a string of attacks during land invasions in the drought-stricken area. Gallmann is known for her bestselling book “I Dream of Africa." Two suspects were killed by security agencies following the shooting of Gallmann. Other suspects were taken into custody.
(Reuters, 4/23/17)(AP, 4/24/17)(SFC, 4/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 24, The World Health Organization announced that Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will begin piloting the world’s first injectable malaria vaccine next year with hundreds of thousands of young children, who have been at highest risk of death.
(AP, 4/24/17)
2017 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse hundreds of people who took to the streets to protest the outcome of a regional party primary in the west of the country.
(Reuters, 4/25/17)
2017 Apr 25, In Kenya 27 people were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a trailer truck on a road linking Nairobi and Mombasa.
(SFC, 4/26/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 26, In Kenya one person was reported killed and another injured in hotly contested primary elections in the capital Nairobi, as the country heads toward general elections in August.
(AP, 4/26/17)
2017 May 9, The US Embassy in Kenya said it has suspended approximately $21 million in assistance to Kenya's ministry of health because of concerns about corruption. Kenya is ranked 145 out of 176 countries in Transparency International's index of the world's most corrupt countries.
(AP, 5/9/17)
2017 May 15, In northeast Kenya gunmen from Somalia's al Shabaab militant group burst into a government official's house and shot Dekow Abbey Sirat dead late today. A number of his bodyguards also died in the attack.
(Reuters, 5/16/17)
2017 May 20, Kenyan police shot dead one person in northern Isiolo county after a political rally attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta at which supporters of rival political candidates for regional government positions clashed.
(Reuters, 5/21/17)
2017 May 24, In Kenya eight police officers were killed by two roadside bombs during ongoing operation in Liboi. Both attacks were claimed by Shabaab Islamists.
(AFP, 5/25/17)
2017 May 25, In Kenya five police officers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in an attack claimed by Shabaab Islamists.
(AFP, 5/25/17)
2017 May 31, In Kenya four police officers and a civilian were killed and two more police were missing after their truck hit a landmine on a road along the northern coast.
(Reuters, 5/31/17)
2017 May, Kenya’s government unveiled a 6 billion shilling ($58.14 million) maize (corn) subsidy program to lower the unit cost of flour to 90 shillings, after it soared by a third to around 136 shillings during a regional drought.
(Reuters, 5/24/17)
2017 May, In Kenya a new Chinese-built railway opened connecting the coast to Nairobi.
(Econ 8/5/17, p.34)
2017 Jun 13, In Kenya at least four people were missing after the collapse of a eight-storey building in Nairobi overnight. Rescuers soon pulled two children and their mother from the building. Two people were thought to be still trapped in the debris.
(AFP, 6/13/17)(SFC, 6/14/17, p.A2)
2017 Jun 16, In northern Kenya an improvised explosive device killed four people in a passenger vehicle in a suspected extremist attack.
(AP, 6/16/17)
2017 Jun 30, Kenya’s government launched M-Akiba, the world’s first sovereign bond to be sold exclusively through mobile platforms.
(http://www.m-akiba.go.ke/)(Econ 7/1/17, p.64)
2017 Jul 5, In Kenya Somali al Shabaab militants killed three police officers during a raid on the northeastern town of Pandanguo that sparked a day-long gunbattle. Several militants were reported killed.
(Reuters, 7/5/17)
2017 Jul 8, In Kenya at least nine people were shot and hacked to death in coastal Lamu County early today. Police sources said Shabaab militants were believed to be behind the killings.
(AFP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 8, Kenya's interior minister and a retired general, died in a Nairobi hospital a month before the East African country's presidential election. Joseph Nkaissery was 68.
(AFP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 19, Kenya’s health minister said a cholera outbreak in Nairobi has killed four people since May and the government has shut down a three-star hotel and a popular restaurant there to control its spread.
(Reuters, 7/19/17)
2017 Jul 29, In Kenya an intruder killed a police guard at the home of Deputy President William Ruto and armed himself with a rifle before he was shot dead more than 18 hours later.
(AP, 7/30/17)
2017 Jul 31, A senior Kenyan official was found murdered in Nairobi three days after he went missing. Chris Msando, the election board's head of information, communication and technology, was tortured before he died.
(Reuters, 7/31/17)(Econ 8/5/17, p.33)
2017 Aug 3, In Kenya Somalia's al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels killed a Kenyan policeman when they attacked a police station in northern Mandera County, raising security concerns over next week's national elections.
(AP, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 3, USAID said the Trump administration has given $169 million to feed people starving in Ethiopia and Kenya.
(Reuters, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 4, In Kenya John Aristotle Phillips, the CEO of US-based campaign data company Aristotle, Inc, was detained and faced deportation along with Canadian staffer Andreas Katsouris. The two men were assisting opposition candidate Raila Odinga with issues including strategy and data analysis and had chosen to get involved in the Kenyan election because they thought it had the potential for irregularities.
(AP, 8/5/17)
2017 Aug 4, Popular Kenyan televangelist Gilbert Deya was extradited from Britain to face charges of child trafficking amid accusations that he stole children, including newborn babies, to prove miracles.
(AP, 8/4/17)
2017 Aug 8, Kenya held elections. The presidential vote pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta (55), the businessman son of Kenya's founding president, against Raila Odinga (72), a former political prisoner and son of Kenya's first vice-president.
(Reuters, 8/8/17)
2017 Aug 9, In Kenya protests broke out after opposition leader Raila Odinga alleged that election results had been hacked into and manipulated. Two people were reported shot dead in Nairobi during protests over provisional election results showing President Uhuru Kenyatta leading opposition leader Raila Odinga.
(AP, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 10, A Kenyan official said violence has broken out in the county of Garissa, where opposition supporters are demonstrating against the announcement of a ruling party candidate as the winner of a gubernatorial race. An opposition official claimed that election commission data shows opposition leader Raila Odinga won the August 8 election and that he should be declared president. Provisional results released by the election commission on its website showed Kenyatta leading by a big margin with almost all polling stations counted.
(AP, 8/10/17)
2017 Aug 11, Kenya's opposition coalition called on the election commission to give it access to its computer servers and said it would accept the results on Tuesday's vote based on the figures recorded there. Provisional results show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a lead of 1.4 million votes. Unrest erupted moments after the election commission announced late today that Kenyatta (55) had secured a second five-year term in office, despite opposition allegations that the tally was a fraud.
(Reuters, 8/11/17)(Reuters, 8/12/17)
2017 Aug 12, Kenyan police killed at least 11 people in a crackdown on protests as anger at the re-election of Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta erupted in the western city of Kisumu and slums surrounding the capital. The opposition accused the security forces of killing more than 100 people. Stephanie Moraa (8) died in the Nairobi slum of Mathare after being hit by a stray bullet as police fired to disperse protesters, the day after election results were announced. Six-month-old Samantha Pendo was reportedly teargassed and clubbed in her mother’s arms by police who invaded a home in Kisumu looking for protesters.
(Reuters, 8/12/17)(Reuters, 11/13/17)
2017 Aug 13, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a strike to support his claim to the presidency and accused the ruling party of "spilling the blood of innocent people", despite growing pressure on him to concede election defeat. 24 people have been killed since the election.
(Reuters, 8/13/17)(AP, 8/13/17)
2017 Aug 14, Kenyans largely ignored an opposition call to go on strike, re-opening shops and returning to work as they shrugged off demands for demonstrations against President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election and against the killing of protesters.
(Reuters, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 14, Shekue Kahale, a Kenya politician who campaigned for election to parliament in last week's election, survived as eleven other people drowned when the boat they were traveling in capsized in waters in the Indian Ocean off Kenya.
(Reuters, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 16, A Kenyan government watchdog said it will investigate whether police killed a baby and a young girl during an Aug 12 crackdown on post-election demonstrations.
(Reuters, 8/16/17)
2017 Aug 18, In Kenya suspected members of Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group beheaded at least three men overnight in an attack at Maleli village in Lamu county.
(Reuters, 8/18/17)
2017 Aug 20, In Kenya the bodies of a Caucasian couple thought to be between 60 and 70 years old were found dumped by a rural road in the coastal city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 8/20/17)
2017 Aug 24, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta rebuked newly elected members of parliament for resisting modest cuts to their salaries and perks, worth more than $10,000 a month, and said citizens were angry with extravagance in the government.
(Reuters, 8/24/17)
2017 Sep 1, Kenya's Supreme Court nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win citing irregularities and ordered a new poll within 60 days, a rare move in Africa where judicial power is often seen as an extension of government.
(Reuters, 9/1/17)
2017 Sep 2, In Kenya seven teenage schoolgirls died and 10 more were hospitalized after a fire engulfed the Moi Girls School boarding dormitory in Nairobi early today. On Sep 13 a girl (14) was charged with multiple counts of murder for allegedly starting the fire at the Nairobi school dormitory that left nine other schoolgirls dead.
(Reuters, 9/2/17)(AFP, 9/13/17)
2017 Sep 3, In Kenya Raila Odinga, the main rival of President Uhuru Kenyatta, called for the ousting of members of the country's election commission, likening them to "hyenas", while judges slammed "veiled threats" by the president after the shock annulment of his re-election victory.
(AFP, 9/3/17)
2017 Sep 3, Two Kenyan police officers were killed by gunmen on a motorbike as they were guarding a church near the Indian Ocean, in an attack police believe could be the work of Shabaab militants.
(AFP, 9/3/17)
2017 Sep 6, In northern Kenya suspected militants from the Somali group al Shabaab beheaded four men in two different attacks in Lamu County.
(Reuters, 9/6/17)
2017 Sep 11, Kenyan police detained lawmaker Moses Kuria from the ruling party and former opposition senator Johnson Muthama over allegations of hate speech.
(Reuters, 9/11/17)
2017 Sep 13, Kenyan police in the western city of Kisumu fired tear gas and bullets in the air to disperse young men who broke into a hotel and beat women attending an election meeting.
(Reuters, 9/13/17)
2017 Sep 19, Kenyan police fired teargas at supporters of Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta who protested outside the Supreme Court against the invalidation of his Aug. 8 re-election.
(Reuters, 9/19/17)
2017 Sep 26, Kenyan police used tear gas to disperse opposition protesters outside the headquarters of the election commission a month before a scheduled re-run of the annulled presidential poll.
(AFP, 9/26/17)
2017 Sep 28, Kenya's opposition called for demonstrations against the government after the ruling party moved to change the electoral law ahead of next month's re-run presidential poll.
(AFP, 9/28/17)
2017 Oct 2, In Kenya police fired teargas at opposition supporters who rallied in Nairobi calling for the sacking of election board officials they blame for August's botched presidential vote.
(Reuters, 10/2/17)
2017 Oct 3, In Kenya administrators closed the Univ. of Nairobi, citing fears for students' safety in a planned protest over police beatings at a campus demonstration last week.
(Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017 Oct 6, Kenyan police fired tear gas at opposition protesters in Nairobi who were demanding that officials involved in August's canceled presidential election be sacked. Crowds had gathered in Nairobi, the port of Mombasa and Kisumu, the western stronghold of the opposition, for the second time this week.
(Reuters, 10/6/17)
2017 Oct 9, Kenyan police fired teargas and shots in the air as hundreds of demonstrators marched through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul an election.
(Reuters, 10/9/17)
2017 Oct 9, Kenya's military said it had gunned down five suspected al-Shabab militants in the Bodhei area of Lamu County.
(AP, 10/10/17)
2017 Oct 10, In Kenya gunmen killed two female employees of a university in Ukunda, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga shocked the country by withdrawing his candidacy for the Oct 26 presidential election ordered by the Supreme Court, saying the election commission has not made changes to avoid the "irregularities and illegalities" cited in the nullified August vote.
(AP, 10/10/17)
2017 Oct 11, In Kenya police used tear gas to disperse thousands of opposition protesters who regrouped outside the election commission's offices in Nairobi and demanded reforms. A judge ruled that a minor opposition candidate can run for president in this month's election. Lawmakers approved amendments to the electoral law that have been criticized by the opposition and Western diplomats.
(AP, 10/11/17)
2017 Oct 12, Kenya's opposition vowed to pursue a campaign of protest for electoral reform, defying a ban on rallies in main city centers announced today by the government.
(AFP, 10/12/17)
2017 Oct 13, Police in Kenya shot and killed two opposition protesters who allegedly stormed a police station with farm tools and rocks in the western part of the country, while police used tear gas on rallies in the capital and elsewhere demanding reforms ahead of the new election. Opposition leader Raila Odinga said he's willing to return to the race if the government is "ready to do business and deal" on reforms.
(AP, 10/13/17)
2017 Oct 14, In Kenya gunmen shot dead seven people, including six students, in a raid on Lokichogio Mixed Secondary School that appeared to be a revenge attack by a student who had been suspended for fighting. The suspended student was arrested, but angry members of the public overwhelmed police and killed him. The attackers were thought to be from neighboring South Sudan.
(AP, 10/14/17)
2017 Oct 16, Kenya police shot dead a street vendor as opposition supporters held demonstrations calling for electoral reform. Human Rights Watch said as many as 67 people have died across the East African nation after President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election was announced.
(AP, 10/16/17)
2017 Oct 17, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said he was suspending a protest campaign after three people were shot dead in demonstrations against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
(AP, 10/17/17)
2017 Oct 18, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a mass protest on Oct. 26, the date the country is due to hold a presidential vote that he is boycotting. Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election commissioners, resigned and fled the country saying that the upcoming elections had no chance of being credible and fair.
(Reuters, 10/18/17)(SFC, 10/19/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 20, Kenya’s electoral board chief executive Ezra Chiloba said that he would take three weeks' leave. The opposition has demanded Chiloba resign, and the announcement that he will not participate in running the vote suggests progress in behind-the-scenes negotiations involving Western diplomats and religious and civil society leaders.
(Reuters, 10/20/17)
2017 Oct 23, Kenya’s chief prosecutor's office said authorities will arrest and charge Ruth Odinga, the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga, with incitement to violence after attacks on the election board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 25, Kenya plunged deeper into crisis after a no-show by a majority of Supreme Court judges scuppered an eleventh-hour petition to delay a presidential election and the governor of a volatile opposition region endorsed rebellion against the state.
(Reuters, 10/25/17)
2017 Oct 26, In Kenya at least three people were shot dead in clashes over an election re-run, prompting officials to delay the vote in four counties to Oct. 28 as the country's worst political crisis in a decade deepened.
(AFP, 10/26/17)(Reuters, 10/26/17)
2017 Oct 27, In western Kenya one person was shot dead as opposition supporters protested plans to stage a poll on Oct. 28 in four western counties where voting had been blocked by election-day unrest. A local media tally said President Uhuru Kenyatta has won over 96 percent of the votes counted so far from the re-run election.
(AFP, 10/27/17)(4, 10/27/17)
2017 Oct 28, Kenyans who boycotted a repeat presidential election voiced relief on after authorities indefinitely delayed further attempts to hold the vote in some opposition areas due to the risk of violence. President Uhuru Kenyatta has won more than 97 percent of votes counted so far.
(Reuters, 10/28/17)
2017 Oct 29, Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga called for calm. He said that the country's repeat presidential election was a sham and that a new vote should be held within 90 days. The body of George Odumbe (64), a Luo laborer, was found in a sugarcane field in rural western Kenya with three arrows in the back and severe head wounds.
(Reuters, 10/29/17)(AP, 10/29/17)
2017 Oct 30, The head of Kenya’s election commission said President Uhuru Kenyatta won last week's repeat presidential election with slightly more than 98 percent of the vote. The turnout, boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga, was just under 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters.
(Reuters, 10/30/17)
2017 Oct 31, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga harshly criticized an election rerun in which President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner, saying it should be scrapped in favor of yet another vote and that the opposition would continue to protest in the streets.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Oct 31, A Kenyan court released a man whom police had called the prime suspect in the murder of his estranged Australian wife. Gabrielle Maina was shot dead by armed men riding a motorbike as she walked near her home in Nairobi, earlier this month.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Oct, Tanzania seized and auctioned off 1,300 cattle which had wandered across the border from Kenya to graze in a region where herders typically pay little heed to frontiers.
(AFP, 11/8/17)
2017 Nov 7, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga said he wants an interim government to run the country for six months while the constitution is reviewed to curb the president's authority.
(Reuters, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 8, Kenya's parliament began an unscheduled three-week recess, following a deadlock over the allocation of leadership posts, indicating a protracted political crisis could reverberate beyond the October election.
(Reuters, 11/8/17)
2017 Nov 17, In Kenya at least five people were killed as police tried to disperse supporters cheering a convoy carrying opposition leader Raila Odinga from the airport to central Nairobi. The interior ministry spokesman accused the opposition supporters of blocking roads, burning vehicles and looting businesses along the route.
(Reuters, 11/17/17)(SFC, 11/18/17, p.A4)
2017 Nov 19, In Kenya clashes erupted in a Nairobi slum after four bodies were found in the streets, hiking tensions on the eve of a Supreme Court ruling on the validity of last month's divisive election re-run. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for "international intervention" in the country's election crisis, saying at least 31 supporters have been killed by police and militia since his return from an overseas trip on Nov 17.
(AFP, 11/19/17)
2017 Nov 20, Kenya's Supreme Court upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month's repeat presidential vote, paving the way for him to be sworn in next week.
(Reuters, 11/20/17)
2017 Nov 28, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term, shortly before riot police teargassed the convoy of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who promised supporters he would be sworn in himself on Dec. 12. A boy (7) was killed by a stray bullet as Kenyan police chase opposition supporters during the swearing-in ceremony. At least two people other were shot dead in clashes with the police.
(Reuters, 11/28/17)(AP, 11/28/17)(AFP, 11/28/17)
2017 Dec 9, Lecturers in Kenya's public universities ended a strike after reaching agreement with the government over pay and other issues, according to a statement from their union.
(Reuters, 12/9/17)
2017 Dec 31, In central Kenya 36 people were killed and 11 injured early today in a head-on collision between a bus and a lorry on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.
(AFP, 12/31/17)
2017 In 2017, In Kenya publisher Angela Wachuka (35) and author Wanjiru Koinange (31) launched the "Book Bunk" scheme to modernize the McMillan Memorial Library, situated in Nairobi's buzzing business quarter, as well as the libraries at Makadara and Kaloleni in residential areas of the city.
(AFP, 8/2/18)
2018 Jan 15, Kenyan police arrested Roman Catholic priest in Muranga County for allegedly engaging sexual relations with a man (18).
(AP, 1/16/18)
2018 Jan 17, The European Union shelved a 3.6 billion shilling ($35 million) water conservation assistance scheme to Kenya one day after forest guards killed a member of a community indigenous to one of the forests involved in the project. The bloc had told the government it would reconsider financial support if the use of force against innocent locals persisted.
(Reuters, 1/17/18)
2018 Jan 30, The Kenyan government declared the opposition's 'National Resistance Movement' a criminal group. Independently owned Citizen TV and Radio, KTN News and NTV were switched off as supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga watched him take a symbolic presidential oath in a Nairobi park in a direct challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
(Reuters, 1/30/18)(Reuters, 1/31/18)
2018 Feb 1, A Kenyan court suspended a government shutdown of three TV channels that was prompted by their coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's symbolic presidential inauguration this week, one of the channels reported.
(Reuters, 2/1/18)
2018 Feb 2, Kenya's three leading TV stations were off the air for a fourth day as police prevented the delivery of a court order to restore their transmissions after they tried to broadcast opposition leader Raila Odinga swearing himself in as "the people's president".
(AP, 2/2/18)
2018 Feb 4, In Kenya Esmond Bradley Martin, a leading American investigator into the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade, was found stabbed to death in his Nairobi home. He had researched the illegal ivory trade in Myanmar shortly before he was killed. In October the "Save The Elephants" conservation group released a report saying the illegal flow of ivory from Myanmar to neighboring China is continuing "largely unabated."
(AP, 2/5/18)(AP, 10/2/18)
2018 Feb 5, Two Kenyan television channels shut down by the government over their coverage of the political opposition resumed partial broadcasting, although a third channel remained off the air. Police teargassed demonstrators demanding the stations reopen as they tried to march on government offices.
(Reuters, 2/5/18)
2018 Feb 6, A Kenyan opposition politician was charged with treason over the symbolic presidential "swearing in" of opposition leader Raila Odinga, reigniting street protests in which one person was killed.
(Reuters, 2/6/18)
2018 Feb 7, Kenyan authorities overnight deported lawyer Miguna Miguna, charged with treason for attending the symbolic presidential inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga, prompting a rare rebuke from the Chief Justice who accused the government of defying court orders.
(Reuters, 2/7/18)
2018 Feb 7, A Kenyan court convicted a policeman of murdering a suspected thief in 2013 in a rare victory for the independent police watchdog that brought the case. The judge ruled that policeman Titus Musila should have arrested Kenneth Mwangi, whom he believed had stolen a mobile phone, instead of shooting him three times in the head.
(Reuters, 2/8/18)
2018 Feb 8, In Kenya Citizen TV, the last of three television stations shut down by the government last week, resumed transmission.
(Reuters, 2/8/18)
2018 Feb 16, In Kenya two non-Muslim teachers were killed in an al-Shabab attack in Wajir County. This prompted the Teacher's Service Commission to transfer 329 teachers elsewhere and many other to leave on their own. At least 224 primary schools and 42 secondary schools were no longer able to function.
(SFC, 5/4/18, p.A3)
2018 Mar 1, Kenyan conservationists expressed outrage after construction of a railway line began inside Nairobi's famed national park, saying this defied a court order halting the project.
(AFP, 3/1/18)
2018 Mar 9, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga promised to unite the country after elections last year in which around 100 people were killed mainly in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces.
(Reuters, 3/9/18)
2018 Mar 12, The Kenyan Red Cross Society said more than 2,000 Ethiopians have crossed into Kenya seeking refuge, after several civilians were killed in what the Ethiopian military said was a botched security operation targeting militants.
(Reuters, 3/13/18)
2018 Mar 19, In Kenya the world's last male northern white rhino died, leaving only two females of its subspecies alive in the world, although scientists still hope to save it from extinction by in vitro fertilization.
(AP, 3/20/18)
2018 Mar 22, A Kenyan appeals court ruled unlawful the use of forced anal exams to test whether men had gay sex.
(SFC, 3/23/18, p.A2)
2018 Mar 26, In Kenya opposition figure Miguna Miguna was detained when he returned on a flight from Canada, a month after being deported in a dispute over his dual citizenship. Plainclothes officers tried to hustle him onto an outbound plane, but that failed when he protested. A High Court order the next day called for the his immediate release and a court appearance.
(Reuters, 3/27/18)(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar 27, In Kenya columnists from the country's top media group resigned en masse a day after police punched and kicked journalists covering the attempted deportation of an opposition politician at Nairobi airport.
(Reuters, 3/27/18)
2018 Mar 29, A Kenyan judge fined the country's interior minister, police chief and permanent secretary for immigration $2,000 each for contempt of court over the deportation of an opposition politician, Miguna Miguna.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar 29, Kenyan opposition politician Miguna Miguna alleged he was drugged and deported to Dubai early today after his attempt to enter Kenya led to him being detained in an airport toilet for more than a day.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Apr 5, A Kenyan court sentenced a policeman to 15 years in prison, after he was found guilty of killing a man in 2013 he suspected of stealing a mobile phone. Titus Musila was last month convicted of murder for shooting Kenneth Mwangi three times in the head instead of arresting him.
(Reuters, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 5, Kenya started marking rhinos and aimed to tag and identify 22 of them in two weeks at a cost of $600,000, as part of conserving their dwindling numbers.
(Reuters, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 16, In Kenya three commissioners from the electoral commission said they've resigned over the suspension of the chief executive officer who was sent on compulsory leave to pave way for wider investigations into the conduct of the commission in last year's elections.
(AP, 4/16/18)
2018 Apr 22, The hottest-ever London Marathon featured a Kenyan double as Eliud Kipchoge (33) swept to a third victory in front of Buckingham Palace joining Vivian Cheruiyot who won the women's race.
(AP, 4/22/18)
2018 Apr 27, A Kenyan movie due to become the first in the country's history to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board for seeking to "promote lesbianism." The story by Ugandan writer Monica Arac Nyeko won the 2007 Caine Prize, which is awarded to African writers of a short story published in English.
(AFP, 4/27/18)
2018 Apr 30, Kenya's Red Cross estimated that at least 100 have also died in the downpours since early April, and that the disaster needs emergency funding.
(Reuters, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr 30, Swiss police said four people have died in the Swiss Alps and five others were in a serious conditions after bad weather forced 14 people to spend a night outdoors in the Pigne d’Arolla area.
(Reuters, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr 30, The Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said three quarters of freshwater species endemic to East Africa's Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction, warning the biodiversity there was being "decimated." The lake stretches into Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and its catchment also touches Burundi and Rwanda.
(AFP, 4/30/18)
2018 May 2, In Kenya three rhinos were found dead with their horns missing in Rhino Sanctuary in Meru National Park. The country's Ministry of Tourism called it an act of poaching.
(Reuters, 5/3/18)
2018 May 3, It was reported that a government taskforce in Kenya has called for the management of the Kenya Forest Service to be sacked and some of its staff investigated for alleged corruption which it said had allowed for illegal logging and significant destruction to forests.
(Reuters, 5/3/18)
2018 May 3, In Kenya eight people were swept off a bridge in a flashflood outside the capital. 120 people have died over the last two months following weeks of torrential rain. Rwanda officials said 116 people had died and 207 had been injured in flooding and landslides since January. Torrential rains have also hit Tanzania, where 14 people died in April, as well as Uganda where flash floods have destroyed homes and left at least three dead.
(AFP, 5/4/18)
2018 May 9, In Kenya the Patel Dam, dam burst its banks in the Rift Valley late today, killing at least 45 people and forcing hundreds from their homes. At least 20 of the dead were children. 40 people remained missing.
(AP, 5/10/18)(Reuters, 5/10/18)(AFP, 5/11/18)
2018 May 11, Kenyan police on the trail of one of the country's most wanted criminals shot dead Arnold Mudanya (17) after mistaking him for suspect Shimoli Junior.
(Reuters, 5/15/18)
2018 May 16, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a new law that outlaws the abuse of people on social media but which critics say could be exploited to repress civil liberties.
(Reuters, 5/16/18)
2018 May 20, Kenya's head of the directorate of criminal investigations George Kinoti said investigators have summoned more than 40 people for questioning after a "massive theft of public funds" at the country's National Youth Service (NYS). Domestic media reports said 10 billion shillings ($100 million) had been stolen through fictitious invoices, and multiple payments on one supplier invoice, at the NYS.
(Reuters, 5/20/18)
2018 May 20, In Kenya a train carrying 250,000 liters of petrol derailed at Mombasa and dumped part of its cargo into the Indian Ocean and onto a major highway.
(Reuters, 5/21/18)
2018 May 25, Chris Foot, the head of Kenya's film commission, slammed a decision to impose a domestic ban on "Rafiki," a Kenya-made film about lesbian love that received a standing ovation at this month's Cannes festival.
(AFP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 28, Kenyan authorities charged 54 people, mainly civil servants in an investigation into the theft of nearly $100 million of public funds, a rare move to hold officials to account for graft in a nation where it is widespread.
(Reuters, 5/28/18)
2018 May 29, Kenyan officials denied charges related to alleged wrongdoing in the National Youth Service following investigations into a $79 million corruption scandal.
(SFC, 5/30/18, p.A2)
2018 May 30, In Kenya a new cybercrime law came into force, but without a ban on "false" information, after bloggers and journalists won a court order blocking rules they said could curtail free expression.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 30, In Kenya wildlife troopers shot dead three armed men in Mount Elgon National Park, while two other suspected poachers were injured but escaped.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 31, Kenya's director of criminal investigations confirmed that authorities will investigate 10 financial institutions suspected of handling funds that were stolen from the government's National Youth Service (NYS). Hundreds of people marched in Nairobi to protest against widespread corruption.
(Reuters, 5/31/18)(SFC, 6/1/18, p.A2)
2018 Jun 3, In Kenya at least three people were killed after a five-story building collapsed in Nairobi. Authorities say 30,000 to 40,000 buildings built without approval in the capital are at risk, and dozens have died in similar disasters in recent years.
(Reuters, 6/3/18)
2018 Jun 5, In Kenya a small plane, operated by East African Safari Air Express, took off from the western town of Kitale in the late afternoon and soon disappeared. Wreckage was discovered in central Kenya two days later and all ten people onboard were killed.
(AFP, 6/7/18)
2018 Jun 6, In eastern Kenya five police officers were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device suspected to have been planted by Somalia's al Shabaab group.
(Reuters, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 16, It was reported that Kenya's donkey population has fallen from 1.8 million to 1.2 million as the country's three slaughterhouses butcher some 1,000 donkeys a day to supply skins to China, where donkey skins are processed to produce ejiao, a gelatin that purports to provide health benefits. The Chinese demand for donkey skins has led to donkey theft across Africa.
(SFC, 6/16/18, p.A4)
2018 Jun 17, In eastern Kenya eight police officials were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device planted by Somalia's al Shabaab militant group.
(Reuters, 6/18/18)
2018 Jun 28, In Kenya a fire at Nairobi's Gikomba market killed 15 people less than a year after a blaze destroyed much of the capital's largest open-air market.
(AP, 6/28/18)
2018 Jul 6, Kenya's top prosecutor said corrupt judges are hampering an anti-graft drive, undermining President Uhuru Kenyatta's attempt to restore public trust in the government, national security and the economy.
(Reuters, 7/6/18)
2018 Jul 12, Kenyans voiced outrage as it emerged that a group of lawmakers had gone to the World Cup at the taxpayers' expense, even though the country had failed to qualify for the tournament.
(AFP, 7/12/18)
2018 Jul 13, Kenya's government said eight critically endangered black rhinos died after being moved to a new reserve in southern Kenya, doubling the number of deaths from similar operations in the previous dozen years. Kenya's Tourism and Wildlife Minister Najib Balala ordered the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to immediately suspend the ongoing translocation of black rhinos.
(AFP, 7/13/18)
2018 Jul 14, Kenyan authorities said they had arrested Ben Chumo, a former chief executive officer of the state-run distributor Kenya Power, on suspicion of economic crimes and wanted to charge the current chief executive. Two other company officers were also arrested.
(Reuters, 7/14/18)
2018 Jul 16, In Kenya former US President Barack Obama praised a rapprochement between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga but said they must do more to heal the rifts between Kenya's 40-odd ethnic groups. Obama was there to open a school in his father's home village of Kogelo.
(Reuters, 7/16/18)
2018 Jul 19, A Kenyan court sentenced Ruth Kamande, a 24-year-old jail beauty queen, to death for murdering her boyfriend by stabbing him 25 times, drawing criticism from rights groups who called the punishment "inhumane." She had slashed her partner Farid Mohammed (24) to death in 2015 and was convicted in May.
(AFP, 7/20/18)
2018 Jul 26, Kenyan wildlife authorities said a tenth critically endangered black rhino has died after being moved from the capital to a new wildlife park and the sole survivor has been attacked by lions in what some conservationists have called a national disaster.
(AP, 7/26/18)
2018 Jul 30, In Kenya poachers killed a 12-year-old black rhino in Lake Nakuru national park days after the authorities announced that ten of the critically endangered animals had died in a bungled relocation.
(Reuters, 7/31/18)
2018 Aug 8, Kenya's national wildlife service said authorities have arrested a suspected poacher linked to the killing of a 12-year-old black rhino last month in Lake Nakuru national park.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 8, Kenyan runner Nicholas Bett (28), who won the 2015 world championship title in the 400-meter hurdles, was killed in an early-morning car crash in the country's famed high-altitude training region.
(AP, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 11, It was reported that Kenyan authorities have arrested the head of the agency that manages public land and the boss of the state railway on suspicion of corruption over land allocation for the new $3-billion flagship Nairobi-Mombasa railway. 18 officials, businesspeople and companies were named in a statement listing arrests that was posted on the prosecutor's office's Twitter feed.
(Reuters, 8/11/18)
2018 Aug 11, In Kenya a Chinese tourist died after he was attacked by a hippo as he was taking pictures on the shores of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley.
(AP, 8/12/18)
2018 Aug 28, Kenya’s deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu was arrested on suspicion of corruption, failure to pay tax, and improper dealings with a local bank now in receivership.
(Reuters, 8/28/18)
2018 Aug 29, The corruption trial of Kenya's deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu, the country's second-highest judge, was suspended amid a barrage of legal petitions at various courts.
(AFP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 29, Kenya's military said five soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb blew up the vehicle they were travelling in southeastern Lamu County.
(AP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 30, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council member David Okeyo of Kenya was banned from track and field for life for his role in diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars of sponsorship money from Nike for his and others' personal use.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 30, British PM Theresa May became the first UK leader to visit Kenya in 30 years, bringing security and development funding to East Africa's commercial hub.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Sep 24, Kenyan police charged Migori province Gov. Okoth Obado with the murder of a university student who claimed he had impregnated her in an extramarital affair. Sharon Otieno was kidnapped along with journalist Barack Oduor last month when they were due to meet with the governor. Otieno's body was later found in a forest.
(AP, 9/24/18)
2018 Sep 24, Kenya's military said it's killed 10 rebels from the al-Shabab extremist group in an ambush in the south where several soldiers have died from roadside bombs.
(AP, 9/24/18)
2018 Oct 5, US First Lady Melania Trump cozied up to baby elephants and went on safari in Kenya, on the third leg of a solo tour of Africa that has contrasted with the ongoing tumult in Washington.
(AP, 10/5/18)
2018 Oct 10, In Kenya 50 people were killed when a bus travelling between Nairobi and the western city of Kisumu swerved off the road coming down a slope.
(Reuters, 10/10/18)
2018 Oct 15, Running great Kip Keino was given more time to report to police in Kenya after being one of seven former Olympic and government officials accused of corruption relating to the misappropriation of more than $545,000 around the time of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
(AP, 10/15/18)
2018 Oct 19, In Kenya running great Kip Keino (78) said that charges against him in a Kenyan Olympic corruption case have been dropped and he has been released.
(AP, 10/19/18)
2018 Nov 20, In Kenya gunmen kidnapped Silvia Costanza Romano (23) and shot and wounded four people in Chakama, a small town south of the border with Somalia. Romano was working as a volunteer with an Italian humanitarian group when she was abducted. On Dec. 9 a suspect, identified as Ibrahim Adan Omar, was arrested in Bangali town in Tana county. Abductors eventually passed her into the hands of militants linked to Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremists. On May 10, 2020, she returned home after 18 months as a hostage.
(Reuters, 11/21/18)(AP, 11/22/18)(AP, 12/11/18)(AP, 5/10/20)
2018 Dec 10, A Kenyan court charged senior officials from the state-run oil pipeline and others from the state health insurance fund for abuse of office and economic crimes that led to the loss of billions of shillings from the two institutions.
(Reuters, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 13, A court in Kenya convicted ex-senior police officer Nahashon Mutua of murder in the death of Martin Koome, a suspect taken into custody in 2013, in what rights groups welcomed as a further step toward curbing years of police brutality.
(Reuters, 12/13/18)
2018 Dec 16, In western Kenya five people were killed in a village after residents resisted the arrest of a suspect in a domestic abuse case. A policeman was soon arrested in connection with the deaths.
(AP, 12/17/18)
2019 Jan 15, In Kenya a huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. At least 7 people were killed. One of the five was later identified as Mahir Khalid Riziki (25), who grew up in Mombasa.
(AFP, 1/15/19)(Reuters, 1/15/19)(AFP, 1/19/19)
2019 Jan 16, Kenya's government said security forces have killed at least five militants who stormed the upscale Nairobi DusitD2 hotel compound, taking at least 21 lives and forcing hundreds of others into terrifying escapes after a 20-hour, overnight siege.
(AFP, 1/15/19)(Reuters, 1/15/19)(SFC, 1/17/19, p.A4)
2019 Jan 17, Kenyan police said nine more people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the extremist attack on the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi this week, bringing the total number of suspects in detention to 11.
(AP, 1/17/19)
2019 Jan 19, Kenyan officials said they have arrested six more people suspected of involvement in the Jan. 15 extremist attack in Nairobi, bringing the total number of detainees to 12.
(AP, 1/19/19)
2019 Jan 20, In Kenya four people were wounded when gunmen opened fire late today on a Chinese construction site in the remote northeast, before being quickly repelled. The attack was suspected to be the work of Somali Islamists al-Shabaab.
(AFP, 1/21/19)
2019 Feb 12, Kenya said it is seeking to close the Dabaab refugee camp within six months. The camp held more than 200,000 refugees from Somalia.
(SSFC, 3/31/19, p.A4)
2019 Feb 13, In Kenya a small plane crashed in the country's west killing all five people on board, including three Americans.
(AP, 2/13/19)
2019 Mar 3, In northwestern Kenya four Americans and their Kenyan pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed just after take-off from a remote island in Lake Turkana.
(AP, 3/4/19)
2019 Mar 6, In Kenya thousands of air passengers were stranded after a strike by aviation workers at the main Nairobi airport led to the cancellation and delay of scores of flights and the use of riot police to break up the industrial action. By the end of the day however, most scheduled arrivals had been processed while the departures backlog was being cleared.
(Reuters, 3/6/19)
2019 Mar 13, In Kenya the sixth Global Environment Outlook was released at a UN conference in Nairobi. It said unsustainable human activities globally have degraded the Earth's ecosystems, endangering the ecological foundations of society.
(SFC, 3/14/19, p.A6)
2019 Mar 15, In Kenya nations meeting at the UN environment assembly in Nairobi announced that they had agreed to "significantly reduce" single-use plastics over the next decade.
(AFP, 3/15/19)
2019 Apr 12, Suspected Al-Shabaab jihadis in northeastern Kenya kidnapped a Cuban general practitioner and a surgeon in Mandera and whisked them to Somalia. One of two police officers escorting the doctors to work was shot dead by the attackers, who later demanded $1.5 million (1.35 million euros) for their release.
(AFP, 4/12/19)(AFP, 5/16/19)
2019 Apr 24, A Kenyan court found British national Jermaine Grant, in custody since 2011, guilty of possessing bomb-making materials. Grant is believed to be part of an al-Shabab-linked cell that planned multiple attacks over Christmas in 2011. Grant's former flatmate Samantha Lewthwaite, whose husband Germaine Lindsay killed 26 people in a suicide bombing on the Piccadilly Line of London Underground in 2005, is still at large and wanted in Kenya on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy.
(AP, 4/24/19)(AP, 4/24/19)
2019 May 16, Animal activists urged Kenya to ban the slaughter of donkeys for use in Chinese medicine, a practice which has soared in recent years and decimated African populations of the animal.
(AFP, 5/16/19)
2019 May 21, Kenya author Binyavanga Wainaina (48), one of Africa's best-known authors and gay rights activists, died in Nairobi.
(AP, 5/22/19)
2019 May 22, It was reported that Michael Rotich, the coach of Kenya's Olympic track team in 2016, has been banned for 10 years for corruption after he asked for $12,000 to give athletes advance notice to help them beat doping tests.
(AP, 5/22/19)
2019 May 24, In Kenya a three-judge panel of the High Court upheld sections of the country's penal code that criminalize same-sex relations.
(AP, 5/24/19)
2019 Jun 1, Kenya's central bank set a Sept. 30 deadline for everyone to convert their old 1,000 shillings note, worth about $10, into new ones after it became the banknote of choice for criminals of all types in the East Africa region.
(Reuters, 10/2/19)
2019 Jun 12, Scores of Kenyans protested against a project to build a coal power station near the Lamu archipelago, a popular tourist spot that includes a UNESCO World Heritage site and boasts vibrant marine life. Plans for the country’s first coal plan were unveiled in 2013. Later this month an environmental tribunal suspended the project’s license pending a more comprehensive impact assessment.
(AFP, 6/12/19)(Econ, 7/27/19, p.40)
2019 Jun 14, Somali Islamist insurgents kidnapped three Kenyan police reservists in Wajir district in northeast Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/15/19)
2019 Jun 15, In Kenya a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle patrolling near the border with Somalia, killing several of the 11 officers inside.
(Reuters, 6/15/19)
2019 Jul 1, Somalia said it has protested formally to Kenya, after Nairobi referred to the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland as a country. Somaliland declared its independence in 1991 but is not recognized by the international community, which considers it an autonomous region of Somalia.
(AFP, 7/1/19)
2019 Jul 3, A Kenyan court sentenced Rashid Charles Mberesero to life in jail for being an accomplice in the 2015 attack on Garissa Univ. that left 148 people dead. Mohamed Abdi Abikar and Hassan Aden Hassan were sentenced to 41 years each for assisting in the attack.
(SFC, 7/4/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 19, Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta opened the Lake Turkana Wind Project, said to be Africa's largest wind farm.
(SFC, 7/22/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 22, Kenya's Finance Minister Henry Rotich and other treasury officials were arrested on corruption and fraud charges over a multi-million dollar project to build two mega dams.
(The Telegraph, 7/22/19)
2019 Jul 23, Kenya's Finance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders, in an unprecedented legal move against a sitting minister in a country notorious for graft.
(Reuters, 7/23/19)
2019 Jul 23, Kenya's parliament voted to nationalize the country's main airline Kenya Airways to save it from mounting debts.
(AP, 7/23/19)
2019 Aug 27, It was reported that Kenya is urging the UN to list Al-Shabaab under the same sanctions as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but foreign donors said the move could leave millions in drought-stricken Somalia without aid.
(AFP, 8/27/19)
2019 Aug, Kenya entered the club of oil producers with a symbolic shipment of 200,000 barrels.
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.35)
2019 Sep 1, In Kenya flash floods killed six family members and their tour guide at the Hell's Gate National Park in the Rift Valley.
(Reuters, 9/1/19)
2019 Sep 12, Kenya's acting finance minister said the government plans "brutal" cuts to spending, including on government officials' overseas trips, in an effort to rein in the fiscal deficit.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 23, In Kenya the Precious Talent Top School in Nairobi collapsed and killed at least seven children.
(AP, 9/23/19)
2019 Sep 26, Somalia committed to comply with any United Nations International Court of Justice ruling on its maritime border dispute with Kenya, and to accept the boundary that is delimited by the tribunal.
(Bloomberg, 9/26/19)
2019 Oct 1, Kenyan police shot dead three men suspected of planning militant attacks in the coastal city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 10/1/19)
2019 Oct 2, Kenya's central bank said an anti-corruption drive has uncovered the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in unexplained wealth when it retired old banknotes, adding much of the cash appeared to have been gained in "the criminal area".
(Reuters, 10/2/19)
2019 Oct 12, In southern Kenya a roadside bombing killed 11 officers near Liboi on the border with Somalia.
(SSFC, 10/13/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 15, The IMF said Kenya's economy is expected to expand by 5.6% this year and 6.0% in 2020, lowering its forecasts from earlier this year.
(AP, 10/15/19)
2019 Oct 16, Kenya's opened a $1.5 billion Chinese-built railway line linking Nairobi to Naivasha, despite delays in building an industrial park in the Rift Valley town to encourage freight.
(Reuters, 10/16/19)
2019 Oct 24, Kenya's top telecoms operator Safaricom said it has named Peter Ndegwa as its new CEO, ending a three-month search for a new leader following the death of its long-time head Bob Collymore.
(Reuters, 10/24/19)
2019 Nov 4, Kenya's chief justice lashed out at budget cuts that he said were intended to undermine the court system and would hamper an anti-corruption drive.
(Reuters, 11/4/19)
2019 Nov 4, It was reported that heavy rains and floods have killed more than 50 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes across East Africa as researchers warned warming oceans are causing unpredictable weather patterns in the region. Kenya reported 48 people killed; Somalia reported at least 17 killed.
(Reuters, 11/6/19)
2019 Nov 15, It was reported that Kenya and Somalia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations that had deteriorated over the disputed ownership of an Indian Ocean territory thought to be rich in hydrocarbons.
(Bloomberg, 11/15/19)
2019 Nov 23, A Kenyan official said at least 36 people, including seven children, have been killed overnight by landslides triggered by unusually heavy rains in northwestern West Pokot County.
(Reuters, 11/23/19)
2019 Dec 6, In Kenya at least ten people were killed and 30 injured when a residential building collapsed in Nairobi. Rescue workers struggled to free a woman who was screaming from under the rubble. 20 people remained missing.
(Reuters, 12/6/19)(SFC, 12/9/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 6, Kenyan police officers were among those killed when gunmen suspected to be from Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked a bus near the border with Somalia. Police said 10 people were killed and that the attackers had specifically targeted non-Somalis after flagging down the bus.
(Reuters, 12/7/19)
2019 Dec 9, In Kenya Mike Gideon Mbuvi, governor of Nairobi, was charged with ten counts of graft related charges including embexxlement and money laundering.
(SFC, 12/10/19, p.A2)
2020 Jan 2, In Kenya four people were killed in two ambushes in which passenger buses were fired on by gunmen suspected to be Islamic extremists in the country's eastern coastal area.
(AP, 1/2/20)
2020 Jan 5, In Kenya al-Shabab extremists overran a key military base early today used by US counterterror forces. One US service member and two American Department of Defense contractors were killed in the attack on the Manda Bay Airfield. Five US aircraft, including fixed-wing and helicopters, were destroyed and one damaged in the hours-long assault at the airfield in coastal Lamu county. Kenyan police arrested three suspected terrorists who tried to force their way into a British training camp in Laikipia County. In September a military court in Somalia sentenced militant Islamist Farhan Mohamud Hassan to life in prison for his role in the attack.
(AP, 1/5/20)(AP, 1/6/20)(SFC, 1/7/20, p.A4)(BBC, 9/16/20)
2020 Jan 7, In Kenya four small children were shot dead early today while trying to take refuge from the latest al-Shabab extremist attack in eastern Garissa county. Police officers on patrol killed two attackers in the early morning assault near the village of Saretho.
(AP, 1/7/20)
2020 Jan 13, In eastern Kenya al-Shabab extremists killed three people in an assault early today in Kamuthe town, Garissa county. This was its fifth attack in thirteen days.
(AP, 1/13/20)
2020 Jan 15, Researchers announced the successful creation of another embryo of the nearly extinct northern white rhino. The last two females, hosted in Kenya, provided the eggs.
(SFC, 1/16/20, p.A4)
2020 Jan 25, It was reported that worst outbreak of desert locusts in Kenya in 70 years has seen hundreds of millions of the bugs swarm into the country from Somalia and Ethiopia. Those two countries have not had an infestation like this in a quarter-century.
(AP, 1/25/20)
2020 Jan 30, Kenya's high court said the government could go ahead with a new digital ID scheme, as long as it brought in stronger regulations and did not use it to collect citizens' DNA and geo-location data.
(Reuters, 1/31/20)
2020 Feb 4, In Kenya Daniel arap Moi (95), a former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s longest-serving president (1978-2002), died. He led the East African nation through years of repression and economic turmoil fueled by runaway corruption.
(AP, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 6, US President Donald Trump met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who came to the White House with a warning: Africa is not a battlefield for proxy disputes with countries such as China.
(AP, 2/6/20)
2020 Mar 11, Kenyan officials said a white female giraffe and her 7-month-old calf have been killed by poachers. About 110,000 giraffes remained in Africa.
(SFC, 3/12/20, p.A2)
2020 Mar 12, It was reported that a supercomputer, donated by Britain and based in Kenya, is boosting efforts in East Africa to control a locust outbreak that raises what the UN food agency calls "an unprecedented threat" to the region's food security. The UN recently raised its aid appeal relating to locusts to $138 million, up from $76 million, saying the need for more help is urgent. Experts have warned that if the number of locusts is unchecked they could grow 500 times by June, when drier weather is expected in East Africa.
(AP, 3/12/20)
2020 Mar 13, Kenya confirmed East Africa's first case of coronavirus, a woman who had returned to the capital Nairobi from the United States.
(Reuters, 3/13/20)
2020 Mar 15, Kenya has now recorded three coronavirus cases.
(Reuters, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 28, In Kenya police fired tear gas at a crowd of ferry commuters as the country's first day of a coronavirus curfew slid into chaos. Virus cases across Africa climbed above 4,000.
(SSFC, 3/29/20, p.A5)
2020 Mar 30, In Kenya Yasin Moyo (13) was fatally shot as he stood on a balcony in March watching police enforce a night-time curfew. At least seven people were killed in different parts of Kenya in the first five nights of the curfew. In June policeman Duncan Ndiema was charged with the murder of Moyo. Ndiema pleaded not guilty.
(AP, 6/23/20)
2020 Mar 30, Kenya's Archbishop Mwana a'Nzeki (b1931) died. He was the lastborn of a family of five children, was ordained as a priest in 1961, and served the Catholic Church until his retirement in 2007. In the early 1990s he helped Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai evade the security forces during a brutal government crackdown on human rights activists.
(BBC, 4/6/20)
2020 Mar 31, Kenya now has 59 coronavirus cases, including one death from the disease. A family mourned the death of a boy (13), struck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of his family’s home with his siblings. Police officers had moved through their crowded neighborhood, enforcing a new coronavirus curfew. The director of public prosecutions ordered an investigation into the fatal shooting in the slum of Mathare.
(AP, 3/31/20)(Reuters, 3/31/20)
2020 Apr 6, Kenya increased its restrictions to combat the coronavirus, announcing travel bans into and out of Nairobi, Mombasa and the counties of Kilifi and Kwale.
(SFC, 4/7/20, p.A4)
2020 Apr 10, In Kenya thousands of people surged for food aid in a brief stampede in Nairobi, desperate for help as coronavirus restrictions keep them from making a living. Witnesses said police fired tear gas and injured several people.
(AP, 4/10/20)
2020 Apr 10, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned of an increasing number of new locust swarms forming in Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia. The UN has raised its aid appeal from $76 million to $153 million, saying immediate action is needed before more rainfall fuels further growth in locust numbers.
(AP, 4/10/20)
2020 Apr 13, The UN said swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid. Billions of desert locusts have already chomped their way through much of East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
(AFP, 4/13/20)
2020 Apr 14, The Kenyan parliament voted to lower the value-added tax rate to 14% from 16%, part of President Uhuru Kenyatta's attempts to cushion citizens from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. Kenya has reported 216 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease.
(Reuters, 4/14/20)
2020 Apr 15, Kenyan travelers say they are being held in a government quarantine center after the expiry of their mandatory 14 days of isolation following their return from abroad because they cannot pay hefty bills for their stay. Kenya has reported 225 COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/15/20)
2020 Apr 16, In Kenya a Catholic priest was charged in court with spreading the novel coronavirus, the second person to face such charges. Authorities said he failed to adhere to coronavirus quarantine rules following a visit to Italy. Kenya has 234 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths.
(AP, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 21, Kenya has confirmed almost 300 cases of COVID-19. It was reported that village chiefs in Kenya will make house-to-house checks after reports some rural communities were taking advantage of school closures due to the coronavirus to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on girls.
(Reuters, 4/21/20)
2020 Apr 21, In Kenya as many as 50 people escaped a quarantine area as a meal was being served at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). Kenya has recorded 296 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus, including 14 deaths.
(BBC, 4/22/20)
2020 Apr 26, Kenya's government announced that all long-distance lorry drivers will be tested before crossing the border after Uganda confirmed that eight Kenyan drivers had tested positive for the virus.
(BBC, 4/27/20)
2020 Apr 28, A letter from the American Chemistry Council’s director for international trade, Ed Brzytwa, urged the US and Kenya to prohibit the imposition of domestic limits on “production or consumption of chemicals and plastic" and on their cross-border trade. Kenya three years ago imposed what was praised as the world's strictest ban on the use, manufacturing and import of plastic bags, part of growing efforts around the world to limit a major source of plastic waste.
(AP, 9/1/20)
2020 Apr 29, A Kenyan court refused to lift a ban on a locally-made acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance. The film's producer said that she would continue to fight for freedom of expression in the East African nation. The film "Rafiki" - which means friend in Kiswahili - was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in April 2018 on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality in a country where gay sex is a criminal offence.
(Reuters, 4/29/20)
2020 May 4, A private Kenyan African Express aircraft with coronavirus medical supplies crashed in Somalia near the city of Baidoa, killing all six on board. A report from the African Union later said the plane may have been shot down by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 5/5/20)(SFC, 5/6/20, p.A2)(SFC, 5/12/20, p.A2)
2020 May 7, It was reported that flooding as a result of recent heavy rains has killed more than 275 people across East Africa. Kenya has recorded 194 deaths, Rwanda 65 and 16 in Somalia.
(AP, 5/7/20)
2020 May 8, In Kenya hundreds of protesters blocked one of Nairobi's major highways with burning tires to protest government demolitions of the homes of more than 7,000 people and the closure of an adjacent food market. Police used teargas and water cannons on the protesters, who then looted shops and parked cars.
(AP, 5/8/20)
2020 May 14, It was reported that huge swathes of Nairobi, Kenya, are struggling with little to no supplies of water. Heavy rains swept away the main water pipes running through forests in the Aberdare mountain range north of the capital a week ago. Soon after that, the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company shut down a treatment plant feeding the city.
(Reuters, 5/14/20)
2020 May 16, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a cessation of movement between the country and neighboring Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. He exempted cargo trucks but said drivers would have to be tested for the disease.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 May 21, The World Bank announced a $500 million program for East African countries affected by historic desert locust swarms. The affected countries included Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/22/20, p.A6)
2020 May 29, In Kenya two children and an unborn child were killed in a police operation aimed at detaining a family member. Police confirmed the children’s deaths and asserted they were used as “human shields" by the man, whom they called a suspected Islamic extremist with an al-Qaida linked group. The suspect was killed.
(AP, 5/30/20)
2020 May, In Kenya more than 100 people arriving from Tanzania tested positive for coronavirus and were sent back. At Ugandan border testing points, at least 15 Tanzanian lorry drivers tested positive. The authorities in Tanzania have not released official figures on the extent of the outbreak there since the start of May.
(BBC, 6/19/20)
2020 Jun 1, In Kenya residents of a slum in Nairobi protested the death of James Mureithi (51), a homeless man, who they said was killed by police for violating a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the coronavirus.
(AP, 6/2/20)
2020 Jun 7, A Kenyan police officer was filmed apparently dragging a 21-year-old woman tied to a motorcycle. Another man is seen whipping her as she pleads for them to stop in Olenguruone, Nakuru County. Three officers were soon arrested. Mercy Cherino was treated in hospital for a broken leg, among other injuries. She was accused of being part of a gang of three who had stolen some items from a police officer's house.
(AP, 6/11/20)
2020 Jun 16, Gregory Dow (61), an American Christian missionary, pleaded guilty in a US court to sexually abusing young girls at an orphanage he started in Kenya. The orphanage was in operation from 2008 to 2017 when Mr Dow fled Kenya.
(BBC, 6/16/20)
2020 Jun 18, Kenya defeated Djibouti for an African seat on the UN Security Council in a second round of voting held under dramatically different procedures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(AP, 6/18/20)
2020 Jun 26, It was reported that Kenyan police have killed three people when a crowd of motorcycle taxi drivers protested against the arrest of a colleague for ignoring coronavirus restrictions. Kenya has 5,384 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 132 people have died.
(BBC, 6/26/20)
2020 Jul 5, In western Kenya residents of Rioma, Kisii County, stormed the local police station this evening after a police officer reportedly shot and killed a trader he accused of selling fake hand sanitizers.
(AP, 7/6/20)
2020 Jul 7, Kenyan police fired tear gas and detained scores of protesters demanding an end to police brutality. About 100 people took part in demonstrations across the capital, Nairobi.
(AP, 7/7/20)
2020 Jul 7, It was reported that all schools in Kenya will remain closed until next January because of the coronavirus pandemic. Kenya has confirmed more than 8,000 cases of coronavirus with at least 164 deaths along with a recent surge in new infections.
(BBC, 7/7/20)
2020 Jul 25, In Kenya two people were killed at Soko Ng'ombe market in eastern Garissa county, during a protest against the arrest of a man suspected of murder. Two police officers were soon arrested in connection with the shooting. According to Amnesty International, Kenyan officers have killed 21 people since March for failing to comply with coronavirus prevention measures such as curfews and mask-wearing.
(AP, 7/26/20)
2020 Jul 31, It was reported that after a decade of campaigning, Kenyan environmental activist Phyllis Omido has won a court ruling that awarded $12m (£9.2m) to the Owino Uhuru community poisoned by lead pollution from a nearby factory.
(BBC, 7/31/20)
2020 Aug 21, Kenya's police teargassed protesters holding a peaceful demonstration against alleged corruption including the theft of supplies for the fight against COVID-19.
(AP, 8/21/20)
2020 Sep 23, Investigators from Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said: "Investigations had established criminal culpability on the part of public officials in the purchase and supply of Covid-19 emergency commodities at Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) that led to irregular expenditure of public funds."
(BBC, 9/24/20)
2020 Sep 28, In Kenya a man died outside an emergency ward of Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, after he was not treated for hours by striking staff.
(AP, 9/28/20)
2020 Oct 7, In Kenya a court found Mohammed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa guilty of helping Islamist militants to attack an upmarket shopping mall in Sept. 2013. At least 67 people died in the assault by al-Shabab on the Westgate shopping complex in Nairobi. A third man, Liban Abdullahi Omar, was found not guilty. A day later he was abducted by unknown gunmen.
(BBC, 10/7/20)(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Nov 2, It was reported that Paul Gicheru, a Kenyan lawyer wanted by International Criminal Court prosecutors for allegedly bribing witnesses, has surrendered to authorities in the Netherlands. Prosecutors alleged that Gicheru and another lawyer, Philip Kipkoech Bett, corruptly influenced six witnesses in their investigations into deadly violence that erupted after Kenya's 2007 elections. Bett was not in custody.
(AP, 11/2/20)
2020 Nov 3, Kenya and Britain said they have agreed in principle the text of a new trade agreement to safeguard annual trade, estimated at 200 billion shillings ($1.84 billion), after Brexit.
(Reuters, 11/3/20)
2020 Nov 17, It was reported that Kenya's government has ordered an investigation into the theft and sale of babies following a BBC investigation into the black market trade. Police soon arrested three senior medical officers for allegedly running a child-trafficking syndicate following a BBC investigation into the theft and sale of babies. Police arrested four more people for allegedly running the child-trafficking syndicate.
(BBC, 11/17/20)(BBC, 11/18/20)(BBC, 11/19/20)
2020 Nov 21, It was reported that police in Kenya are investigating an "online cartel" that targets girls stuck at home because of coronavirus and lures them under false pretenses to what officers describe as orgies.
(BBC, 11/21/20)
2020 Nov 26, Officials in Kenya arrested 21 people accused of attempting to use fake "Covid-free certificates" to travel from Kenya to the United Arab Emirates. This came after the UAE issued a visa ban on Kenyans, allegedly after visitors were found using forged certificates.
(BBC, 11/27/20)
2020 Dec 10, In Kenya four women subjected to sexual assault in the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election were set to receive compensation. The government was ordered to pay $36,000 (£27,000) to each one.
(AP, 12/10/20)
2020 Dec 15, Somalia's government said it has severed ties with strategic neighbor Kenya "to safeguard the unity, sovereignty, stability of the country."
(AP, 12/15/20)
2020 Dec 21, Kenyan doctors and other crucial medical personnel in public hospitals started a nationwide strike to protest the lack of personal protective equipment and health insurance for frontline workers fighting against the spread of the coronavirus.
(AP, 12/21/20)
2020 Dec 24, Kenyan doctors working in public hospitals ended a nationwide strike with ministers saying concerns about inadequate protective equipment during the pandemic, delayed pay and a lack of insurance had been addressed.
(Reuters, 12/24/20)
2020 Dec, In Kenya Gidion Mbuvi Kioko, (aka Sonko, rich person in Swahili), the governor of Nairobi, was impeached for gross misconduct and abuse of office. He is alleged to have embezzled more than 300 million shillings ($2.7m; £1.9m) partly through the irregular awarding of contracts to friends' companies that are said to have wired money to his personal accounts after receiving their payments from Nairobi county.
(BBC, 3/27/21)
2021 Jan 4, It was reported that millions of mask-wearing pupils in Kenya have returned to school nine months after they were closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Kenya has reported almost 97,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 1,600 deaths since the start of the outbreak in March last year.
(BBC, 1/4/21)
2021 Feb 5, American Christian missionary Gregory Dow was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for abusing underage girls in an orphanage in Kenya between 2013 and 2017. Last year, Dow pleaded guilty in the US to four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place.
(BBC, 2/5/21)
2021 Feb 22, It was reported that three rare, Rothschild's giraffes have died after being electrocuted by low-hanging power lines in Soysambu conservancy in Nakuru, Kenya. Conservationists have estimated there are fewer than 1,600 in the wild with about 600 in Kenya.
(BBC, 2/22/21)
2021 Mar 2, The United Nations launched an appeal for $266 million (221 million euros) to help feed more than three million refugees and asylum seekers across East Africa, suffering extra hardship because of the coronavirus pandemic. A funding shortfall has led the WFP to slash its monthly assistance for refugees in Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda.
(AFP, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 5, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda started inoculating frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens against COVID-19 as Africa, the world's poorest continent and home to 1.3 billion people, stepped up its vaccination campaigns.
(Reuters, 3/5/21)
2021 Mar 17, Kenya's high court upheld a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in a landmark ruling welcomed by campaigners seeking to eradicate the internationally condemned procedure.
(Reuters, 3/17/21)
2021 Mar 24, In Kenya five passengers died and dozens were severely injured morning after a bus they were traveling in ran over a roadside improvised bomb on Lafey-Mandera road near the Kenya-Somali border in Mandera County.
(SFC, 3/25/21, p.A4)
2021 Mar 25, In central Kenya a fire, blamed on a British military exercise, broke out at the privately owned Lolldaiga conservancy. The 4-day destroyed about 12,000 acres of land. Linus Murangiri was crushed to death by a vehicle as he rushed to help put out the fire.
(Reuters, 3/26/21)(AP, 7/27/21)
2021 Mar 26, Kenya's biggest telecoms operator Safaricom started trials for 5G high-speed internet network using technology from Nokia and Huawei. Safaricom is part owned by South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone.
(Reuters, 3/26/21)
2021 Mar 29, Spain launched a diplomatic push into Africa, marking out the continent as a political priority with an ambitious plan to build closer economic and institutional ties. PM Pedro Sanchez unveiled his “Africa Focus 2023" plan at a formal event in Madrid attended by the President of Ghana, Nana Auko-Addo, the foreign ministers of Ghana and Senegal, Kenya’s head of trade, and the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.
(AP, 3/29/21)
2021 Mar, Sudan paid $335m (£244m) as compensation for victims of past attacks against US targets. The payment included punitive damages only to families of victims or those injured who are US nationals or US embassy workers. The majority of the estimated 5,000 people injured the twin bombings to hit the American embassies in Nairobi and the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on 7 August 1998 will not get any money; neither will the families of the more than 200 locals who died in the blasts.
(BBC, 4/27/21)
2021 Apr 2, Kenya ordered an immediate suspension on private importations of vaccines citing fears that it may lead to counterfeit inoculations getting into the country. Kenya's government said the country's positivity rate jumped from 2.6% at the end of January to 19.1% on April 2.
(AP, 4/3/21)
2021 Apr 17, In Kenya thousands of motorists and passengers were stuck in traffic for hours after police blocked major roads in Nairobi, to enforce a Covid curfew to battle infections. Kenya has confirmed more than 151,000 cases of the virus and just over 2,400 deaths.
(BBC, 4/18/21)
2021 May 1, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta loosened infection-control measures after the number of coronavirus cases in the country dropped from an early spring surge.
(AP, 5/1/21)
2021 May 6, Somalia said it has resumed diplomatic ties with neighboring Kenya after severing relations late last year.
(AP, 5/6/21)
2021 May 13, Kenya MP Moses Kuria told the BBC he received a $1,000 (£700) bribe in parliament last year to back the appointment of the majority leader, as he was summoned to appear before the house speaker for alleging some politicians received about $1,000 to vote for the constitutional amendment bill known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
(AP, 5/13/21)
2021 May 13, Five High Court judges in Kenya blocked a government-backed plan to make fundamental changes to the country's constitution. The judges said the constitution amendment bill, popularly referred to as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), was irregular, illegal and unconstitutional.
(BBC, 5/14/21)
2021 May 13, In Kenya Bashir Mohamed Mohamud (36), an American investor of Somali origin, was by unknown assailants as he drove from a mall in Nairobi's wealthy Lavington neighborhood. His body was found with torture wounds days after he went missing. His family later asked Kenya's director of public prosecutions to run a separate investigation from one being done by police.
(AP, 5/29/21)
2021 Jul 18, In western Kenya a petrol tanker overturned and caught fire in Siaya County. People rushed to the scene with jerrycans to siphon off the fuel from the overturned tanker when it exploded. At least 13 people were killed.
(AP, 7/18/21)
2021 Jul 30, Kenya's health minister said the government had suspended all in-person meetings and public gatherings to try to contain COVID-19, whose spread in the country he now attributes to the more infectious Delta variant.
(Reuters, 7/30/21)
2021 Aug 8, In Japan Eliud Kipchoge, 36, of Kenya won his second consecutive Olympic marathon in 2 hours 8 minutes 38 seconds, reaffirming his status as the greatest runner in history over the distance of 26.2 miles.
(NY Times, 8/8/21)
2021 Aug 20, Kenya's Court of Appeal upheld a decision to stop President Uhuru Kenyatta from making broad constitutional changes, limiting his ability to prevent his estranged deputy from succeeding him next year.
(Reuters, 8/20/21)
2021 Aug 26, In Kenya nine people were killed after a crane collapsed at a high-rise construction site in Nairobi.
(AP, 8/26/21)
2021 Aug 27, Frustrated drivers in Kenya spent hours overnight in an enormous traffic jam in the capital, Nairobi.
(BBC, 8/27/21)
2021 Aug 31, Kenya said its black rhinos, sable antelope and three other species are critically endangered, while nine more species including lions, elephants and cheetahs are endangered, citing the threat from an expanding human population.
(Reuters, 9/1/21)
2021 Oct 4, It was reported that the family of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta secretly owned a network of offshore companies for decades, according to the Pandora Papers, a huge leak of financial papers published a day earlier.
(BBC, 10/4/21)
2021 Oct 12, The top UN top court (ICJ) ruled largely in favor of Somalia in its dispute with Kenya, setting a sea boundary in part of the Indian Ocean believed to be rich in oil and gas.
(Reuters, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 13, In Kenya Masten Wanjala (20), a man who confessed to killing more than 10 children, escaped from police cells in Nairobi. Wanjala was soon traced by villagers to a house in Bungoma town and beaten to death.
(BBC, 10/14/21)(BBC, 10/15/21)
2021 Oct 13, Athletics Kenya said long-distance runner Agnes Tirop (25), Kenya's two-times World Championship bronze medalist, was found stabbed to death at her home. She was allegedly stabbed by her husband.
(Reuters, 10/13/21)
2021 Oct 14, President Joe Biden told visiting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that the United States will make a one-time donation of more than 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union.
(Reuters, 10/14/21)
2021 Oct 15, It was reported that drought in northern Kenya is pushing millions towards hunger. The United Nations World Food Program said the lack of rain means 2.4 million people in the region will struggle to find enough to eat by November.
(Reuters, 10/15/21)
2021 Nov 7, In NYC Peres Jepchirchir, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, took first at the New York City Marathon among women. Albert Korir, also from Kenya, won the men’s race.
(NY Times, 11/7/21)
2021 Nov 15, Kenya's High Court jailed four policemen found guilty of the manslaughter of Alexander Monson, the son of a British aristocrat who was found dead in a police cell in the beach town of Diani in 2012.
(Reuters, 11/15/21)
2021 Nov 15, In Kenya three Islamist militants, described as dangerous, escaped from a maximum-security prison just outside Nairobi. Seven prison wardens were soon arrested. The militants, one of whom had taken part in a 2015 attack that killed 148 people, were recaptured on Nov. 18.
(BBC, 11/16/21)(Reuters, 11/18/21)
2021 Nov 19, In Kenya Kate Mitchell, a British national who worked for BBC Media Action in a number of African countries, was found dead in Nairobi. Police told local media they were investigating it as a murder and exploring possible motives.
(BBC, 11/22/21)
2021 Nov 21, Kenya's government issued a directive that residents must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 21 to access services. Only 8.8% of people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Kenya so far.
(Reuters, 11/22/21)
2021 Dec 4, In Kenya at least 20 people drowned after a bus traveling to a wedding plunged into the Enziu River.
(BBC, 12/4/21)
2021 Dec 7, A Kenyan police officer shot dead six people in a rampage in a neighborhood in Nairobi and then shot and killed himself.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 7, In western Kenya a suspected member of Somali Islamist group al Shabaab detonated an explosive device that killed two people at their home and himself.
(Reuters, 12/8/21)
2021 Dec 14, A Kenyan court temporarily halted the government's plan to require COVID-19 vaccination for access to public services until a petition challenging it is heard and ruled upon.
(Reuters, 12/14/21)
2021 Dec 14, Kenya Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe told a press conference in the coastal city of Mombasa that the country had detected cases of the Omicron variant for the first time.
(Reuters, 12/15/21)
2021 Dec 22, Kenya announced new rules demanding proof of vaccination to access public places and transport. The rules were met by a combination of bemusement, dismissal and the occasional spot of enforcement as people headed home for Christmas.
(Reuters, 12/23/21)
2021 Kenya overtook South Africa to become the continent's top avocado exporter. The avocado sector has become so lucrative that organized criminal gangs began to target growers.
(BBC, 1/16/22)
2022 Jan 2, Richard Leakey (77), a Kenyan conservationist and paleoanthropologist, died. He spearheaded campaigns against the ivory trade to save the dwindling African elephant population. In 1981, he fronted a seven-part BBC television series called "The Making of Mankind", which made him a household name. At the time of his death, he was serving as chairman of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University in the United States.
(Reuters, 1/3/22)(BBC, 1/2/22)
2022 Jan 5, China's foreign minister began a visit to Kenya, where the government has relied on Chinese loans to develop infrastructure but faces criticism over the resulting debt burden.
(Reuters, 1/5/22)
2022 Jan 11, Power supply was restored in all parts of Kenya, which earlier experienced a nationwide outage after a high voltage transmission line connecting the capital broke.
(Reuters, 1/11/22)
2022 Jan 17, In western Kenya two human rights activists said that bodies that had been found in the River Yala in recent months were still in a Yala mortuary. At least 19 unclaimed bodies have been waiting for identification. There were deep suspicions that the police are responsible for many of them.
(Reuters, 1/21/22)
2022 Jan 31, In northeastern Kenya attackers ambushed a minibus, locally known as a matatu, after a roadside blast and opened fire on its occupants near Mandera town.
(BBC, 1/31/22)
2022 Feb 8, The UN World Food Program said that 13 million people across the Horn of Africa face severe hunger, calling for immediate assistance to avoid a repeat of a famine a decade ago that killed hundreds of thousands of people. People in a region including Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya faced the driest conditions recorded since 1981.
(Reuters, 2/8/22)(AP, 2/8/22)
2022 Feb 28, The UN opened an environment summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where nations are being urged to adopt the blueprint for a landmark global treaty to reduce plastic pollution.
(AFP, 2/28/22)
2022 Mar 2, In Kenya the UN Environmental Assembly meeting in Nairobi voted unanimously for a resolution to end plastic pollution.
(SFC, 3/3/22, p.A4)
2022 Mar 7, Moderna signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya’s government for the drugmaker’s first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa.
(AP, 3/7/22)
2022 Mar 11, Kenya lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on large indoor gatherings such as religious services and a requirement to present a negative COVID-19 test for arriving air passengers.
(Reuters, 3/11/22)
2022 Mar 28, It was reported that millions of dollars of public funds allegedly stolen by two of Kenya's richest men are being returned from Jersey to Kenya to buy life-saving Covid-19 equipment following a landmark agreement signed in London.
(BBC, 3/28/22)
2022 Mar, In Somalia a roadside bomb mid-month killed 10 Kenyan soldiers.
(BBC, 3/22/22)
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Subject = Kenya
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Kenya was also called British East Africa.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T10)
Kenya has 43 ethnic groups. The population in 1998 was 28 million. The country covered 220,000 square miles, about twice the size of Nevada.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
The Bukusu are a Bantu speaking people. They were surrounded by the Nilotic speaking Iteso, Sabaot, and Nandi. The Ndorobo were hunter-gatherers. Other ethnic groups include: the Aweera, the hunter-gatherer Dahalo, the Kamba, Waata, and Boni (Sanye); the pastoral Orma and Somali; and the agricultural Malakote, Pokomo, and Mijikenda. The Cushites were hunter gatherers and pastoralist.
(NH, 6/97, p.40,43)(SFC,12/26/97, p.B7)
Kiswahili is a native Bantu language.
(NH, 6/97, p.40)
23Mil BC Researchers in 2019 said a giant lion, which they named Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, lived in what is modern-day Kenya around this time, a key period in the evolution of carnivorous mammals.
(AFP, 4/18/19)
13Mil BC In 2014 anthropologists in Northern Kenya discovered a complete skull of a baby ape dating back 13 million years. It belonged to an undiscovered species and was named Nyanazpithecus alesi.
(http://tinyurl.com/ydfq4ev8)(SFC, 8/19/17, p.A9)
9.8Mil BC In 2007 Researchers in Kenya unveiled a 10-million-year-old jaw bone they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. A Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment, dating back to between 9.8 and 9.88 million years, in 2005 along with 11 teeth. The fossils were unearthed in volcanic mud flow deposits in the northern Nakali region of Kenya.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
6Mil BC In 2000 French researchers found bones in the Rift Valley of Central Kenya that they called their Millennial Ancestor and believed to be a direct precursor of humans. Dr. Martin Pickford and co-discoverers named the fossil Orrorin tugenensis (orrorin means original man in the Tugen language). The bones were found in the Lukeino Formation of the Tugen Hills.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A10)(SSFC, 4/8/01, p.A12)(AM, 7/01, p.25)
4Mil BC - 2Mil BC A crocodile that grew to over 27 feet lived in Kenya during this period. Fossilized remains were reported in 2012.
(SFC, 5/9/12, p.A2)
c3.5 Million It was reported in 2001 that a new flat-faced hominid skull found by Justus Erus of the Leakey group near Kenya’s Lake Turkana dated to this time. Maeve Leakey named it Kenyanthropus platyops, “the flat-faced man of Kenya."
(SFC, 3/22/01, p.A2)(AM, 7/01, p.24)
3.3Mil BC In 2015 scientists reported the discovery of stone tools in Kenya that dated back to about this time, pushing back the previous record by some 700,000 years. Makers of the tools were contemporary with a species called either Kenyanthropus platyops or Australopithecus platyops.
(SFC, 5/21/15, p.A6)(Econ, 5/23/15, p.68)
1.76Mil BC US and French researchers in 2011 identified Acheulian stone tools dating to about this time near the shoreline of Kenya’s Lake Turkana.
(SFC, 9/1/11, p.A6)
1.6Mil BC Homo erectus found at Kenya’s Lake Turkana (Koobi Fora) was dated to this time by Dr. Francis Brown of the Univ. of Utah using chemical analysis of volcanic ash. Homo ergaster, the "Turkana boy" skull from Nariokotome, Kenya, was discovered in 1984. A team led by Richard Leakey unearthed hominid bones date to this time at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in northern Kenya. The skeleton of the 5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at age 12, was preserved in marshland before its discovery.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p.588)(NH, 4/97, p.71)(AP, 2/6/07)
1.44Mil BC In 2007 Meave Leakey reported that a Homo habilis jaw from Kenya, found in 2000, dated to this time. It was the youngest ever found from a species that scientists originally figured died off somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million years ago. It enabled scientists to say that Homo erectus and Homo habilis lived at the same time.
(AP, 8/8/07)
900,000BP In 2004 Scientists from the US, Britain and Kenya reported that a skull fragment of a small adult with some characteristics of Homo erectus was about 900,000 years old. It was found in 2003 in Olorgesalie, 100 miles southeast of the capital, Nairobi, Kenya.
(AP, 7/3/04)
100-200AD In East Africa coastal people lived in village communities. They smelted and forged iron.
(NH, 6/97, p.42)
700-800 The village site of Galu produced the world’s oldest crucible steel.
(NH, 6/97, p.44)
800-900 A timber mosque was built at Shanga.
(NH, 6/97, p.43)
1200-1300 The great palace and main mosque at Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
1300-1400 Lamu Town on Lamu Island dates to at least the 14th century.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T6)
1300-1600 Tombs with decorated pillars called phallic pillars by the locals are widespread among the Oromo of Somalia and Kenya, where they symbolize manhood and indicate interred men.
(NH, 6/97, p.45)
1405 Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, led a Ming dynasty fleet with 28,000 men through Southeast Asia to India and on to Africa and the Middle East. From 1405 to 1433 Zheng He led 7 voyages to promote trade and recognition of the Ming dynasty.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P11)(AP, 2/26/10)
1418 A massive fleet led by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng reached Malindi, Kenya. Kenyan lore later told of shipwrecked Chinese sailors settling in the region and marrying local women. In 2010 China and Kenya made plans to search Chinese ships wrecked during a visit by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He.
(AP, 2/26/10)
1498 Apr 7, Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, arrived at Mombasa, Kenya, where the Arabs repelled him. He sailed on to Malindi and came to terms with the local sultan, who supplied a pilot that knew the route to Calicut (Kozhikode), the most important commercial port in Southwest India at the time.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.58)(www.kenyalogy.com/eng/info/histo4.html)
c1500 Gede was abandoned owing to the salinization of the wells and external invasion. The Portuguese arrived with little resistance.
(NH, 6/97, p.43,46)
1500-1700 Lamu Island, off the coast of Kenya, was dominated by the Portuguese after which the Sultan of Oman made it part of his kingdom.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T6)
1810 Lamu Fort was built on Lamu Island.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T7)
1858 John Hanning Speke (1827-1864), British explorer, became the first European to visit Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake. Its shoreline touched Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanning_Speke)
1863 Feb 15, Samuel and Florence Baker encountered John Speke and James Grant at the frontier village of Gondokoro (southern Sudan). Speke and Grant said they had found the Nile’s headwaters at a lake they named Victoria (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda).
(ON, 10/01, p.9)
1880-1940 This period in the colonial history of Kenya was chronicled with a collection of photographs in 2008 by Nigel Pavit in his book “Kenya: A Country in the Making."
(WSJ, 9/27/08, p.W11)
1891 Oct 20, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya opposition leader and 1st premier (1963-78), was born.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1895 Modern-day Kenya became part of the British East African Protectorate.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1895 Work began on a rail line between Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, and became the Lunatic Express from media speculation that the planners were insane. [see 1905]
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.C4)(AP, 10/19/05)
1898 John Henry Patterson (29), a British army engineer, was commissioned to oversee the construction of a bridge for the Uganda Railway in British East Africa (later Kenya). His job was to build a bridge over the Tsavo River and finish laying rails for 30 miles on either side of Tsavo, a stop on the old slave caravan route. Male lions killed about 30 mainly Indian laborers. By the end of the year Patterson killed 2 man eating lions. In 1907 he published “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo."
(ON, 10/20/11, p.7)(Econ., 2/28/15, p.39)
1899 When British engineers were building a railway from the coastal town of Mombasa to what is now Uganda, they chose the Masai's emergency watering hole as a watering point for their steam engines and it eventually became Nairobi, Kenya's capital.
(AP, 2/19/06)
1900 The population of Kenya at this time was about 1 million.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)
1900-1997 In 1999 Brian Herne of Kenya published "White Hunters," an anecdotal history of safari hunting over this period.
(WSJ, 7/9/99, p.W10)
1902 The African Standard was inaugurated at the completion of the East African Railway from the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to Lake Victoria. It was launched by A.M. Jeevanjee, a Karachi-born trader. Jeevanjee sold the paper in 1905 to two British businessmen, who changed the name to the East African Standard and in 1910 moved its headquarters to Nairobi. A few months before independence in 1963, the British-based Lonrho Group bought the newspaper. In 1977, it became a tabloid and the name was changed to the Standard. In 1995 Lonrho sold its controlling interest to the Standard Newspapers Group Limited, a company in which prominent Kenyan politicians are believed to have considerable interests. The name was changed back to the East African Standard.
(AP, 11/15/02)
1903 Aug 7, Louis Leakey, anthropologist, archeologist and paleontologist, was born in Kenya. He believed that Africa was the cradle of mankind.
(HN, 8/7/98)(Internet)
1904-1911 In Kenya a deal between the British and the Masai forced the pastoral people from their land in the western Rift Valley.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1905 Oct 19, Kiotalel arap Samoei was murdered in Kenya's central Rift Valley. He led tribal opposition to the construction of the so-called "Lunatic Express," the Kenya-Uganda Railway, from the Indian Ocean Port of Mombasa through Nandiland in the Rift Valley to Lake Victoria. More than 12,000 people are believed to have been killed in a bloody 10-year struggle over the railroad that began in 1895 when surveyors first marked Nandi territory as a route for the tracks.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
1907 The British forced the abolition of slavery on the new Sultan of Zanzibar and Lamu Island went into an economic decline.
(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.T7)
1910 Nov 24, Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the scout movement in Britain in 1907, organized the first scout meeting in Africa at a church in Nairobi.
(AP, 11/24/10)
1914-1931 Karen Blixen (1885-1962), Danish author, lived on a farm near Nairobi, Kenya. Her lover was Denys Finch-Hatton. She wrote under the name Isak Dinesen. The two were featured in the 1985 film “Out of Africa" that starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The country was then called British East Africa.
(SFC, 6/17/98, p.E1)(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T10)
1915 Under British law Africans were declared “tenants at will of the Crown" and kicked off their ancestral land. In Kenya’s Rift Valley the Kalenjins became squatters.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1920 Kenya became a colony under the British crown.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)
1924 Daniel arap Moi was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1925 Kenya’s population was about 2.6 million.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.94)
1930 In Kenya Irene Stefani an Italian member of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, died of the plague. As a trained nurse she had helped the wounded in Kenya and Tanzania during World War I and was much loved by the people of the Nyeri district, who called her "mother of mercy." In 2015 her beatification ceremony took place in Nyeri.
(AFP, 5/14/15)
1931 May 14, Denys Finch-Hatton, British adventurer and lover to writer Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), died when his plane crashed shortly after take-off from Kenya’s Voi airport. In 2007 Sara Wheeler authored “Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Finch_Hatton)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.M4)
1936 Mar 22, Roger Whittaker, country singer (Durham Town), was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1938 Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) wrote her novel: “Out of Africa."
(SFEC, 11/3/96, BR p.5)
1941 Jan 24, Josslyn Victor Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, was shot to death in Kenya. He was having an affair with Diana Delves Broughton. The story was covered in a 1982 book “White Mischief" by James Fox, which was made into a 1988 movie. The BBC television drama The Happy Valley, first transmitted on 6 September 1987, told the story of Erroll's murder, as seen through the eyes of 15 year-old the Hon. Juanita Carbery, daughter of Lord Carbery, to whom John Delves Broughton confessed his guilt even before he was arrested. Alice de Janze committed suicide not long after the acquittal Broughton. In 2010 Paul Spicer authored “The Temptress: The Scandalous Life of Alice de Janze and the Mysterious Death of Lord Erroll.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josslyn_Hay,_22nd_Earl_of_Erroll)(SSFC, 8/15/10, p.F4)
1944 Jan 19, Richard [Erskine Frere] Leakey, anthropologist, was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1952 In Kenya the Mau Mau rebels of the Kikuyu tribe turned to force. The Mau Mau movement was in part due to the white domination of the rich plateau region. The Mau Mau separatist group used a toxic plant to poison 33 steers in an act of rebellion. In 2004 David Anderson authored “"Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire." Caroline Elkins authored “Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of the End of Empire in Kenya."
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/18/01, p.B1)(Econ, 1/1/05, p.65)
1952 British PM Winston Churchill declared a state of emergency in Kenya and sent British and African soldiers to help colonial administrators capture May May fighters and send them to detention camps.
(AP, 5/6/13)
c1952 The film “Mogambo" was shot in Kenya. Bunny Allen (d.2002 at 95), professional hunter, managed a 300-tent camp for the actors and crew that included Clark Gable and Grace Kelly.
(SFC, 2/18/02, p.B6)
1952-1960 Some 32 white settlers were killed by Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. More than 10,000 people were killed during the Mau Mau uprising, with some figures going much higher. In 2011 four may Mau colleagues won court approval in Britain to sue the British government over brutality they claim they suffered in the struggle.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)(AFP, 7/21/11)
1953 Apr 8, Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978), one of modern Africa's earliest nationalist leaders, was convicted by Kenya's British rulers for leading the Mau Mau Rebellion against the white settlers of his country. Along with five other Mau Mau leaders, he was subsequently sentenced to seven years' hard labor.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1953-1958 In Kenya 1,090 Kikuyu were hanged by British authorities due to the Mau Mau rebellion.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)
1954 The British government began making preparations for the country’s Independence.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1954 In Kenya British forces allegedly used pliers to castrate Paulo Nzili, a Mau Mau rebel. He survived the severe beatings which killed many other Mau Mau and in 2009 launched a bid with 4 others to win compensation from Britain over claims they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned during Britain’s colonial rule.
(AFP, 6/23/09)
1961 Sep 10, Jomo Kenyatta returned to Kenya from exile, during which he had been elected president of the Kenya National African Union.
(HN, 9/10/98)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1963 May 27, Jomo Kenyatta was elected 1st prime minister of Kenya.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1963 Jun 1, Kenya assumed internal self rule. This was later celebrated as Madaraka Day.
(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)
1963 Dec 12, Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party (KANU) began ruling. Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, was the first president and served until 1978. The Kikuyu and closely related Meru and Embu groups comprised some 28% of Kenya’s people. Kenya’s population at this time was under 8 million. This was later commemorated as Jamhuri Day. Kenya’s first vice president was Oginga Odinga, the father of Raila Odinga.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP,12/12/97)(SFC,12/23/97, p.D4)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.87)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)(Econ, 8/12/17, p.35)
1963 The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) was established to regulate films.
(http://kfcb.co.ke/)(Econ, 11/5/16, p.42)
1964 Dec 12, Kenya formally became a republic. Its population at this time was about 8 million.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)(HN, 12/12/98)(Econ, 1/26/13, p.45)
1967 The East African Community (EAC) of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda established a common shilling. The EAC lasted only a decade as cooperation fizzled. The project was revived in 1999 and expanded in 2007 to include Burundi and Rwanda.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
1969 Jul 5, Tom Mboya (b.1930) of Kenya’s Luo tribe was assassinated in Nairobi. He was the expected successor to Pres. Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978).
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mboya)
1971 Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan writer, published his novel “Petals of Blood." He was soon imprisoned by the government of Pres. Daniel arap Moi for his satire. Upon his release he went into exile and established himself as an American academic.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.70)
1971 In Kenya the Norwegian government designed a fish processing plant at Lake Turkana to provide jobs to the nomadic Turkana people. The plant was completed and soon shut down due to high operating costs for the freezers in the desert.
(SFC, 12/21/07, p.A31)
1972 Oct 1, Louis Leakey (b.1903), Kenyan archeologist and naturalist, died in London. He was flown home and interred at Limuru, Kenya, near the graves of his parents.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Leakey)
1972 In Kenya skull 1470 was found by Bernard Ngeneo, a member of a team led by anthropologist Richard Leakey, at Koobi Fora on the east side of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana) in Kenya. Its estimated age is 1.9 million years.
(www.123exp-biology.com/t/01174157121/)
1973 In Kenya the Undugu Society was founded to help needy children. In 2006 children on the streets of Nairobi numbered in the tens of thousands.
(AP, 7/1/06)
1974 Nov 5, Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978), a Kikuyu, began his 3rd term as president of Kenya.
(WSJ, 1/30/08, p.A18)(http://kenya.rcbowen.com/government/kenyatta.html)
1977 Kamoya Kimenu, asst. to Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey, and later to their son Richard Leakey, was appointed curator of prehistoric sites for the National Museums of Kenya. In Oct. 1985, the Nat’l. Geog. awarded him with the John Oliver La Gorce Medal for accomplishment in geographic exploration.
(NG, Nov. 1985, edit.)
1977 Kenya banned all hunting. Over the next 20 years a half to a third of the wildlife still disappeared.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A22)
1977 Wangari Maathai established the Green Belt Movement in Kenya under the auspices of the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (National Council of Women of Kenya). The movement organizes poor rural women in Kenya to plant trees, combating deforestation, restoring their main source of fuel for cooking, and stopping soil erosion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Belt_Movement)(www.greenbeltmovement.org/)
1977 Kenya Airways began operating.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.A5)
1977 The East African Community (EAC), founded in 1967, collapsed. In 2000 the regional club was resurrected with six members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.51)
1978 May 13, Henry Rono (b.1952) of Kenya, running for Washington State Univ., set an NCAA record for 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:05.4).
(www.lewrockwell.com/englund/englund39.html)
1978 Aug 22, In Kenya Pres. Jomo Kenyatta (1963-1978), a leading figure in Kenya's struggle for independence, died at age 83. He was succeeded by Vice President Daniel Arap Moi of the Kalengin tribe, head of the Kenya African National Union.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)(SFC,11/27/97, p.B6)(AP, 8/22/98)
1979 Elephant hunting was banned in Kenya with the herd down to 1.3 million.
(SFC, 4/11/00, p.D2)
1980 Jan 3, Conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.
(AP, 1/3/98)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)
1980 Dec 31, A bomb blast wrecked the Jewish-owned Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 16 people and wounding more than 80.
(www.emergency-management.net/bombings.htm)
1980 In Nairobi the Carnivore Restaurant was established by Martin and Geraldine Dunford.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.T14)
1982 Aug 1, In Kenya there was a coup attempt against Pres. Daniel arap Moi. Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s 1st vice-president, was implicated in the coup along with his son Raila Odinga, who was put into solitary confinement for 6 years for his alleged involvement.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Kenyan_coup)
1982 In Kenya the government under Daniel arap Moi pushed through parliament a constitutional amendment that made Kenya effectively a one-party state. Later this year, the army quelled a coup attempt by opposition members and some air force officers. At least 159 people were killed.
(AP, 2/4/20)
1984 Feb, During a truth commission in Kenya in 2011 human rights groups and residents said up to 3,000 people died in February 1984 in a government-sanctioned operation meant to crack down on ethnic Somalis who were holding illegal weapons. The killings occurred at Wagalla airstrip, a town some 310 miles (500 km) northeast of Nairobi.
(AP, 4/12/11)
1984 Kenya’s Equity Building Society started operations as a check-cashing venture for farmers. By 2012 half of all bank accounts in the country were with Equity.
(Econ, 12/8/12, p.76)
1984 A team led by Richard Leakey unearthed hominid bones at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in the far northern reaches of Kenya. The skeleton of 5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at age 12, was preserved in marshland before its discovery.
(AP, 2/6/07)
1987 Nov 1, Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya won the New York City Marathon in two hours, 11 minutes and one second; Priscilla Welch of Britain led the women in two hours, 30 minutes and 16 seconds.
(AP, 11/1/97)
1987 Ngonya wa Gakonya founded his Tent of the Living God, with an anti-Western creed based on traditional rituals for age-based groups of the Kikuyu. The sect was banned in 1990 and Gakonya was briefly jailed. The Mungiki was a sister sect.
(SFC, 4/1/00, p.A12,14)
1987 The book "White Mischief" (1982) by James Fox was made into a film starring Charles Dance and Greta Scacchi. The book highlighted the free-spending, and often alcoholic ways of much of the early colonial set in Kenya.
(AP, 5/24/06)
1988 Sep, Julie Ward was killed in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. In 1998 game warden Simon ole Makallah was arrested for the murder.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.C2)
1989 May 11, Kenya announced that it would seek a worldwide ban on the trade of ivory -- a move intended to preserve its fast-dwindling elephant herds.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1989 Aug 20, British conservationist George Adamson (83) was shot and killed by bandits in Kenya. The husband of Joy Adamson was slaughtered at his Kora wilderness preserve. In 2000 the TV documentary “To Walk with Lions" dramatized his final days.
(AP, 8/20/99)(WSJ, 9/8/00, p.W4)
1989 Paleontologist Richard Leakey founded the Kenya Wildlife Service.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.A10)
1989 Kenya burned a vast pile of elephant tusks in Nairobi National Park in an effort to curb the killing of elephants.
(Econ, 2/8/14, p.60)
1990 Feb 12, Robert Ouko (b.1931), Kenya’s foreign minister and member of the Luo tribe, was murdered during his investigation of corruption charges against the government.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.51)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ouko)
1990 Nov 4, Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya and Wanda Panfil of Poland won the New York City Marathon.
(AP, 11/4/00)
1990-1993 In Kenya’s "Goldenberg affair" millions of dollars were paid for non-existent exports of gold and diamonds. Some $600 million was secreted abroad and into the bank accounts of numerous ministers and their friends. A firm called Goldenberg International manipulated export compensation. A commission of inquiry from 2003-2005 presented its report to Pres. Kibaki in 2006.
(www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32215)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)
1990-2009 In Kenya the forests shrank during this period by a at least 60%.
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.22)
1991 Foreign donors forced Daniel arap Moi to agree to multiparty politics as a condition to aid.
(SFC, 10/17/96, C2)
1991 Pres. Daniel Arap Moi altered the constitution to insure his being elected. The winner was required to take at least 25% of the vote in 5 of 8 provinces. Only a party with a national base could thus win.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.A8)
1991 Thousands of Bantus fled Somalia for Kenya. In 1999 the US designated this group of people as persecuted and eligible for resettlement in the US.
(NW, 9/2/02, p.35)
1991 In Kenya the Kakuma camp was founded for some 30,000 refugees from Sudan.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuma)(WSJ, 10/23/02, p.B1)
1991-1995 In Kenya an estimated 1500 were killed and 300,000 forced from their homes in clashes between Pres. Daniel arap Moi’s Kalenjin ethnic group and the Kikuyu, Luo and Luhya tribes over this time.
(SFC, 6/19/97, p.A12)
1992 Apr 20, Defending champion Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya became the sixth three-time winner of the Boston Marathon, while Russia's Olga Markova won the women's division.
(AP, 4/20/97)
1992 Dec 29, Daniel arap Moi (b.1924) was re-elected with 36% of the vote in the first multiparty elections in Kenya in 26 years.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(http://tinyurl.com/33kpow)
1992 In Kenya the Dadaab camps Dagahaley, Hagadera and Ifo were constructed. Ifo camp was first settled by refugees from the civil war in Somalia, and later efforts were made by UNHCR to improve the camp. In 2016 Ben Rawlence authored “City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadaab)(Econ, 1/23/16, p.78)
1992 In Kenya Rev. Angelo D’Agostino (1926-2006) founded the Nyumbani orphanage for children with HIV.
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.B7)
1992 The Kenya government stopped licensing any new parties that applied for registration.
(SFC, 10/17/96, C2)
1992 In Rift Valley province state security forces stood by as the Kalenjin and Kikuyu tribes battled each other prior to the presidential elections. Ethnic Kikuyus, Luhyas and Luos, who supported the opposition, were attacked by members of Moi’s home province Kalenjin group.
(WSJ, 12/10/96, p.A22)(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1992 In Kenya three Somali clans in the Wajir district -- the Ajuran, Ogaden and Degodia broke out into war after the elections. More than 2,000 people were killed.
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)
1993 Jul 10, Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki became the first man to run 10,000 meters in less than 27 minutes.
(HN, 7/10/98)
1993 In Kenya a single-engine plane flown by fossil expert Richard Leakey (1944-2022) lost power and crashed, many speculated that it was sabotage. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.A10)(BBC, 1/3/22)
1993 The Serengeti plain in northern Tanzania and south-western Kenya experienced a devastating drought.
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.88)
1993-1995 Some 50,000 flamingos died in the area of Lake Nakuru.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A14)
1994 Apr 29, A ferry boat capsized near Mombasa, Kenya, and 272 people were killed.
(http://65.18.147.106/archive/102002/msg00163.html)
1994 Ayisi Makatiani, a student at MIT, co-founded Africa Online with 2 Kenyan friends. It was purchased by Prodigy and in 1998 underwent a management buyout. In 2000 it was purchased by African Lakes, an investment firm.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.58)(http://tinyurl.com/j5nxk)
1995 Jul, Paleontologist Richard Leakey began a new political party, Safina, as an alternative to KANU (Kenya African National Union) and FORD-Kenya (Forum for Restoration of Democracy).
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)
1995 Ethnic riots continue for a second day in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, between the Luos and the Nubians.
(WSJ, 10/17/95, A-1)
1995 Pres. Daniel arap Moi defended the Nigerian government in the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa.
(SFC, 10/22/95, P.5)(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A16)
1995 In Kenya the three Somali clans in the Wajir district -- the Ajuran, Ogaden and Degodia, settled their differences in a peace agreement that led to the formation of the Wajir Peace and Development Committee.
(SFC,12/23/97, p.D2)
1995 German-Jewish writer Stefanie Zweig (1932-2014) authored her autobiographical novel "Nowhere in Africa.". The book retold the story of her family's time in Kenya. A movie adaptation won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003.
(AP, 4/27/14)
1996 May 22, Amnesty International reported that Kenyan doctors were pressured to ignore evidence of torture.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug, A new rite was instituted as an alternative to female circumcision. The “ntanira na mugambo" (circumcision through words) rite included a week-long counseling program capped by a “coming of age day."
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A23)
1996 Dec 9, Archaeologist and anthropologist Mary Leakey died in Nairobi, Kenya at age 83.
(SFC, 12/10/96, p.A6)(AP,12/9/97)
1996 Dec 18, Police killed 2 students who were protesting the killing of another student on the previous day.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.C4)
1996 Wycliffe Olouch, head librarian in the Garissa District, began using camels to bring books to children in remote areas.
(SFC, 12/9/98, p.B3)
1997 Jan 5, The Daily Nation reported that a man stole $1 million by impersonating a Citibank bank employee. The money had been shipped from NY to a Kenyan airport freight terminal at the Nairobi Int’l. Airport.
(SFC, 1/9/96, p.A12)
1997 Jan 25, It was reported that mass starvation was threatening after a widespread draught this season.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A18)
1997 Feb 22, Wadih el-Hage, a secretary to Osama bin Laden, returned to Kenya from Sudan.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A24)
1997 Jun, The IMF froze $30 million in direct aid after the Moi administration dropped charges against a group of KANU businessmen accused of defrauding the state of about $500 million.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A11)
1997 Jun-Nov, A cholera epidemic in Kisumu and other towns around Lake Victoria killed 200 people over this period due to contaminated drinking water. The disease peaked in January after some 3,000 deaths across East Africa.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.T14)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.E4)
1997 Jul 7, In Kenya 9 people died during protests for constitutional reform.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A8)(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 9, Armed police shut down the Univ. of Nairobi and clubbed students who demanded free and fair elections.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 14, Thousands of students fought riot police in Nairobi and demanded constitutional reforms. Nairobi Univ. and Jomo Kenyatta Univ. were closed indefinitely.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 8, A nationwide strike was called and declared illegal by the government. In Nairobi a crowd of some 2,000 gathered and killed Gilbert Simiyu, a plainclothes police officer. The strike turned into a riot with looting.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 12, It was reported that the World Bank joined the IMF in withholding credit due to government corruption.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 14, Six officers and 7 civilians were killed in Mombasa when assailants burned down a police station.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A17)
1997 Aug 19, Some 300 kiosks were burned in Malindi.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 20, Police arrested 2 KANU politicians for instigating violence along the coastal region. Karisa Maitha and Omar Masumbuko lent credence that KANU officials were attempting to divert attention from the reformist movement.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 22, Armed marauders attacked a church filled with some 2,500 refugees and killed 2 refugees and wounded a police guard in Linkoni.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 29, Thousands fled from the Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast in fear of ethnic violence and attacks from government security forces.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug, Kenyan police with US investigators raided the home of Wadih el-Hage and seized his papers and computer. Hage was arrested a year later for his ties to Osama bin Laden and terrorist conspiracy.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A21)
1997 Sep 4, It was reported that the unemployment rate was 35%.
(SFC, 9/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 11, The Parliament approved some constitutional reforms but opponents charged the measures were only meant to diffuse protests. Detention without trial was ended and greater media access to the opposition was to be established.
(WSJ, 9/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 6, The government refused to legalize the Safina (Swahili for ark) Party led by Richard Leakey.
(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A18)
1997 Oct 10, Riot police beat up opposition members of parliament while Pres. Moi gave a speech on “Moi Day," marking 19 years in power.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 13, Teachers ended a 12-day strike after the government agreed to a 200% raise. Their salaries had averaged $35 per month.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 2, John Kagwe of Kenya won the 28th New York City Marathon in two hours, 8 minutes and 12 second.
(WSJ, 11/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 7, Pres. Daniel arap Moi signed a package of political and constitutional reforms that make Kenya a multiparty democracy and provide residents greater freedom of speech.
(SFC,11/8/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 10, Pres. Moi dissolved parliament in preparation for general elections. The National Convention Assembly denounced the move as illegal.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A12)
1997 Nov 26, The government lifted a ban on the liberal Safina party.
(SFC,11/27/97, p.B6)
1997 Dec 29, General elections were scheduled. The law required the winner to receive 25% of the vote. The elections were extended one day amid widespread delays and confusion at the polls. Two people were killed during a riot near Nairobi.
(SFC,11/13/97, p.B2)(SFC,12/26/97, p.B7)(WSJ, 12/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 31, Projected counts indicated that Moi would win the elections with about 40% of the vote. Former vice-president Mwai Kibaki had about 30%.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)
1997 Dec, In north-eastern Kenya large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep began dying in the Garissa district. A month later people began dying as the Rift Valley Fever infected some 90,000 people. Hundreds died in 5 countries.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.83)
1997 Oscar Kamau Kingara (d.2009 at 37) set up a legal aid organization called the Oscar Foundation to help poor Kenyans fight courts that favored the rich.
(SFC, 3/7/09, p.A2)
1997 Safaricom Ltd. was formed as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. It grew to become the leading mobile network operator in Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone group Plc of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company.
(Econ, 3/30/13, p.75)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safaricom)
1998 Jan 5, Daniel arap Moi was scheduled to be inaugurated as president after the elections gave him 40% or 2,445,801 votes.
(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A12)
1998 Jan 16, The WHO recommended that travelers take precautions against Rift Valley Fever, a mosquito born disease that has killed 300 people.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 28, It was reported that 77 people died in the month in attacks aimed at ethnic Kikuyus, who opposed Pres. Moi’s re-election.
(WSJ, 1/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 5, Pres. Moi imposed a curfew on towns in the Rift Valley where over 100 people have died in ethnic and political violence. Jomo Kenyatta Univ. in Nairobi was closed following a protest against the violence.
(WSJ, 2/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 26, A fire at a school near Mombasa killed 25 teenage girls in their dormitory.
(WSJ, 3/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 20, Moses Tanui of Kenya won the 102nd Boston Marathon in 2 hrs, 7 min . and 43 sec.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 May 15, Three African nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, announced plans for an economic, political and social union.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.A11)
1998 May 16, Rwanda’s former interior minister Seth Sendashonga (b.1951), a Hutu, was shot dead in Nairobi, Kenya.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Sendashonga)
1998 Jul 8, It was reported that elephant poaching had increased in Kenya.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 23, John Msafari, head of the revenue collection authority, was ordered arrested along with 15 other officials and businessmen on charges of defrauding the government of some $3.9 million.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.D2)
1998 Jul 29, John Harun Mwau, head of the anti-corruption authority, was suspended by Pres. Moi.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.D2)
1998 Aug 7, Two powerful bombs exploded at the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The bombings killed 224 people and marked the first large-scale attack by al Qaeda. Twelve Americans were among the dead, and over 4,800 were injured. In Nairobi at least 53 buildings were damaged. The adjacent Ufundi Cooperative House was demolished and the 22-story Cooperative Bank House had all its windows shattered. Haroun Fazil of the Comoros Islands was later the 3rd bombing suspect to be charged in the Kenya bombing. Ali Mohamed, a former US Army sergeant, was involved in the US Embassy bombings. In 2000 he pleaded guilty for his role under the direction of Osama bin Laden. In 2001 Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-‘Owhali (24) of Saudi Arabia, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed (27) of Tanzania, Wadi El-Hage (40) of Texas, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh (36) of Jordan were convicted on 302 counts. In 2007 Walid Muhammad bin Attash told a military tribunal at Guantanamo that he was responsible for organizing the 2000 Cole attack in Yemen as well as the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. In 2014 Adel Abdul Bary, a suspect in the bombings, pleaded guilty to lesser charges of making threats against Americans. Plaintiffs began suing Sudan in 2001 in federal court in Washington for harboring and providing support to al Qaeda. In 2020 the US Supreme Court refused to hear Sudan's bid to avoid paying $3.8 billion in damages to family members of people killed or injured in the bombings.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/7/99)(SFC, 10/21/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A13)(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 3/20/07, p.A3)(SFC, 9/20/14, p.A5)(Reuters, 1/13/20)
1998 Aug 7, Catherine Bwire (25) was one of 25 people blinded by the bombing in Nairobi. She was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter on Oct 27.
(SFC, 11/25/98, p.A16)
1998 Aug 7, In Pakistan Sadik Howaida (34), later named as Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, was detained at the Karachi airport. He reportedly confessed to participating in the bombing in Nairobi. He said that he and 2 coconspirators had left Nairobi and planned to enter Afghanistan a few days before the bombing. He acknowledged that the team was recruited and financed by Osama bin Laden who was ensconced in a fortress-style hideout in Kandahar. Odeh later refused to admit responsibility to American officials.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A17)(SFC, 8/17/98, p.12,17)(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A6)
1998 Aug 8, A group called the Liberation Arm of the Islamic Sanctuaries claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks. Israeli troops began to arrive to assist in rescue efforts.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/10/98, p.A13)
1998 Aug 8, Pres. Clinton in weekly radio address vowed the bombers of 2 US embassies in Africa would be brought to justice, "no matter how long it takes or where it takes us.''
(AP, 8/8/99)
1998 Aug 9, Americans, Kenyans and Tanzanians held church and memorial services to mourn those killed in bombing attacks on two U.S. embassies.
(AP, 8/9/99)
1998 Aug 18, FBI agents, acting on a tip from Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, raided The Hilltop Hotel in Nairobi and confiscated 175 pounds of TNT. The room was reported to have been occupied by 2 Palestinians, a Saudi and an Egyptian from Aug 3 to Aug 7.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 27, Two suspects in the August 7 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya were sent to the United States to face charges. Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to carry out the bombing; both were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 8/27/08)
1998 Sep 7, In Kenya the Central Bank took closed the Reliance Bank due to insufficient deposits. Five businessmen and 4 officials were charged with fraud.
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A22)
1998 Sep 17, In Kenya the Central Bank took over the Trust Bank due to insufficient funds, the 2nd closure in 10 days.
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A22)
1998 Sep, Richard Leakey was asked by Pres. Moi to head Kenya’s wildlife services. In Oct. Leakey resigned from parliament to spend full time with the wildlife services.
(SFC, 10/28/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 5, In Kenya teachers went on a nationwide strike over failed pay raises. 7 million students were idled.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 1, John Kagwe of Kenya won the NY Marathon in 2:8:45. Franca Fiacconi of Italy won among the women in 2:25:17.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Kenya’s population at this time was about 28 million.
(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)
1999 Jan 19, From Kenya it was reported that Pres. Daniel arap Moi ordered the prohibition of new political parties.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Feb 1, In Nairobi, Kenya students protested for a 3rd day against plans for construction in a virgin forest.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 3, It was reported that Kenyan fisherman were using toxic agricultural chemicals instead of nets to increase their catch and income from $8 to $240. The idea supposedly originated in Uganda. Some fishermen were arrested and beaches were closed.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 16, Turkish commandoes captured Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 24, In Kenya a train enroute to Mombasa derailed at high speed in Tsavo East National Park and at least 32 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A9)
1999 Apr 14, The US pledged $37 million to help the Kenyan victims of the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Nairobi.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.A15)
1999 Apr 19, The 103rd Boston Marathon was won by Joseph Chebet of Kenya in 2h:9m:52s. Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the women's category in 2:23:25.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 May 29, It was reported that army worms had destroyed over 247,000 acres in Kenya alone and that Burundi and Rwanda were also infested.
(SFC, 5/29/99, p.A4)
1999 Jul, An estimated 3,000 members of the 28,000 member Mukurwe-ini Coffee Growers Cooperative took up arms in an effort to split and sell directly to bean millers due to alleged corruption. Farmers were lucky to see 6 cents per pound for beans that sold fort $1.06 to $1.16 per pound on the int'l. market.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.B5)
1999 Sep 23, In Kenya police reported that 23 people in Embu were killed by methanol liquor disguised as whiskey.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 30, In Kenya Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter that warned of civil arrest due to corruption, poverty and other problems. Pres. Moi was blamed for stalling constitutional reform.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.D4)
1999 Oct 2, It was reported that the flamingos of Lake Nakuru had migrated away to other locations. Environmental stress from industrial refuse and other wastes was blamed. Fluctuating salinity was also suspect in that flamingoes feed on the algae spirulina platensis, which blooms in saline waters. It was later reported that tens of thousands of flamingos on Lake Bogoria had died since July due to heavy metals. Flamingo deaths in 2000 were estimated at 600 per day.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A9)(SFC, 3/4/00, p.A8)(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A12)
1999 Oct 22, US Sec. of State Albright visited Kenya and discussed efforts to curb AIDS which was claiming 500 Kenyans a day.
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A11)
1999 Oct 30, In Kenya it was reported that thousands of residents were feared to have been exposed to radiation from a thorium compound used in roadway construction materials in Msambweni
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A8)
1999 Kenya's census found the country's population at 28.7 million, but it did not make public the figures about ethnicity.
(AP, 8/24/09)
1999 The US designated the Somali Bantus in Kenya as persecuted and eligible for resettlement in the US.
(NW, 9/2/02, p.35)
2000 Jan 16, Prince Ernst August of Hannover (b.1954), a great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II, slapped hotel owner Josef Brunlehner on Lamu Island, Kenya, allegedly as a symbolic reproach over noise from a disco. He was pursued in Germany where the law allows prosecutors to charge citizens who commit crimes abroad. August was convicted in 2004 and fined $633,000. In 2010 August was retried on charges of causing serious bodily harm. On march 9, 2010, a German judge sentenced Prince August to pay a fine of euro200,000 ($270,000) after convicting him for the decade-old altercation.
(AP, 1/13/10)(SFC, 1/14/10, p.A2)(www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-6780117.html)(AP, 3/9/10)
2000 Jan 24, In Uganda members of the Karamojong tribe attacked and killed 14-100 herders from Kenya's Pokot tribe in the northern Moriat Hills.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A15)
2000 Jan 30, A Kenyan Airbus 310 crashed into the sea after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Kenya Airways Flight 431 carried 179 people. 10 survivors were pulled from the water.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 18, It was reported that some 10,000 cattle, 25,000 camels and 20,000 goats had starved to death over the last 3 months. 2 million people face famine and 20 died in the last 2 weeks in the Wajir district.
(SFC, 3/18/00, p.C16)
2000 Mar 29, In Kenya at least 101 people were killed when a speeding bus collided with another bus in Kericho. The death toll was reduced to 74.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.A18)(SFC, 3/31/00, p.E4)
2000 Apr 17, Elijah Lagat of Kenya won the 104th Boston Marathon. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the women’s race.
(WSJ, 4/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr, Nearly 200 lions were culled from the Aberdare National Park in an effort to protect the bongo antelope population from extinction.
(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A11)
2000 Jun 17, An ongoing drought was reported to have caused hungry baboons into villages in search of food. A crop failure for the 3rd consecutive year placed 22 million Kenyans on the brink of starvation.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.D8)
2000 Jul 7, The East African Community (EAC), founded in 1967, was resurrected following its collapse in 1977. The regional club included six members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2005 members agreed on a customs union and in 2010 they agreed on a common market.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ, 6/11/16, p.51)
2000 Jul 21, It was reported that the drought in Kenya had caused water and electricity rationing in Nairobi and an appeal to the UN for $88 million to feed 3.3 million people. 13 million people in 6 countries around the Horn of Africa were at risk of starvation.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B7)
2000 Aug 20, In Kenya 16 people were killed after 9 runaway train cars carrying liquefied gas derailed and exploded at the Athi River station. 9 of 37 injured died soon after.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A10)(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 24, John Kaiser (67), an American priest of the Society of St. Joseph, was found shot to death near Naivasha, Kenya. Kaiser was critical of the government’s human rights record. In 2007 a Kenyan court ruled that his death was a homicide.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.D7)(AP, 8/11/03)(AP, 8/1/07)
2000 Sep 4, It was reported that Tiomin Resources, a Canadian mining firm, planned to build a $150 million strip mine at a 6,000-acre site at Kwale, 39 miles south of Mombasa. Some 5,000 small farmers were to be affected. Tiomin was offering deeded owners $115 an acre and $25 per year for use of the acre. A 20-year production run was planned to start in 2002.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 18, It was reported that Kenya was losing 50,000 ebony trees annually due to the thriving wood-carving industry. An estimated 80,000 carvers used the wood.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Nov 16, Officials reported that 68 people had died over the last 2 days from home-brewed alcohol laced with high-octane fuel and mentholated spirit. The toll was raised to 113 a day later.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D2)(SFC, 11/18/00, p.C16)
2001 Jan 15, In East Africa the presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda formed a regional partnership, reviving one that collapsed in 1978.
(SFC, 1/16/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 6, In Kenya the 1st experimental AIDS vaccine, specifically designed for Africa, was administered.
(SFC, 3/7/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 26, A dorm fire at the Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos killed 58 youths. One of 2 doors was bolted shut and arson was suspected. The toll soon rose to 64 as more students died from burns.
(SFC, 3/27/01, p.F1)(SFC, 3/30/01, p.D4)
2001 Apr 1, A bus rammed a vehicle on a bridge and both plunged into the Sabaki River. At least 35 people were killed.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 16, Lee Bong Ju of South Korea won the men’s Boston Marathon in 2:09:43. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won among the women in 2:23:53.
(WSJ, 4/17/01, p.A1)
2001 May 26, Sec. of State Colin Powell met with Pres. Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and urged to step aside for the 2002 elections.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A12)
2001, Aug 25, It was reported that Eric Wainaina (27), singer, had a hit with his song “Nchi Ya Kitu Kidogo," Kiswahili for “The Country of Something Small," a reference to bribes and corruption.
(SFC, 8/25/01, p.A8)
2001 Nov 4, Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia won the NYC Marathon in record time, 2:07:43. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set a woman’s record of 2:24:21.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 10, In Kenya Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, an al Qaeda operative, was arrested in Mandera near the Somalia border for involvement in the Aug 7, 1998 US Embassy bombing.
(SFC, 12/11/01, p.A13)
2002 Mar 3, In Kenya the Taliban gang (Kikuyu) killed 2 members of the Mungiki gang (Luo). The violence in east Nairobi left at least 20 people dead.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Apr, The government ended an air traffic controllers’ strike by firing them.
(SSFC, 4/21/02, p.C7)
2002 May 8, The parliament approved an Amended Books and Newspapers Act that made it illegal to sell publications that had not been submitted to the government for review.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A20)
2002 Jun, A Masai village donated 14 cows to the US after belatedly hearing of the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A15)
2002 Jul 13, Police in northern Kenya opened fire on protesters outside a U.N. refugee camp, killing three people.
(AP, 7/13/02)
2002 Jul 19, Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse university students protesting in downtown Nairobi in a second day of rioting over the shooting death of a student.
(AP, 7/19/02)
2002 Jul 19, Britain's government said it would pay $7 million in compensation to more than 220 Kenyans who say they are victims of unexploded ammunition left behind by British troops.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Oct 14, In Kenya Pres. Moi anointed Uhurru Kenyatta (41), the son of former 1st Pres. Jomo Kenyatta, as his successor. Tens of thousands gathered to protest his decision.
(SFC, 10/15/02, p.A9)
2002 Oct 24, In Kenya would-be carjackers shot and killed Esterlin Abdi Arush (45), a Somali human rights activist, at the gate of the house where she was staying in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Oct 25, In Kenya Pres. Daniel arap Moi announced the end of his 24-year rule, dissolved parliament and kicked off the campaign for a new elections.
(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A6)
2002 Nov 3, The NYC marathon was won by Rodgers Rop of Kenya in 2:08:06; Joyce Cehpchumba of Kenya won the women’s title in 2:25:55.
(WSJ, 11/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 28, In Kenya 3 suicide bombers attacked an Israeli-owned hotel, killing 13 other people. Gunmen fire two MANPADS at a Boeing jet carrying 271 passengers and crew as it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. Both missiles missed.
(AP, 11/28/02)(SFC, 11/29/02, p.A1)(SFC, 11/30/02, p.A1)(AP, 6/11/13)
2002 Dec 5, Kenya’s Pres. Moi and Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi met at the White House with Pres. Bush to discuss terrorism as well as drought, AIDS and other problems facing Africa.
(AP, 12/6/02)
2002 Dec 27, In Kenya political veteran Mwai Kibaki (71), head of an opposition alliance that promised to fight corruption and revive Kenya's ailing economy, won the elections over Uhuru Kenyatta 62% to 31%. The opposition alliance won 125 of 210 elective seats in the National Assembly, breaking the ruling party's 39-year grip on power. Kibaki promised to curb corruption.
(AP, 12/28/02)(SFC, 12/28/02, p.A11)(AP, 1/2/03)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.65)
2003 Jan 6, In Kenya 12 people were killed when members of the outlawed Mungiki sect attacked minibus operators over control of bus stops in Nakuru, 84 miles northwest of Nairobi. 38 people were soon arrested.
(AP, 1/7/03)
2003 Jan 17, In Kenya FBI informer William Mwaura Munuhe (27) was found dead at his home in the affluent Nairobi suburb of Karen, two days after the US Embassy and Kenyan police tried to trap Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga. Munuhe's body was partially dissolved in acid.
(AP, 1/21/03)(Econ., 5/23/20, p.37)
2003 Jan 24, A plane carrying members of Kenya's new government crashed, killing one minister, two pilots and injuring at least three other members of the government.
(AP, 1/24/03)
2003 Feb 25, In Kenya Pres. Mwai Kibaki ordered the release of 28 death row inmates and commuted the death sentences of another 195 inmates to life in prison, following his campaign pledge to reform Kenya’s prison system.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Mar 3, In Kenya US diplomats opened a new embassy in Nairobi, replacing the one destroyed 4 ½ years ago when terrorists launched attacks.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 May 4, In Kenya floods caused by two weeks of heavy rain have washed out roads and submerged entire villages, killing at least 30 people and forcing thousands from their homes.
(AP, 5/5/03)
2003 May 15, Britain cancelled all flights to and from Kenya following US warnings of a possible terrorist attack.
(SFC, 5/16/03, p.A12)
2003 May 26, Thomas R. Odhiambo (72), the Kenyan scientist who founded an int'l insect research center renowned for giving African farmers low-cost solutions for pest control, died. He founded the African Academy of Sciences in 1985.
(AP, 5/28/03)
2003 Jun 3, Police in Nairobi, Kenya, said a landlord's thugs had hacked 9 people to death in a campaign to drive out shanty tenants and raise rents.
(WSJ, 6/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 2, A group of 650 Kenyan women won the right to sue the British Ministry of Defense for rapes by British soldiers that took place over a 26 year period beginning in 1977.
(SFC, 7/3/03, p.A14)
2003 Jul 19, In Kenya a twin-engine plane carrying 12 American tourists and two South African crew members en route to a game reserve crashed into Mount Kenya, apparently killing everyone on board.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Kenya a terrorist suspect detonated a hand grenade as he was being arrested near Mombasa's central police station, killing himself and a policeman.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 19, It was reported that women in Kenya had begun rebelling against a traditional "cleansing" ritual whereby new widows were required to sleep with a designated "cleanser" in order to be inherited by male relatives and freed of haunting spirits.
(SFC, 8/19/03, p.A10)
2003 Aug 23, Michael Kijana Wamalwa (58), Kenya's 8th Vice President, died of an undisclosed illness after several months of treatment in a hospital near London.
(AP, 8/23/03)
2003 Aug, Odhiambo Mbai, Kenya political scientist, was assassinated. He was a key man in efforts to redraft the constitution.
(Econ, 10/11/03, p.50)
2003 Sep 15, In Kenya gunmen burst into the home of a senior delegate to a constitutional convention and shot him to death.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Oct 6, Pres. Bush met with Kenya's Pres. Kibaki, who asked for help in stabilizing Somalia.
(WSJ, 10/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct, In Kenya Pres. Kibaki suspended half of the 12-man appeal court and 17 of the high court's 44 judges. 82 or the country's 254 magistrates were also sent home. An official inquiry revealed that some judges had specific charges for favorable verdicts. Replacements were chosen by members of the "Mount Kenya Mafia," a group of ministers and mates from the president's Kikuyu tribe.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.44)
2003 Nov 4, Kenyan-born former physicist M.G. Vassanji was awarded this year's Giller Prize, Canada's most glamorous and lucrative literary award. He took home C$25,000 prize for his novel, "The In-Between World of Vikram Lall."
(AP, 11/5/03)
2003 Nov 11, It was reported that the 1st issue of Kwani (So What) magazine, edited by Binyavanga Wainaina (32), was launched as a quarterly journal of Kenyan creative writing.
(SFC, 11/11/03, p.D9)
2003 Dec 4, In Kisumu, Kenya, Tommy Thompson, US Sec. of Health and Human Services, dedicated a new $6.4 million field laboratory to be operated by the CDC. It was the largest of its kind in Africa. The local TB and malaria rates were among the highest in the world.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.A5)
2003 Kenya launched a free primary school education program. It soon earned praise across the world as more than 1 million children who had never been to school enrolled.
(AP, 1/26/10)
2004 Jan 8, In Kenya a new agreement, between the Ministry of Education and the country's largest and oldest orphanage for HIV-positive children, allowed a group of children infected with the virus that causes AIDS to attend public schools.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Feb 7, In northern Kenya tribal fighting between cattle rustlers and herdsmen killed at least 13 people, including three children.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Feb 19, In Kenya a fire raced through a Nairobi slum, destroying hundreds of ramshackle tin and timber houses and leaving 4,500 families homeless.
(AP, 2/20/04)
2004 Apr 19, In the Boston Marathon Timothy Cherigat of Kenya won for the men at 2:10:37; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won for the women at 2:24:27.
(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr, Pres. Kibaki’s government announced that Kenya would no longer recognize Somali passports.
(Econ, 6/12/04, p.46)
2004 Aug 1, A Kenyan government spokesman said 7 truck drivers taken hostage in Iraq have been released.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ngugi wa Thiongo (b.1938), exiled Kenyan writer, was accosted by assailants during a return trip to Nairobi. His face was burned with cigarettes and his wife was raped.
(Econ, 8/19/06, p.70)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngugi_wa_Thiongo)
2004 Sep 28, Kenya said it will push for an international ban on trade in lion trophies and skins, expressing concern that the African lion is "under threat."
(AP, 9/28/04)
2004 Oct 8, Wangari Maathai (64) of Kenya won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. During the 1980s and 1990s, she also campaigned against government oppression and founded Kenya's Green Party in 1987. She was repeatedly arrested and beaten for protesting former President Daniel arap Moi's environmental policies and human rights record. In 1991 Maathai won the Goldman Environmental Prize.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Nov 18, The UN Security Council opened an extraordinary two-day session in Nairobi, the first outside its New York headquarters in 14 years. Sudan topped the agenda. Great Lakes regional foreign ministers approved a pact for greater cross-border cooperation and confidence-building. It was due to be adopted at a summit in Dar es Salaam.
(AP, 11/18/04)(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Rebel officials and the Sudanese government committed themselves to ending the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan before January, signing an agreement at a special meeting of the UN Security Council in Kenya.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged leaders of Africa's blood-soaked Great Lakes region to implement a peace plan that could herald a "new era" for millions of Africans.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 29-Dec 3, Kenya hosted a conference on landmines in Nairobi. An estimated 40 people per day were killed by landmines. 144 countries had signed the 1997 Ottawa treaty banning landmines, but China, Russia, Pakistan, India and the US still refused to sign.
(www.reviewconference.org/)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.46)
2004 Kenyan MPs awarded themselves an average $169,625 a year in salary. The average Kenyan income was $400.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.65)
2005 Jan 1, Kenya was forecast for 3.7% annual GDP growth with a population at 33.3 million and GDP per head at $360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 29, In northern Kenya fighting over the last 2 weeks between the Garre and Murule clans forced 30,000 people to flee and left 30 people dead. Recent fighting between Masai and Kikuyu left 10-30 people dead.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.46)
2005 Feb 7, John Githongo, Kenya president's adviser on corruption, stepped down. The US in response quickly suspended $2.5 million in funding for anti-corruption work. He fled to Oxford Univ. after receiving death threats.
(AP, 2/11/05)(Econ, 1/28/06, p.45)
2005 Apr 18, The Boston Marathon was won by Hailu Negusie of Ethiopia, 2:11:45; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya led the women, 2:25:13.
(WSJ, 4/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 25, In Kenya 24 people were killed after drinking an illegal brew laced with industrial alcohol. By the next day death toll climbed to 49 with 174 people hospitalized.
(AP, 6/26/05)(SFC, 6/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 12, A raid by hundreds of Ethiopian bandits on a remote village in northern Kenya, left at least 45 people dead, including more than two dozen children. Kenyan security forces pursued the bandits, who numbered between 300 and 500, and killed 16 of them.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 13, In Kenya in an apparent revenge attack, men believed to be from the Gabra tribe killed 10 members of the rival Borana tribe as they were being driven to a seminar in Marsabit, 250 miles northeast of Nairobi.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 14, In central Kenya Luigi Locati (b.1928), the bishop of Isiolo diocese, was shot to death in what appeared to be an attempted robbery. Five men shot and killed the Bishop after a row over cash donated to the Isiolo diocese. In 2014 Father Waqo Guyo was named as the mastermind of the plot. He and four others were sentenced to death on Nov 6, 2014.
(AP, 7/15/05)(AFP, 11/6/14)
2005 Jul 20, In Kenya riot police beat demonstrators with truncheons and fired tear gas canisters as protests in Nairobi persisted over proposed constitutional amendments that critics say leave the president with too much power.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 26, John Goldson (69), a prominent British hotelier, was killed in Kenya’s central Rift Valley when he went to investigate a break-in by about seven gunmen at the lodge outside Naivasha, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Nairobi. In 2006 police arrested Ibrahim Abdi Noor, believed to be the leader of the gang that shot and killed Goldson.
(AP, 2/6/06)
2005 Jul, Britain banned Kenya’s minister Chris Murungaru from visiting Britain. No reason was given but allegations of corruption in Kenya were believed to be a major factor.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)
2005 Oct 14, A consortium led by South Africa’s Sheltam Trade Close won the privatization bid for the rail line linking Mombasa, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda. Nicknamed since 1895 as the “lunatic express," it was renamed the Rift Valley Railways.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.68)
2005 Nov 6, Paul Tergat of Kenya won the NYC marathon by a third of a second in the closest finish ever. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia took the women’s race.
(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 11, Police fired on a rally in Mombasa against Kenya's draft constitution, fatally wounding four men. Police broke up the rally because President Mwai Kibaki, who has supported the proposed constitution ahead of a referendum on Nov. 21, was visiting the port city at the time.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 21, Kenya held a referendum on the country’s 1st proper constitution since independence. Voters divided into 2 factions over the referendum: bananas called for a yes vote and oranges said no. Voters rejected the new constitution (57-43%), supported by Pres. Kibaki, the most serious political setback since he was elected nearly 3 years ago.
(AP, 11/22/05)(Econ, 11/26/05, p.58)
2005 Nov, John Githongo, Kenya’s former adviser on corruption, sent a 36-page summary of his investigations to Pres. Kibaki and to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. When neither responded he passed the dossier to a Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation, which began exposing the contents on Jan 22, 2006. In 2015 seven former officials were charged with fraud exposed by Githongo.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.45)(Econ., 3/21/15, p.42)
2005 Dec 9, Kenya swore in a new Cabinet whose difficult formation reflected increasing questions about the president's political strength.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 17, A first group of southern Sudanese refugees began their journey home after two decades of living in a camp in Kenya.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 29, Drought was reported to have triggered extreme food shortages in the East African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting millions of people at risk of famine as the lean dry season approaches.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Kenya’s population grew to some 34 million.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.94)
2006 Jan 1, East African leaders said that millions of people in the region faced hunger because poor rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2005 David Anderson authored “Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire."
(SSFC, 5/8/05, p.B1)
2005 Caroline Elkins authored “Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya."
(SSFC, 5/8/05, p.B1)
2006 Jan 12, In Kenya gunmen shot and killed, Joan Wells Root (69), a well-known British environmentalist and wildlife filmmaker, at her home in the central Rift Valley.
(AFP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 13, A battle for livestock between Ethiopian and Kenyan nomads left 38 people dead in drought-stricken northern Kenya, in the remote village of Lokamarinyang, along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The fighting killed 30 of the Dongiro raiders and eight Kenyans, all of them women and children. A drought that has impoverished some 11.5 million people in the area, most of them nomads, has exacerbated tensions between the tribes.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 23, In Kenya a five-story building collapsed in central Nairobi with more than 280 construction workers inside, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60. The government next day said the owner and contractor of a building were rushing workers to complete the structure before the concrete on lower levels had set.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Feb 1, In Kenya Four suspended senior officials of the City Council of Nairobi were charged with negligence in the Jan 23 collapse of a building in Nairobi that killed at least 17 people and injured more than 100.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 1, In Kenya David Mwiraria resigned as finance minister under allegations of involvement in a multimillion-dollar scandal.
(SFC, 2/2/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 8, Kenya’s government and the UN said Kenya needs $221.5 million in aid to help feed 3.5 million people threatened by starvation due to drought and avoid a "massive humanitarian catastrophe."
(AP, 2/8/06)
2006 Feb 18, Conservation officials said a searing drought in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania has killed dozens of hippopotamuses and other wild animals, and disrupted the annual migration of wildebeests and zebras between the two East African nations.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 2, In Kenya masked gunmen identifying themselves as police raided the country's oldest newspaper and its sister television station, two days after three journalists were detained for a story about Kenya's president. The closures of The Standard and the Kenya Television Network, ordered by security minister John Michuki, appeared to mark the first time a Kenyan government has shut down the operations of a major media company.
(AP, 3/2/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.52)
2006 Apr 10, A Kenyan military plane carrying politicians to a peace conference crashed while attempting to land in northern Kenya, killing a Cabinet minister, six other politicians and at least seven other people.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 17, In the Boston Marathon was won by Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot in a record time of 2:07:14. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya won among the women in 2:23:38.
(WSJ, 4/18/06, p.A1)(AP, 4/17/07)
2006 Apr 18, In Kenya officials said the Sabaki River, swollen by heavy rains, had overflowed its banks, forcing at least 10,000 people to flee their homes.
(AP, 4/18/06)
2006 Apr 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's booming economy.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 May 13, The Kenyan government banned smoking in public places in order to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
(AFP, 5/13/06)
2006 May 18, In Kenya hundreds attended the burial of Robert Wambugu, a black man shot by Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley, one of Kenya's wealthiest landowners. In 2005 Cholmondeley was charged with murder in the shooting a Massai game warden investigating reports of illegal wildlife trading. The charge was dropped for lack of evidence.
(AP, 5/18/06)(AFP, 5/7/09)
2006 May 21, In SF some 62,000 runners participated in the annual Bay to Breakers race. Gilbert Okari (27) of Kenya won in 34 minutes and 20 seconds. Among the women Ukrainian Tetyana Hladyr won in 39:09. Mayor Newsom finished the 7.46 miles in 59:04.
(SFC, 5/22/06, p.A1)
2006 May 24, Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley (38), a descendant of Kenya's first white settlers, was charged with murder in the shooting of Robert Njoya Wambugu (37), who was shot in the back and died en route to a hospital. Cholmondeley’s attorney said the victim unleashed several dogs on Cholmondeley after the man was caught poaching an impala. In 2009 Cholmondeley (40) was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 months in prison. He was released on Oct 23.
(AP, 5/24/06)(AP, 5/14/09)(AP, 10/23/09)
2006 May 31, Kenya approved legislation that included provisions to punish those found guilty of child prostitution and sex tourism and trafficking. The new law aimed at curbing increasing sex abuse drew protest for failing to criminalize marital rape while penalizing false rape reports.
(AP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 9, In Kenya police commissioner Hussein Ali deported Artur Margariyan and Arthur Sargsian, who claimed to be Armenian brothers, for mercenary activities including organizing police raids on television and newspaper offices.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.54)
2006 Jun 24, Transparency International, a global anti-corruption group, fired Mwalimu Mati, the executive director of its Kenya chapter, accusing him of misusing at least $26,800 through double billing and other financial improprieties.
(AP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jul 6, It was reported that African scholars have launched the continent's first bible commentary which tackles issues like female circumcision, HIV/AIDS and ethnic violence to make the scriptures more relevant for Africans. The African Bible Commentary was launched this week in Kenya and is meant to interpret the bible for Africans by using local proverbs and tradition and by applying Christian teaching to contemporary problems on the poorest continent.
(Reuters, 7/6/06)
2006 Jul, Some 15% of Kenyans attended Pentecostalist churches. Muslims made up about 8% of the population.
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.46)
2006 Aug 11, In north Kenya authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the border. Brigadier General Kemal Gelchu, a dissident Ethiopian general who defected this week to neighboring Eritrea, said that he would be joining the OLF to fight for his Oromo people's rights.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 28, US Sen. Barack Obama urged Kenyans to take control of their country's destiny by opposing corruption and ethnic divisions in government during a policy speech at the main university in his father's homeland.
(AP, 8/28/06)
2006 Aug 31, Kenya stepped up criticism of US Senator Barack Obama, accusing him of insulting the Kenyan people and trivializing their achievements during a visit to his father's homeland. Obama had rebuked Kibaki's government for failing to address corruption and said Kenya's democratic progress "is in jeopardy... being threatened by corruption."
(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Sep, In Kenya farmers in the Machakos region built small dams and water retention ponds on the Ikiwe River with some $70,000 in aid from people in Archbold, Ohio. The Archbold Mennonite Church project was part of Foods Resource Bank, a Michigan-based hunger fighting organization that connects urban churches with rural farm groups.
(WSJ, 4/23/07, p.A1)
2006 Oct 6, The UN refugee agency said the number of Somalis fleeing fighting to seek refuge in Kenya has risen dramatically and could stretch the capacity of aid organizations to critical levels.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 17, Kenya reported its first case of polio in 22 years at a refugee camp near the Somali border as the United Nations appealed for urgent help to cope with a surge in refugees from Somalia.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Kenya thousands of delegates from around the world opened a UN conference on next steps to ward off the worst effects of climate change.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 8, A Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner called on people around the world to plant 1 billion trees in the next year, saying the effort is a way ordinary citizens can fight global warming.
(AP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 16, In Kenya the UN conference on climate change ended. The participating 180 countries reached no agreement on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_12/items/3754.php)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.60)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 30, The East African Community (EAC) said Rwanda and Burundi have been accepted as members, expanding the regional economic bloc to five nations. The EAC previously grouped Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which hoped to transform the region into a political federation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Kenya 11 African heads of state attending the 2nd International Conference on the Great Lakes Region signed a landmark $2 billion (1.5-billion-euro) security and development pact to forestall fresh violence in the area.
(AFP, 12/15/06)
2006 In the waters off East Africa unmarked fishing ships carried 23mm anti-aircraft guns and fished illegally impacting the local fishermen of Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania. Fish stocks fell as coral reefs were ripped, and numberless dolphins and turtles were getting snagged.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.43)
2006 Family and friends of San Francisco-based Stefan Lyon (11) traveled to Kakamega, Kenya, to supervise the conversion of a cowshed into classroom. The project was begun by Stefan Lyon with funds raised by selling cookies and selling “My Adventures with Stitch," a book about his pet rat.
(www.stefanlyon.com)(SSFC, 12/7/08, p.B1)
2007 Jan 2, Ethiopian helicopters pursuing Somali Islamists missed their target and bombed a Kenyan border post, prompting Kenyan fighter planes to rush to the area. A gun collection program in Mogadishu began with little response.
(AFP, 1/2/07)(SFC, 1/3/07, p.A3)
2007 Jan 3, Kenya sent extra troops to its border with Somalia to keep Islamic militants from entering the country after Ethiopian helicopters attacked a Kenyan border post by mistake while pursuing suspected fighters.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 4, Kenya said it has closed its border with Somalia in an apparent effort to keep Islamic militants and refugees from entering the country.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 7, A senior Kenyan health official said about 75 people have died of Rift Valley fever (hemorrhagic fever) during the past three weeks and another 183 are infected with it. The last outbreak of the disease in East Africa was between 1997-1998, when 478 people died in Somalia and Kenya. Currently there was no human vaccine.
(AP, 1/8/07)(WSJ, 1/9/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 16, In Kenya deaths due to Rift Valley fever (hemorrhagic fever) had climbed to at least 95 for the past month.
(AFP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, Alice Lakwena, a Ugandan warrior priestess who led an insurgency in the 1980s, died at a Kenyan refugee camp. She was known as Alice Auma and claimed to have been possessed by a spirit called Lakwena, which gave her spiritual powers to protect her fighters from bullets by anointing them with oil. Her cousin, Joseph Kony, is the messianic leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
(AP, 1/18/07)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.87)
2007 Jan 20, In Nairobi, Kenya, more than 80,000 people from around the globe descended on the massive Kibera shanty-town, home for at least 700,000 of Kenya's poorest, to kick-off the seventh annual World Social Forum.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 20, The last major warlord in Somalia surrendered his weapons and 200 militiamen to the army, while an Islamic leader claimed responsibility for a string of guerrilla attacks and promised there would be more until the government agreed to talks. An Ethiopian military convoy was ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to the war-torn country. Kenya handed over 34 Islamic militiamen to Somalia's transitional government. A Somali government spokesman said that some of them may be senior leaders of the country's Islamic movement.
(AP, 1/20/07)(AFP, 1/20/07)(AP, 1/21/07)
2007 Jan 26, In Kenya a regional director for the aid agency CARE was killed.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Jan 27, Gunmen carjacked a US Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital and killed two women in the car.
(AP, 1/27/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Kenya a top Kenyan AIDS researcher was killed and an American woman traveling with him was shot in the face.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Feb 7, The US Embassy issued a travel advisory saying violent crime was on the increase in Kenya.
(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.G2)
2007 Mar 23, A human rights group said Kenya has deported more than 100 people from 19 countries to Somalia after they crossed the border between the two countries illegally during fighting earlier this year, and the deportees were subsequently arrested by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Apr 16, Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his 3rd Boston Marathon in 2:14:13. Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva won in 2:29:18.
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.A1)
2007 May 5, A Kenya Airways jet with 114 people on board crashed after sending out a distress signal over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from 23 countries. There were no survivors.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 20, In Kenya 6 men were beheaded over the weekend in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. This came weeks after members of the Mungiki sect fought with the police over control of minibus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers. 7 people were soon arrested in connection with the beheadings.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 31, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya’s police over the last few months have arrested 2,464 suspected followers of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect whose members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson announced a program aimed at saving elephants in Kenya, as he boarded his airline's first flight to the east African nation.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 5, Kenyan police overnight killed more than 20 suspected members of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect, accused in a string of beheadings and the deaths of two police officers in the Mathare slum the previous day.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 7, Gunfights erupted in a Nairobi slum, killing at least 10 people, as police conducted house-to-house searches for members of an outlawed sect accused of terrorizing Kenyans and leaving behind a string of beheaded corpses.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 9, A concrete wall collapsed onto a maze of homes in a Kenyan slum, killing at least 10 people, including three babies.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Kenya an explosion went off outside a hotel in downtown Nairobi during morning rush hour, killing two people, injuring more than 30.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Kenya at least 20 people were killed overnight in and around Nairobi, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gunbattles.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 26, Kenyan police killed two suspected members of a banned sect blamed for a string of recent murders and beheadings in a mounting crackdown.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jul 1, Kenya police said 12 suspected criminals and members of a murderous sect were killed over the last 24 hours, as a fierce crackdown on surging crime intensified.
(AFP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jul, Rwanda and Burundi became members of the East African Community (EAC), which included Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Aug 15, In Kenya hundreds of journalists wearing black gags marched silently through Nairobi to protest a proposed law that would allow courts to compel reporters to reveal their sources.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 28, In Kenya a crash in the Kisii area killed 22 people when the bus they were traveling in rammed a truck head-on.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, In Kisii, Kenya, an oil tanker truck rolled down a hill and smashed into four minibuses, killing 29 people and injuring more than 30. The death toll was expected to rise.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Sep 7, The Kenya Wildlife Service warned in a report that wild animals are vanishing from Nairobi National Park, Kenya's oldest game reserve which borders the airport at Nairobi.
(AFP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 21, The Red Cross warned that a massive aid effort is needed to cope with floods in 18 countries across Africa that have already affected at least 1.5 million people and killed at least 270 in Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and other countries.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Oct 5, Record floods, that have wreaked havoc across Africa, killed at least 20,000 wildebeests making their way to Kenya during their annual “great migration." The animals, also known as gnus, were swept away by a river that broke its banks in southern Kenya's Maasai Mara park. Kenya Wildlife Service on Oct 13 said floods that have wreaked havoc across Africa killed 5,000 wildebeests, and not tens of thousands, blaming tourists for exaggerating the toll.
(AFP, 10/11/07)(AFP, 10/13/07)
2007 Oct 6, In western Kenya Stanley Livindo, a ruling party candidate for parliament, was arrested after his bodyguards allegedly shot and killed a supporter of Kenya's largest opposition party and injured two others. The shootings came as tens of thousands of people rallied in the capital to kick off the presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, who has mounted a serious challenge to President Mwai Kibaki in December general elections.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Nov 7, Kenya’s official human rights commission reported that state security agents had killed 454 people since the summer in and around Nairobi. They were said to be members of the Mungiki sect, a Kikuyu gang that has terrorized central Kenya for years.
(Econ, 11/10/07, p.58)(http://allafrica.com/stories/200711080157.html)
2007 Nov 13, Researchers in Kenya unveiled a 10-million-year-old jaw bone they believe belonged to a new species of great ape that could be the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. A Kenyan and Japanese team found the fragment, dating back to between 9.8 and 9.88 million years, in 2005 along with 11 teeth. The fossils were unearthed in volcanic mud flow deposits in the northern Nakali region of Kenya.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 14, The EU reached an accord with the East African Community (EAC) states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They will enjoy duty free, quota free access to the EU for all products, except sugar and rice, from January 1. Originally established in 1967, the EAC collapsed a decade later amid diverging economic philosophies. It was resurrected in 2000 as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to create an EU-style common market for their 90 million citizens. Rwanda and Burundi became members in July this year.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Dec 7, Officials said swarms of desert locusts have invaded Kenya's arid northeast for the first time since 1962.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 25, Mobs in Kenya's opposition heartland beat up and killed at least 3 policemen accused of taking part in a plan to rig Dec 26 elections in favor of President Mwai Kibaki.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 27, Kenya held elections. President Mwai Kibaki tried to fend off fiery opposition leader Raila Odinga. In Nairobi monitors from the EU saw tens of thousands of votes pinched for Kibaki. In 2009 Philip Alston, a UN investigator, published a report documenting around 500 death-squad executions in the months leading up the elections. Post-election violence eventually left some 1,400 people dead.
(AP, 12/27/07)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.37)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(Econ, 8/19/17, p.42)
2007 Dec 29, Kenya's presidential rivals were neck-and-neck with nearly 90 percent of official results counted as accusations of rigging ignited ethnic violence across the east African nation.
(AP, 12/29/07)
2007 Dec 30, President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the closest presidential election in Kenya's history, a contest marked by allegations of rigging and two days of deadly violence. Kibaki beat Raila Odinga by 231,728 votes. Kivuitu, the electoral commission chairman, acknowledged problems, including a constituency where voter turnout added up to 115 percent and another where a candidate ran away with ballot papers.
(AP, 12/30/07)
2007 Dec 31, Kenyan police battled thousands of opposition supporters enraged over President Mwai Kibaki's allegedly fraudulent re-election, firing tear gas and live ammunition as the death toll from the violence rose to 103.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 In Kenya Pastor Jacob Momposhi Samperu founded the Hope for the Maasai Girls center to rescue girls from circumcision.
(AFP, 10/4/11)
2007 In Kenya police death squads killed some 500 people this year.
(Econ, 7/31/10, p.34)
2007 In 2011 prosecutors at the world war crimes court said Kenya's Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta organized deadly attacks on the opposition after disputed 2007 polls to keep the ruling party's power by "any means necessary." Some 1,400 lives were lost in the politically stoked fighting following the flawed elections.
(AFP, 9/22/11)(Econ, 2/18/17, p.40)(Econ, 8/19/17, p.42)
2007 Kenya’s population climbed to 38 million people, half under age 20, and projections suggested it would reach 57 million by 2025. The official minimum wage stood at about $700 per year, with GDP per head at about $1,500. An MP’s salary was about $60,000, which doubled with allowances. The Kikuyu tribe comprised about 22% of Kenya’s population.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.50)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.39)
2007 Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile phone operator, launched M-PESA, a mobile-money scheme. It allowed people to pay bills and even save money, though without interest.
(Econ, 9/26/09, SR p.17)
2007 Uganda began construction of the $860 million Bujagali Dam for hydroelectric power from Lake Victoria water. About 55% of lower water levels on Lake Victoria were attributed dams built by the Ugandan government. This severely impacted farmers and fishermen in adjoining Kenya and Tanzania as well as Uganda.
(SFC, 6/24/08, p.A14)
2008 Jan 1, In Kenya a mob torched a church sheltering hundreds of people fleeing election violence. Up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus were killed in the fire in the Assemblies of God Church in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret. The death toll from ethnic riots triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election soared to nearly 200.
(AP, 1/1/08)(Reuters, 1/1/08)(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 2, International pressure mounted on Kenya's leaders to end postelection violence that has killed more than 300 people. Vice President Moody Awori told a local television station that the violence has cost the country $31 million a day.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 3, In Kenya riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to beat back crowds heading for a banned rally to protest the disputed election, and the president said he is willing to talk to the opposition once calm has been restored.
(AP, 1/3/08)
2008 Jan 4, Kenya's opposition called for a new presidential election to settle a dispute that has sparked deadly riots from the capital to the coast, but a government spokesman said a new vote could come on only on orders from the highest court. The World Food Program warned that 100,000 people faced starvation in western Kenya.
(AP, 1/4/08)(SFC, 1/5/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 5, Kenya’s government said President Kibaki is ready to form "a government of national unity" to help resolve disputed elections that caused deadly riots. Some 300 people have been killed and the UN said 250,000 made homeless in violent protests and clashes since the vote.
(AP, 1/5/08)
2008 Jan 7, Kenya's opposition leader canceled nationwide protests, saying he wanted to avoid new violence and give mediation a chance to resolve the election dispute that has killed nearly 500 people in political and ethnic bloodletting. The chief US envoy for Africa said the vote count from Kenya's election was rigged, but both parties could have been involved, declining to blame either President Mwai Kibaki or the opposition leader who ran against him.
(AP, 1/7/08)
2008 Jan 8, Kenya's opposition leader rejected talks with the president, describing an invitation to meet as "public relations gimmickry" that would undermine attempts to end the ethnically-charged election standoff that has killed more than 500 people.
(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Jan 9, African Union chief John Kufuor met Kenyan leaders to try to break a political deadlock following disputed presidential polls that sparked widespread violence and left at least 600 dead. Hundreds of Kenyans tried to flee the country's west amid escalating opposition anger after the president named half of a new Cabinet, a line-up packed with his allies.
(AFP, 1/9/08)(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 10, An African Union statement said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is taking over mediation in Kenya's disputed presidential election. Kenya's feuding political leaders agreed to an immediate cessation of violence and any acts that may harm efforts to end the country's post-election crisis,
(AP, 1/10/08)(AFP, 1/10/08)
2008 Jan 12, A leading Kenyan human rights group said some of the worst violence in the country's deadly disputed presidential election was the work of militias paid and directed by politicians. Maina Kiai, chairman of the state-funded human rights body, said that in response to attacks on Kikuyu, government politicians have recruited the Mungiki, a Kikuyu gang blamed for a string of beheadings carried out in Nairobi's slums this year. The EU, US and UN urged Kenya's politicians to agree to a peaceful and democratic end to violence that has killed some 575 people since the disputed December 27 polls. The instability thus far cost the country and estimated $1 billion.
(AP, 1/12/08)(Reuters, 1/12/08)(WSJ, 1/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 15, Kenya’s legislators chose an opposition member as parliament speaker in a close vote, giving a victory to foes of the president as they prepared for mass protest rallies. Grace Kaindi, the police chief of Kisumu, said she had ordered her officers to fire on a rioting crowd, saying she was forced to because police were overwhelmed during protests over disputed elections. Of the 612 deaths government officials have attributed to election violence, 53 were in Kisumu; hospital records show 44 of those were killed by police bullets.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 16, In Kenya police fired tear gas and bullets to disperse thousands of protesters in several cities at the start of three days of opposition rallies that reignited post-election violence. At least one person was fatally shot by police.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 18, In Kenya a weakened opposition said it would turn to economic boycotts and strikes to keep up pressure over the East African nation's disputed election. 12 new deaths raised the toll to at least 22 people killed in three days of protests called by the opposition, all but five blamed on police.
(AP, 1/18/08)(AP, 1/19/08)(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 19, In Kenya 5 people died in ethnic clashes when three ethnic groups, Kalenjin, Kisii and Kikuyu, fought each other with bows and arrows and machetes in villages around the Catholic Kipkelion Monastery in the Rift Valley.
(AP, 1/20/08)
2008 Jan 20, In Kenya renewed ethnic fighting broke out in a Nairobi slum following the deaths of more than 20 people in demonstrations against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki. Several people were beaten and hacked to death with machetes.
(AP, 1/20/08)(AP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 24, In Kenya Pres. Kibaki and Opposition leader Odinga talked for the first time since the election, but the president angered the opposition by insisting after the hour-long meeting, mediated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that his position as head of state was not negotiable.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 25, In Kenya street battles engulfed the western city of Nakuru, tense with ethnic rivalries, leaving bodies in the roadways with gashes in their heads and arrows lodged in their torsos in the latest fighting set off by the disputed presidential election. Overnight, half the town of Total Station was burned down and at least two people were killed.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 26, In Kenya sporadic gunshots rang in Nakuru as those forced from their homes by postelection violence threatened revenge. Police took 16 charred bodies to a mortuary, where onlookers sobbed.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Jan 27, In western Kenya gangs armed with machetes and bows and arrows burned and hacked to death members of a rival tribe, as the death toll from the latest explosion of violence over disputed presidential elections rose to 69.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 28, In Nakuru, Kenya, the provincial capital of the fertile Rift Valley, 64 bodies were counted at the morgue. In Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria, armed mobs of young men torched houses and buses, burning alive anyone inside and blocking blood-spattered roadways.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 29, In Kenya former UN chief Kofi Annan launched formal mediation efforts to end the post-election crisis, where the killing of an opposition legislator stoked bloody protests. Gunmen killed Mugabe Were, an opposition lawmaker in Nairobi, triggering a new flare-up of the ethnic fighting. A gang hefting machetes dragged a doctor from the president's Kikuyu tribe from his clinic "and then cut and cut until his head was off."
(Reuters, 1/29/08)(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 31, In Kenya an opposition lawmaker was gunned down by a police officer in the second fatal shooting of an opposition legislator this week. National police chief Hussein Ali said the police officer, who has been arrested, shot David Too in a dispute over the officer's girlfriend. The opposition said it was an assassination plot. Kenyan police killed four people as mobs set scores of houses and businesses ablaze in a western Kenyan town. In Kisumu police fired tear gas and then live rounds at scores of protesters trying to block the main road. Kofi Annan suspended crisis talks aimed at ending Kenya's political crisis after the lawmaker was shot dead, triggering further clashes. In Ethiopia UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Pres. Kibaki at the African Union summit and warned that the violence in Kenya could spiral out of control unless quick action was taken.
(AP, 1/31/08)(AFP, 1/31/08)(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 1, Kenya's rival sides said they had agreed to take action to end monthlong violence from a disputed presidential election, but the death toll mounted when police fired on mobs setting homes and businesses ablaze in the west of the country. At least 14 people were killed as the death toll rose to over 800 with some 300,000 forced from their homes.
(AP, 2/2/08)(SFC, 2/2/08, p.A5)
2008 Feb 3, The leader of Kenya's opposition called for the African Union to send peacekeepers to help stem violence sparked by the country's disputed presidential election.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 4, Kenya said violence over disputed elections had eased enough to lift a monthlong ban on live television broadcasts. The fighting has killed over 1,000 people and made 300,000 homeless since the Dec. 27 presidential election. Violence continued as former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said the government and governing party have rejected his choice to lead mediation efforts. At least 7 people were killed overnight in battles between Kisii and Kalenjin communities 155 miles west of the capital.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 7, The US said it was barring 10 leading Kenyan politicians from entering the US, the first time Washington has blamed them for the postelection violence that has brought the African country to the brink of collapse.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 8, Former UN chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating talks between Kenya's political rivals, said they were close to a deal aimed at ending weeks of postelection bloodshed but no power-sharing agreement had been reached yet.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 9, Raila Odinga, Kenya's opposition leader, demanded that Pres. Kibaki resign, a sharp turnaround from his conciliatory tone during talks with the government earlier this week.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 13, Kenya's rival parties sequestered themselves at a luxury lodge in a game park as they attempted to hammer out a peace deal to end weeks of bloodshed.
(AP, 2/13/08)
2008 Feb 14, A UN spokesman said political rivals trying to lead Kenya out of weeks of violence signed an agreement, but no details were released and the talks were to continue next week.
(AP, 2/14/08)
2008 Feb 26, Mediator Kofi Annan suspended the talks to end Kenya's deadly postelection crisis after weeks of negotiations brought little progress.
(AP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 28, Kenya's rival politicians, aided by AU chairman Jakaya Kikwete, signed a power-sharing agreement and shook hands after weeks of bitter negotiations on how to end the country's deadly postelection crisis.
(AP, 2/28/08)(Econ, 3/1/08, p.49)
2008 Mar 3, In western Kenya dozens of people with assault rifles and machetes stormed a village, killing at least 13 people, including six children. Some were burned alive in their homes. National Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the attack in Embakasi village was over land, not the country's disputed Dec. 27 presidential election.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 8, It was reported that Kenya’s wild animal populations has fallen by about 70% in the last 30 years.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.86)
2008 Mar 9, An army operation began in western Kenya pursuing members of a group linked to bloody clashes over land. Up to 30,000 people fled their homes.
(AP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 18, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki signed into law two bills passed by parliament that put in place a power-sharing deal which halted post-election unrest.
(AFP, 3/18/08)
2008 Apr 1, In Kenya police tear gassed about 100 protesters who demonstrated in Nairobi against plans to increase the number of Cabinet posts.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 3, Kenya’s president and opposition leader agreed on a cabinet as part of their power-sharing deal to end violence.
(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 8, Kenya’s opposition party suspended talks with the government and hundreds of backers set fires to protest delays in reaching a power-sharing agreement.
(SFC, 4/9/08, p.A7)
2008 Apr 13, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki named rival Raila Odinga as prime minister, implementing a power-sharing deal after protracted negotiations over the agreement they signed more than a month ago.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 14, Kenyan police in Nairobi fired bullets and tear gas to clear machete-waving Mungiki gang members who blocked roads and set a police post on fire to protest the killing of an imprisoned gang leader's wife. At least 13 people were killed.
(AP, 4/14/08)(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 May 6, Kenya froze the assets of businessman Felicien Kabuga, the most wanted suspect in Rwanda's genocide, saying it would stop him avoiding capture or helping other fugitives.
(Reuters, 5/6/08)
2008 May 14, In Kenya an international aid worker said officials backed by armed police are forcing some 9,000 Kenyans displaced by postelection violence to leave a refugee camp in Kitale.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 25, A nationwide power outage hit Kenya as a result of a transmission fault from its hydro-electric plants, sparking panic in the east African nation.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 Jun 9, Safaricom Ltd., a Kenya-based mobile-phone operation, made its debut in East Africa’s largest public offering valued at about $800 million. Shares in a 25% stake were offered at 5 Kenyan shillings and closed at 7 shillings. The company enabled customers to transfer money and at this time moved some $1.5 million a day across Kenya.
(WSJ, 6/10/08, p.C1)(Econ, 6/7/08, p.78)
2008 Jul 8, Amos Kimunya, Kenya’s finance minister, was forced to resign following the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel to Libyans, without taking bids and advertising the sale. The hotel had been confiscated from Kamlesh Paul Pattni, a businessman alleged to have paid hundreds of millions to individuals close to former Pres. Daniel arap Moi, for the export of gold and diamonds that did not exist.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.60)
2008 Jul 16, The United States signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 21, An aid agency said Kenyan armed forces are preventing aid workers from helping homeless, hungry families caught between a brutal militia and an army crackdown.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Aug 24, Kenya took home 14 medals from the Beijing Olympics, 5 of them gold.
(Econ, 9/6/08, p.55)
2008 Sep 25, Pirates seized the 530-foot, Ukrainian cargo vessel, MV Faina, with 21 people aboard off eastern Somalia. Russia's navy soon sent a warship to Somalia's coast a day after pirates seized the Ukrainian vessel loaded with 33 tanks, ammunition and 3 Russian crew members. The ITAR-Tass news agency said the military equipment had been sold to Kenya. It was later reported that the arms were destined for southern Sudan and that Kenya’s cooperation would be rewarded in the future with cheap oil. The shipped was released on Feb 5, 2009, following a ransom of $3.2 million.
(AP, 9/26/08)(SFC, 9/27/08, p.A5)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.49)(AP, 2/5/09)
2008 Sep 29, US warships and helicopters surrounded a hijacked cargo ship loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms to keep the weapons from falling "into the wrong hands." The shipment of 33 Russian-designed tanks, rifles and ammunition on the Ukrainian-operated Faina was headed for Sudan, not Kenya as previously claimed by Kenyan officials. Somali pirates demanded a $20 million ransom.
(AP, 9/29/08)(SFC, 9/29/08, p.A12)
2008 Oct 1, Kenyan police arrested Andrew Mwangura, a maritime watchdog official, on suspicion of criminal activity just days after the official gave reporters sensitive information about a hijacked arms freighter off Somalia's coast.
(AP, 10/2/08)
2008 Oct 7, In Kenya Jerome Corsi, who wrote "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," was picked up by police and deported for not having a work permit.
(AP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 16, In Kenya violence re-started between the Murule and Garre in Mandera town triggered by need for space for 920 families displaced by flash floods. A security operation was then set up to intervene following a request by the area members of parliament when the conflict took a cross-border dimension with one clan getting support from Al-Shabaab militants from Somalia. In 2009 Human Rights Watch issued a 51-page report, called "Bring the Gun or You'll Die," saying Kenyan security forces tortured hundreds of civilians and raped at least a dozen women during a three-day operation to disarm militias in the Mandera region.
(www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-7LQ47Q?OpenDocument)(AP, 6/29/09)
2008 Oct 16, The European Commission announced 15 million euros (20 million dollars) of emergency food aid for victims of drought and soaring food prices in five east African countries. The biggest share will go to Ethiopia and Somalia and smaller amounts to Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.
(AFP, 10/16/08)
2008 Nov 5, Africans across the continent sang, danced in the streets and wrapped themselves in US flags to cheer for America's first black president. Kenya will party for two days, after Pres. Kibaki declared a national holiday for Nov 6 in honor of Obama.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 10, Gunmen in northern Kenya seized two Italian Catholic nuns from a church before dawn and took them across the border into a Somali region largely controlled by Islamist insurgents. The nuns were free on February 19, 2009.
(AP, 11/10/08)(AP, 2/19/09)
2008 Nov 17, The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said a ton of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on wildlife crime. Operation Baba also seized cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets, airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 23, Kenyan PM Raila Odinga called for the deployment of African Union peacekeepers to Zimbabwe to bring President Robert Mugabe back into line.
(AFP, 11/23/08)
2008 Dec 2, In Kenya a government anti-corruption watchdog said it is suing seven current and former Kenyan officials for a total of a quarter of a million dollars, saying they obtained the money dishonestly.
(AP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 7, Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga said foreign troops should prepare to intervene in Zimbabwe to end a worsening humanitarian crisis and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be investigated for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 16, Somalia's UN-backed government crumbled further as the president defied parliament and Kenya announced sanctions against him in a strong public rebuke.
(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Bridge International Academies, a for-profit school system, opened its headquarters in Kenya. It was founded by friends Shannon May, Jay Kimmelman and Phil Frei, who met at Harvard University to solve for some of the most intractable problems in education and development.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_International_Academies)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.53)
2009 Jan 2, Kenya's Pres. Mwai Kibaki signed into law a media bill that opponents say threatens the country's hard-fought reputation for having one of Africa's most vigorous press. A controversial part of the bill, which parliament passed last month, allows the government to shut down media outlets by declaring a state of emergency. Kibaki said that part was not included in the bill he signed.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 9, Kenya’s government said 10 million people risked going hungry after harvests failed following a drought.
(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.A1)
2009 Jan 16, Kenya's president declared the country's food crisis a national disaster and asked international donors to contribute $406 million toward emergency food aid. The US and Britain signed legal agreements with Kenya, essentially extradition treaties, in which Kenya agreed to try suspected pirates.
(AP, 1/16/09)(WSJ, 2/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Jan 28, In Kenya a massive fire swept through a supermarket in downtown Nairobi. 28 shoppers were burned alive.
(AP, 1/30/09)(AP, 2/3/09)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.42)
2009 Jan 31, In Kenya an overturned gasoline tanker exploded as hundreds of people tried to scoop up free fuel. Some 120 people were killed and 200 injured in the inferno. Several witnesses said some police were charging 1,000 Kenya shillings ($13) for 60 liters of fuel, an amount that usually costs about $65, which enraged the crowd.
(AP, 2/1/09)(AP, 2/2/09)(AP, 2/3/09)
2009 Feb 24, The Kenya National commission on Human Rights released a video showing a Kenyan policeman, who was later killed, saying he saw other officers execute 58 suspects instead of arresting them.
(SFC, 2/25/09, p.A2)
2009 Feb 24, Iran’s Pres. Ahmadinejad arrived in Kenya with a delegation of nearly 100 officials and business people. He soon struck a deal to export 4 million tons of crude oil a year, to open direct flights between Tehran and Nairobi, and to provide scholarships for study in Iran.
(http://tinyurl.com/yewhqnk)(Econ, 2/6/10, p.49)
2009 Feb 25, Kenya announced its first polio infection in 20 years, after a 4-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease along the country's remote border with Sudan.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Mar 5, In Kenya Oscar Kamau Kingara (37) and John Paul Oulu, who investigated extrajudicial killings, were shot at close range night while their car was stuck in traffic near the Univ. of Nairobi. The next day Kenya's top human rights group charged that the slaying was part of a pattern of assassinations of people who made allegations about police death squads.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 6, The EU and Kenya agreed to allow the country to prosecute suspected pirates captured by European forces on the high seas.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 10, In Kenya youths threw stones at police officers and looted stores and cars following a march by about 1,000 university students through the Nairobi to protest the deaths of a fellow student and two activists.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 10, Germany's navy handed over nine suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities and they will be taken to a court to face charges. The nine were arrested March 3 after they attacked the Hamburg-based MV Courier cargo ship.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Apr 6, In Kenya justice minister Martha Karua resigned in protest of Pres. Kibaki’s decision to appoint judges without consulting her.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p.53)
2009 Apr 8, Somali pirates hijacked a US-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard. The 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya.
(AP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 21, In central Kenya villagers clashed overnight with an outlawed criminal gang using machetes, axes and clubs, killing about 40 people. Residents near the town of Karatina fought Mungiki members because the gang had been extorting money from them.
(AP, 4/21/09)(Econ, 4/25/09, p.53)
2009 Apr 21, The 114th Boston Marathon was won by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga for the men and Salina Kosgei of Kenya for the women.
(WSJ, 4/21/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 25, It was reported that Kenya’s government included 94 ministers and deputies, each earning over $15,000 a month.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p53)
2009 Apr 27, In Kenya 2 men pleaded guilty in court to illegally possessing 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms) of elephant tusks in what was believed to be the largest seizure of illegal ivory in recent years. Rangers and police arrested the two, a Kenyan and a Tanzanian, on April 25, when the Kenya Wildlife Service acted on a tip about planned ivory smuggling in Amboseli National Park.
(AP, 4/27/09)
2009 Jun 10, The US Navy handed over 17 suspected Somali pirates to Kenya, taking the total number held in the east African nation to 101.
(AFP, 6/10/09)
2009 Jun 26, The UN refugee agency said that the bloody conflict in Somalia has created the world's largest refugee camp, with 500 hungry and exhausted refugees pouring into a wind-swept camp in neighboring Kenya every day.
(AP, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun, In Kenya three young men and a boy told police that Rev. Renato Kizito Sesana, an Italian priest, had been sexually molesting them for years at a shelter for poor children. No church investigation followed. Kenyan police later said they found no evidence and believed Sesana is innocent. Soon after going to the police, three of the four complainants, including a 17-year-old, withdrew their accusations, saying they had been forced to make them by con men planning to take over church property. But in 2010 the 17-year-old told the AP that he recanted only because he and his mother repeatedly received anonymous text messages threatening them with death. He insisted he really had been abused but did not seek to press charges again because he felt no one would believe him.
(AP, 4/11/10)
2009 Jul 9, An African Union panel said former UN chief Kofi Annan handed the International Criminal Court the names of key suspects in Kenya's post-poll violence which he helped end last year.
(AFP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 14, In Nairobi, Kenya, authorities seized over 660 pounds of illegal ivory and black rhinoceros horn, some of it still bloody, on a Mozambique-to-Asia plane.
(SFC, 7/15/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 21, In southwest Kenya a bus driver swerved at a sharp corner and collided with another bus, killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Aug 3, Kenya's Pres. Mwai Kibaki said all prisoners on death row will immediately have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Kenya's 97 prisons were built for a population of about 15,000 but currently have an inmate population of more than 40,000.
(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Aug 5, In Nairobi, Kenya, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Kenya for rampant graft and corruption as she made the case that business and trade across Africa cannot grow without good governance and solid democracy.
(AP, 8/5/09)
2009 Aug 11, In southeastern Kenya assailants armed with arrows, spears and machetes killed Campbell Bridges (72), a Scottish-born geologist, in an apparent dispute over mining rights. In 1968 Bridges became the first to record the discovery of gemstone-quality tsavorite, in Tanzania. Tsavorite, mined in Tanzania and Kenya, is a green variety of garnet that shines even before polishing. On Aug 19 Kenyan police arrested Alfred Makogo Njiruka, the chairman of a small miners association and the suspected mastermind in the killing of Bridges.
(AP, 8/13/09)(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 24, Kenya began its first national census in a decade amid an outcry over one question that asks people to identify their ethnic group, a contentious issue in this East African nation. Kenya’s 2009 census put the population at about 39 million.
(AP, 8/24/09)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.45)
2009 Aug 25, The World Food Program said that 3.8 million Kenyans need emergency food aid because of a prolonged drought, which is even causing electrical blackouts in the capital because there's not enough water for hydroelectric plants.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Sep 8, Kenya replaced its police chief on months after human rights groups complained that some his officers killed and raped during the violent aftermath of the disputed December 2007 elections, but activists said more reforms are needed to restore confidence in a notoriously predatory police force.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Sep 9, Conservationists said poaching and drought-related hunger have killed more than 100 of Kenya's famous elephants in the north of the country so far this year. Around 23,000 elephants live in Kenya but populations can be devastated by poaching within a couple of years. A recent survey in Chad showed its elephant population had declined from 3,800 to just over 600 in the past three years.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, A Kenyan magistrate sentenced Jon Cardon Wagner, an American who founded a popular chain of coffee shops, to 15 years' imprisonment for the statutory rape of three teenage Kenyan girls. Wagner's lawyer Mohammed Nyaoga said his client is the victim of an extortion racket and will appeal. Nairobi Java House began a culture of gourmet coffee drinking nine years ago and now has eight coffee shops in the capital.
(AP, 9/11/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Kenya clashes between the Samburu and Pokot tribes killed 24 people and wounded dozens as the country's scorching drought exacerbates tensions over land and water in the arid north.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 16, Kenyan government trucks took 1,500 slum residents to new homes as part of a UN-backed plan to eliminate the shantytowns that house more than half the capital's population.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 29, Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities seized more than 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of ivory from nearly 100 illegally killed elephants. Specially trained dogs sniffed out a consignment of bloodstained tusks at Kenya's national airport. Another shipment of tusks sent by the same individual had been seized a day earlier at the airport in Ethiopia's capital.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Sep 30, Aaron Ringera, Kenya's anti-corruption chief, resigned after weeks of public protest and a parliamentary vote against his reappointment. Ringera led the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission for five years before President Mwai Kibaki reappointed him in August. The commission had not successfully concluded one case of high-level corruption. Ringera blamed the commission's lack of powers to prosecute.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 16, A top southern Sudanese official said former enemies in north and south Sudan have reached agreement on details for a key referendum on the south’s full independence. Clashes broke out in the remote border region between southern Sudan and north-west Kenya. At least three Kenyan soldiers were reported killed in cross border raids.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Kenya a 3-story building collapsed in Nairobi killing at least 6 people with 14 left missing.
(AP, 10/20/09)(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28 murder charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His Mungiki gang was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Nov 16, It was reported that thousands of people, including children, are being secretly recruited and trained inside Kenya to battle Islamic insurgents in neighboring Somalia. Recruiters, about 2 months ago, started openly operating in Kenyan towns and in nearby huts and tents of the refugee camps.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12 million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the 12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania members of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) signed a common market agreement in Arusha, headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 4, Kenyan health officials said a cholera epidemic was sweeping across the country with 4,700 cases reported in the past month along with 119 deaths.
(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 7, Kenyan police arrested a suspected weapons smuggler with up to 100,000 bullets and an assortment of guns, a huge cache in a country with stringent gun laws.
(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 12, In Kenya 12 players of the Eritrean national football squad failed to show up at the airport to return home. They were later reported to have disappeared in Nairobi with the intention of seeking asylum.
(AFP, 12/15/09)
2009 Dec 17, Oxfam said some areas of East Africa had received less than 5% of the normal November rains and that many people are malnourished in Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. It was the sixth failed rainy season for war-ravaged Somalia and the worst drought there for 20 years. The European Commission announced that it would immediately release an extra $75 million to fund emergency relief for drought-stricken areas of East Africa. It estimated that 16 million people will need aid in the coming months.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, Kenya was said to be steadily losing the democratic gains it has made in recent years as human rights abuses increase and perpetrators aren't held accountable according to the Release Political Prisoners Trust, a human rights watchdog.
(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Dec 20, Four of the world's last known 8 northern white rhinos landed in Kenya and were transported to a game park. No white rhinos are known to remain in the wild, and the animals transported have produced no offspring after nearly 24 years in a Czech zoo. Officials hoped the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their subspecies. Two northern whites remained behind; two others are in San Diego.
(AP, 12/20/09)
2009 Dec 28, In central Kenya poachers killed an endangered southern white rhino in a privately owned ranch and cut off its horns. Wildlife Service rangers tracked down the suspected poachers and suspected buyers on Dec 3 and caught them with two rhino horns weighing more than 7 kg (16 pounds) and 647,000 Kenyan shillings ($8,500) in cash. 12 suspects, all of them Kenyans, were arrested as other suspects escaped.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 The book “It's Our Turn to Eat," written by the veteran British journalist Michaela Wrong, was published in the UK. It is the story of whistleblower John Githongo's crusade against political corruption in Kenya. It portrays President Mwai Kibaki and his ethnic group, despite pledges to clean up one of the sleaziest bureaucracies in the world, as bent on making themselves rich and keeping power at all costs.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2010 Jan 4, In Kenya US citizen Sharon Brown (39) and her daughter Margaux (1) were trampled to death when a lone elephant charged out of the brush just outside Mount Kenya National Park.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2010 Jan 5, Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric, was stuck in Kenya despite attempts to deport him because other nations are refusing to allow him to transit through their countries. He has called for Americans, Hindus and Jews to be killed. The British government has said he was a key influence on July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay.
(AP, 1/5/10)
2010 Jan 5, In Nairobi, Kenya, public transit was paralyzed after minibus drivers went on a 3-day strike following claims of extortion and corruption by police.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Jan 7, Kenya attempted to deport Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric, to Gambia after several countries, including the United States, denied him a transit visa. Kenya's immigration minister said Gambian authorities have agreed to help el-Faisal find his way home to Jamaica. Attempts to deport el-Faisal failed because he was denied a transit visa when he arrived in Nigeria en route to Gambia, which had agreed to host him. El-Faisal was flown back to Kenya on Jan 10.
(AP, 1/7/10)(AP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 15, In Kenya at least two people were killed during a demonstration in Nairobi by Muslim youth protesting the arrest of a radical Jamaican-born Muslim cleric whose teachings influenced one of the 2005 London transport system bombers.
(AP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 21, In Kenya radical Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal was flown out of the country enroute to Jamaica. El-Faisal once served four years in a British jail for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred by urging followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews.
(AP, 1/21/10)
2010 Jan 26, In Kenya US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said the US has suspended a five-year plan to fund Kenya's education programs following allegations that more than $1 million in funds went missing at the Education Ministry. Britain announced in December it was suspending its funding of the program.
(AP, 1/26/10)
2010 Mar 25, Kenyan police arrested an American of Somali origin who was on a terror watch list as he and two associates attempted to fly to Somalia. American Suleman Essa, Canadian Ahmed Ali Hassan and Kenyan Muhammed Hussein Hash were about to board a plane ferrying aid to Somalia when they were arrested. All 4 were released the next day.
(AP, 3/25/10)(AP, 3/26/10)
2010 Apr 1, Kenya's parliament unanimously passed a draft constitution that is one of several key reforms experts say are needed to avoid a repeat of political violence that shook the country after the disputed 2007 election. This set the stage for Kenya to go to a referendum on the draft charter within 90 days, marking the final steps in a decades-long process to rewrite the constitution.
(AP, 4/2/10)
2010 Apr 1, The International Criminal Court announced that it will investigate members of Kenya's two ruling parties on charges that they instigated violence that killed more than 1,000 people after the disputed 2007 presidential election.
(AP, 4/1/10)
2010 May 19, Kenya signed a new treaty for the equitable sharing of waters of the Nile after four other upstream countries inked the deal last week.
(AFP, 5/19/10)
2010 Jun 6, In Kenya police arrested Philip Onyancha after tracking him down through a mobile phone he was using to send ransom demands to the family of a 9-year-old kidnap victim. Onyancha soon confessed to killing 19 people in three years and told police he was planning to kill 100 people.
(AP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 13, In Kenya 2 grenade blasts ripped through a downtown Nairobi park at dusk as a rally against the country's proposed constitution was concluding. 6 people were killed as the crowd of thousands stampeded out of the park after the second explosion. Those at the rally opposed the draft constitution because it would allow abortions in life-threatening pregnancies and recognize Islamic courts. The draft will be voted on Aug 4.
(AP, 6/14/10)(AP, 6/15/10)(Econ, 6/19/10, p.50)
2010 Jun 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report released saying Somalis seeking safety must first get past abusive Kenyan police trying to take what little they have left. Kenya's police rejected the report.
(Reuters, 6/17/10)
2010 Jun 29, In Kenya doctors drilled a hole in the head of PM Raila Odinga to drain fluids that were putting pressure on his brain.
(AP, 6/30/10)
2010 Jul 2, Kenyans expressed outrage after members of parliament this week recommended giving themselves a $175,000 annual pay package as farmworkers averaged $40 per month.
(SFC, 7/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 17, In Kenya Pastor John Kamau and accomplice Samuel Chege Gitau were arrested with a substance believed to be ammonium nitrate, a detonator and a safety fuse.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Aug 4, Kenyans formed long lines before sunrise across the country to vote on a new constitution that would reduce the powers of the presidency in the nation's first ballot since postelection violence left more than 1,000 dead. 67% of Kenyans backed the new constitution to replace a British colonial-era draft that inflated the powers of the president. The new constitution provided for a wider measure of devolution to 47 new counties.
(AP, 8/4/10)(AP, 8/6/10)(SFC, 8/6/10, p.A3)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.46)
2010 Aug 24, A Kenyan official said wildlife officers have seized two tons of elephant ivory and five rhino horns at the main airport that were to be illegally shipped to Malaysia.
(AP, 8/24/10)
2010 Aug 26, Interpol said police have seized about 10 metric tons of counterfeit medicines and arrested 80 people in a sweep across eastern Africa. Authorities across Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar took part in the bust.
(Reuters, 8/26/10)
2010 Aug 27, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki signed a new constitution into law that institutes a US-style system of checks and balances and has been hailed as the most significant political event since Kenya's independence nearly a half century ago.
(AP, 8/27/10)
2010 Aug 27, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for whom international arrest warrants have been issued over the Darfur conflict, returned home after a trip to Kenya.
(AFP, 8/28/10)
2010 Sep 3, Kenya allowed the International Criminal Court to open an office in the country, a development that comes after Kenya's commitment to the court came into question when the nation hosted Sudan's indicted leader last week.
(AP, 9/3/10)
2010 Sep 6, A Kenyan court convicted and sentenced seven Somali pirates to five years in jail. A court in the Kenyan port town of Mombasa found the Somalis guilty of attacking a German naval supply ship in the Gulf of Aden on March 29 last year.
(AP, 9/7/10)
2010 Sep 15, Uganda police arrested Al-Amin Kimathi of the Kenyan Muslim Human Rights Forum and lawyer Mbugua Mureithi as they arrived to attend the hearing of 34 people charged for allegedly taking part in the July 11 bomb attacks, that targeted large groups gathered to watch the televised World Cup final. Uganda's police said the two were with a wanted al-Shabab militant that police had been trailing for days before the arrests.
(AP, 9/17/10)
2010 Sep 21, The International Criminal Court (ICC) said it will launch cases against as many as six suspected instigators of postelection violence in Kenya that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007-08.
(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Kenya 7 fans died in a stampede while trying to enter a stadium where a football match between two of the country’s most popular teams in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 27, Kenya's foreign minister Moses Wetangula said he is resigning to allow investigations into allegations of a multimillion dollar scandal involving five Kenyan embassies in Africa, Europe and Asia.
(AP, 10/27/10)
2010 Nov 6, In Kenya a police officer in Siakago town went on a shooting rampage, killing 10 people in three different bars. The man was said to be accusing a girl of having infected him with HIV and when he went to look for her he did not find her.
(AP, 11/7/10)
2010 Nov 8, Three gunmen from Somalia crossed the Kenyan border and killed a community organizer working with Somali refugees.
(AP, 11/8/10)
2010 Nov 9, A judge in Kenya's second-highest court said that the country does not have jurisdiction to try pirates if attacks have taken place outside Kenya's waters, a decision that could harm US and international efforts to have pirates tried in East Africa.
(AP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 16, The United States said it has banned four senior Kenyan government officials and a prominent Kenyan businessman from traveling to the US because they are suspected of being involved in drug trafficking.
(AP, 11/16/10)
2010 Nov 26, Kenya’s Wildlife Service said its agents shot dead 2 suspected poachers shooting at a herd of elephants in a national park.
(SFC, 11/27/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 28, Kenya’s PM Raila Odinga said homosexuals who are found in the midst of sex acts will be arrested. Odinga's spokesman said in a statement later that night that the prime minister was quoted out of context.
(AP, 11/29/10)
2010 Dec 3, In Kenya two attacks in Nairobi killed three police officers. Police asked the US FBI for help and hoped that advanced forensics would determine whether the attacks were linked and if they were carried out by terrorists.
(AP, 12/4/10)
2010 Dec 15, Kenya's police commissioner said authorities will act swiftly and firmly against any outbreaks of violence connected to the announcement of suspects by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo was expected to announce the names of six Kenyan leaders suspected of fanning the flames of violence after the country's December 2007 presidential election. Officials from the UK, Canada, World Bank and UNICEF demanded that the Kenyan government prosecute corrupt officials who stole money earmarked to help send poor children to school.
(AP, 12/15/10)
2010 Kenya’s technology-related services exploded to $360 million, compared to $16 million in 2002. Products were designed for mobile phones rather than computers.
(Economist, 8/25/12, p.52)
2010 The population of Kenya was estimated at over 40 million.
(Econ, 2/20/10, p.46)
2011 Jan 4, Kenya's industrialization minister resigned over a car imports scandal that will see the country's anti-graft agency taking him to court on corruption charges.
(AP, 1/4/11)
2011 Jan 20, In Kenya photos on the front page of Daily Nation, Kenya's largest newspaper, showed shocking images of what appeared to be undercover police shooting three compliant suspects at point-blank range in the middle of the day on a busy Nairobi highway. 3 police officers were suspended and placed under investigation.
(AP, 1/20/11)(SFC, 1/20/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 27, Kenya's government said it is removing the tax on maize and wheat imports in a bid to cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices. PM Raila Odinga told parliament that the government also wants to remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking.
(AP, 4/27/11)
2011 May 6, Kenyan authorities said they have seized the tusks of 58 elephants, totaling one ton of ivory, after sniffer dogs led investigators to containers at the country's main airport that were bound for Nigeria.
(AP, 5/6/11)
2011 May 8, In Kenya four children were killed and one seriously injured after playing with unexploded ordnance they found near a military training ground near the village of Ole Maroroi.
(AP, 5/8/11)
2011 Jun 22, Kenyan activists demanded the arrest of the education minister over revelations that $45 million donated for elementary education was stolen. A government audit last week found that $45 million in education funding had been stolen, far above the $1 million a 2009 audit found had been stolen.
(AP, 6/22/11)
2011 Jun 24, UNESCO added the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia, Japan's remote Ogasawara Islands and the Kenya Lake System in the Rift Valley province, to its heritage list.
(AFP, 6/24/11)
2011 Jun 27, Kenya's PM Raila Odinga paid more than $37,000 in back taxes to abide by a new constitution that requires lawmakers to pay taxes on their hefty allowances. Kenya's Revenue Authority last week said lawmakers' properties will be auctioned if they don't each pay nearly $21,000 in back taxes.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 28, In Kenya the aid group Save the Children said more than 800 Somali children arrive each day at overcrowded refugee camps in the northeast to escape a devastating drought in their war-ravaged country. They were among nearly 1,300 people who arrive each day at the Dadaab refugee camps.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 30, In Kenya two people were killed and dozens injured after a riot broke out in part of the Dadaab camp, Africa's biggest refugee camp, where thousands of Somali refugees have been arriving weekly in search of food and shelter. The population at Dadaab camp surpassed 370,000 last week and showed no sign of stabilizing.
(AP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 10, The head of the UN refugee agency said that drought-ridden Somalia is the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world. The World Food Program estimated that 10 million people already need humanitarian aid. More than 380,000 refugees had moved into Kenya’s Dabaab refugee camp.
(AP, 7/10/11)
2011 Jul 12, Aid organization CARE said that cases of rape and violence against women and girls fleeing to an overcrowded refugee camp in Kenya have risen sharply this year. CARE said 136 cases had been reported since January in two of three camps in Dadaab in the east of Kenya, compared to 66 in the same period in 2010.
(AFP, 7/13/11)
2011 Jul 13, The United Nations made its first aid delivery to a rebel-held Somalia region after the insurgents lifted a ban on the operations of foreign aid agencies. The worst drought in 60 years affected over 10 million people in northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti.
(AFP, 7/17/11)(Econ, 7/9/11, p.44)
2011 Jul 15, UNICEF said at least 17,584 measles cases, including 114 deaths, have been reported by Ethiopian health officials in the first half of the year. The WHO said says at least 462 cases of measles, including 11 deaths, have been confirmed in recent months among Somali refugee children in the Kenyan refugee complex known as Dadaab.
(AP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 20, Kenyan authorities burned five tons of contraband elephant ivory in hopes of raising awareness about rising levels of poaching. Africa had 1.3 million elephants in the 1970s but only 500,000 remained today.
(AP, 7/20/11)
2011 Aug 19, The UN said tens of thousands of people have already died in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It warned that the famine has not peaked and that 12 million people in the area need food aid.
(AP, 8/20/11)
2011 Aug 20, In central Kenya a group of 23 relatives and friends were killed after their minibus lost control, hit the barrier of a bridge and crashed down a rocky slope before landing in a dry river bed 90 miles east of Nairobi.
(AP, 8/21/11)
2011 Sep 6, The chairman of the Kenya National Union of Teachers said 200,000 teachers in public schools have started a strike to protest the diversion of funds meant to hire more teachers and ease classroom overcrowding. The money has gone to the ministry of defense. The government soon said it will make all 18,000 temporary teachers permanent and hire 5,000 extra teachers in January. On Sep 9 union head Wilson Sossion said the union accepts the terms but will formally endorse them on Sep 11.
(AP, 9/6/11)(SFC, 9/7/11, p.A2)(AP, 9/9/11)
2011 Sep 7, Kenya handed two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui a three-rank promotion in the national administration police force in recognition for his stunning weekend victory at the world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea.
(AFP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 7, In Somalia the al-Shabab Islamist militia said they have captured two Kenyan soldiers near the country's shared border.
(AP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 9, In Kenya thieves broke into the offices of a Kenyan investigative magazine, the Nairobi Law Monthly, and stole computers containing information about government corruption.
(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 11, Kenya police said armed men killed a British man and kidnapped his wife from a beach resort in the north near the border with lawless Somalia. Publishing executive David Tebbutt (58) was killed his wife Judith (56) was taken hostage. On Sep 19 Kenyan Ali Babitu Kololo was charged with robbery with violence and kidnapping with intention to murder in the northern coastal town of Lamu. On Sep 21 Issa Sheikh Said was also charged with robbery with violence and kidnapping with intention to murder. On July 29, 2013, Kololo was sentenced to death.
(AP, 9/11/11)(Reuters, 9/19/11)(AP, 9/21/11)(Reuters, 7/30/13)
2011 Sep 12, In Kenya a leaking gasoline pipeline in Nairobi exploded, turning part of a slum into an inferno. At least 95 people were killed and more than 100 hurt.
(AP, 9/12/11)(AFP, 9/13/11)(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 14, Kenya police said two women and 15 men have died since Sep 11 in different bars in Nyahururu town after ingesting a locally brewed alcoholic drink. 9 people were reported arrested in connection with the mass poisoning.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 15, Somalia officials and residents said Kenyan helicopter gunships fired missiles around Elwak region near the Kenyan border. Explosions were also heard around the Islamist controlled Kismayo region in the south of the conflict-torn country.
(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 25, Wangari Maathai (71), Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Prize winner (2004), died. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977.
(AFP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 27, The 6th annual Internet Governance Forum opened in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme this year was “Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation."
(Econ, 10/1/11, p.63)(www.intgovforum.org/cms/)
2011 Oct 1, In Kenya 10 gunmen snatched Marie Dedieu (66), a disabled Frenchwoman, from her home near a luxury resort on Manda island and then fled towards Somalia. Kenyan coastguards attempted to intercept them at sea. Several of the abductors were injured but they managed to enter Somalia.
(AP, 10/1/11)(AFP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 13, Somali Islamist Shebab rebels kidnapped two female Spanish aid workers from Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, the third kidnapping of foreigners in just over a month.
(AFP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 16, Kenyan military forces moved into southern Somalia, a day after top Kenyan defense officials said the country has the right to defend itself after a rash of militant kidnappings of Europeans inside Kenya.
(AP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 16, Kenya police arrested two British men (18), one of Pakistani origin and the other of Somali origin, in the resort town of Lamu on suspicion of trying to join Somali militants. Police said the men would be deported. Mohamed Mohamed Abdallah, of Somali descent, and Iqbal Shahzad, of Pakistani descent were deported to Britain on Oct 26. British authorities arrested them under terrorism laws and then freed them six hours later.
(AP, 10/18/11)(AFP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 17, Somalia's al-Shabab militant group threatened Kenya with suicide attacks, saying Nairobi's skyscrapers would be destroyed and its tourism industry ruined in an ominous warning one day after Kenyan troops poured into Somalia.
(AP, 10/17/11)
2011 Oct 18, In Somalia a suicide car bomb exploded near the Foreign Ministry, killing at least four people even as Somali and Kenyan leaders met and agreed to cooperate on military action against Islamist insurgents. Kenyan operations were limited to the Lower Juba region.
(AP, 10/18/11)(AP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 19, Kenyan jets struck in Somalia in a bid to rid the border area of Islamist rebels blamed for a spate of abductions, including that of a French woman who died in captivity. The foreign ministry in Paris announced the death of Marie Dedieu (66), a wheelchair-bound woman who was snatched from her beach house in the Kenyan resort of Lamu earlier this month and taken to Somalia by her kidnappers. The first attack reportedly saw the death of 73 Shebab. Kenyan deaths included five killed in a helicopter crash.
(AFP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 20, Kenya said it intends to push its troops to Somalia's insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and will stay until there are no Islamist insurgents left.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 20, Kenyan police arrested Imam Hassan Mahat Omar, a Muslim cleric on a UN sanctions list, over his alleged support of an al-Qaida-linked militant group in neighboring Somalia. 9 other people were arrested including 2 doctors who ran a clinic in the predominantly Somali neighborhood of Eastleigh.
(AP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 20, France said that the Somali kidnappers of Marie Dedieu (66), a disabled Frenchwoman who died after being snatched from her home in Kenya, are demanding a ransom for the return of her body.
(AFP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 23, Kenya warplanes targeted the Shebab-held Somali port city of Kismayo as troops advanced on the insurgents. The US warned of an imminent threat of attack on foreigners in Kenya.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 24, In Kenya one person was killed and 29 were wounded in two grenade attacks in Nairobi. Police the next day arrested a suspect with 13 grenades and six guns. On Oct 26 suspect Elgiva Bwire Oliacha (28) said he is a member of the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab. Oliacha had supplied the grenades to Felix Otuko. On Oct 28 Oliacha was sentenced to life in prison. Felix Otuko, suspected of carrying out the two grenade attacks, was killed in a standoff with police on May 18, 2013.
(AP, 10/26/11)(AP, 10/28/11)(AP, 5/19/13)
2011 Oct 24, A French military spokesman said France would soon help supply Kenyan troops fighting al-Qaida-linked militants.
(AP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 24, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged another $100 million in food aid to drought-hit East Africa amid warnings that millions of people face starvation for drought-affected areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 27, Kenyan troops clashed heavily with Shebab fighters in southern Somalia, the latest battle since an unprecedented military incursion 12 days ago, while four people were killed in a rocket attack in northern Kenya.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 29, In Somalia at least 10 people died during an insurgent attack on an African Union base in Mogadishu. Kenya said its troops will stay in southern Somalia until Kenyans feel safe again, raising questions about whether Kenya risks becoming bogged down in an open-ended occupation of its war-ravaged neighbor. The Shebab claimed to have killed 80 Ugandan soldiers in the battle. A Shebab spokesman said American citizen of Somali origin was said to have been one of the two suicide bombers behind the twin attack.
(AP, 10/29/11)(AP, 10/30/11)
2011 Oct 30, A Kenyan raid on a southern Somali town killed at least five civilians, including three children. Kenya insists it hit a Shebab target but witnesses and aid sources said one bomb ploughed into a camp of displaced civilians. The air raid struck a camp hosting 9,000 internally-displaced Somalis in Jilib.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
2011 Oct 31, Kenya and Somalia called for other nations to help in their fight against Islamist insurgents.
(SFC, 11/1/11, p.A3)
2011 Nov 1, Kenya's military said it had reliable information that two aircraft landed in the Somali town of Baidoa with weapons on board intended for al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 2, Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said that military planes would target and attack weapons flown into the Somali town of Baidoa so they cannot be used. A July UN report said illicit flights with weapons or fighters for Somali militants could be originating from Eritrea, Yemen or the United Arab Emirates. The report also said Eritrea gives about $80,000 a month to al-Shabab-linked individuals in Nairobi.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 5, In Kenya attackers threw a grenade at a house inside a compound of the East African Pentecostal Church in Garissa late in the day, killing two people living inside.
(AFP, 11/6/11)
2011 Nov 11, Kenyan military and Somali government forces killed 4 al-Shabab members.
(AP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 12, A Kenyan official said more than 30 Kenya-based members of Somalia's top militant group have accepted a police amnesty and are providing information to help Kenyan police secure the country against threatened suicide attacks by the group. Kenyan and Somali government troops killed nine members of an al-Qaida-linked militant group they were pursuing in Somalia.
(AP, 11/12/11)(AP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 14, A Kenya government statement said PM Raila Odinga asked Israeli President Shimon Peres for assistance in building the capacity of the Kenyan police to deal with attacks by al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 11/14/11)
2011 Nov 16, The presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Somalia said the dual-fronted fight against Islamist al-Shabab militants presents a "historic opportunity" to restore stability in Somalia.
(AP, 11/16/11)
2011 Nov 24, Kenya said its warplanes destroyed two Islamist insurgent bases in neighboring Somalia. Two grenade attacks in the eastern town of Garissa close to the border with Somalia killed three people and injured 27.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 28, A Kenyan judge issued a warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by an international court for genocide, after the government failed to arrest him during a visit last year.
(AFP, 11/28/11)
2011 Dec 3, The Kenyan army said it had lost four troops killed in action against Somalia's Shebab Islamist rebels while 10 had been hospitalized with wounds since it launched its incursion in mid-October.
(AFP, 12/3/11)
2011 Dec 5, Kenya military jets bombed two al-Shabab camps in Somalia, killing an unknown number of militants. 5 al-Shabab fighters on a boat attacked a Kenyan naval vessel. The navy sunk the attacking boat. A roadside bomb exploded in Kenya’s largest refugee camp near the border with Somalia, killing one police officer and wounding three.
(AP, 12/5/11)(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 6, Kenya’s military reported a large battle over the weekend (Dec 3-4) in which it said 11 Somali government soldiers and more than 40 al-Shabab fighters were killed.
(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 7, The Kenyan parliament approved a plan for their troops in southern Somalia to join a 9,000 strong African Union force supporting the weak UN-backed government based in Mogadishu.
(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 7, In Kenya hundreds of doctors from public medical facilities marched through Nairobi to demand a larger stock of drugs in their hospitals, better equipment and better pay.
(AP, 12/7/11)
2011 Dec 8, The World Bank said high food and fuel prices, the Horn of Africa drought and the euro crisis will dampen Kenya's economic growth in 2011, and possibly into 2012.
(AFP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 11, In northern Kenya twin blasts killed one police officer and wounded nine soldiers, in the latest in a string of attacks since Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia two months ago.
(AP, 12/11/11)
2011 Dec 12, In Kenya an explosion wounded six people, including a high-ranking intelligence official, in the northern town of Wajir during celebrations of Kenya's Independence Day.
(AP, 12/12/11)
2011 Dec 19, In Kenya a police officer was killed and two others seriously wounded after a suspected landmine attack on their patrol vehicle in the northern Dadaab refugee camp.
(AFP, 12/19/11)
2011 Dec 20, Kenyan military jets targeted several locations in Hosingow in the Lower Juba region of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border. 11 people, most of them civilians, were reported killed in the raid.
(AFP, 12/21/11)
2011 Dec 22, Kenyan authorities said they have seized 727 pieces of ivory in a container at the main port of Mombasa in one of the largest hauls of tusks in recent years. The items were wrapped in plastic bags in a container which documents said was destined for Dubai.
(AFP, 12/22/11)
2011 Dec 29, Kenyan troops clashed with Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab militants leaving several dead, the latest casualties in weeks of dragging conflict in southern Somalia.
(AFP, 12/30/11)
2011 Dec 31, In Kenya 5 people were killed in a New Year's Eve hand grenade attack and shooting in a bar in the eastern town of Garissa near the border with Somalia. The assailants were described as four men dressed in military uniform.
(AFP, 1/1/12)
2011 Dec, In Kenya founder Anthony Ragui (37) launched www.ipaidabribe.or.ke, a website where people can share their stories on corruption a bribery. He used software from an Indian site, also called ipaidabribe, that has collected information on more than 15,000 bribes since it was put up in 2010.
(AP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 1, In Kenya at least eight people drowned after a boat capsized in rough seas off the Kenyan tourist island of Lamu. More than 20 of the over 80 passengers on board were unaccounted for.
(AFP, 1/2/12)
2012 Jan 4, Kenya's military said its forces killed three militant fighters from al-Shabab in a battle in Somalia. A Kenyan soldier was also killed in the battle.
(AP, 1/4/12)
2012 Jan 5, Wilson Sossion of the Kenya National Union of Teachers said that rioting parents have forcefully closed at least 10 primary schools. They are angry that their children failed national exams that determine if the children get into high school.
(AP, 1/5/12)
2012 Jan 6, Kenyan police seized landmines and homemade explosive devices in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp and site of several attacks and blasts in recent months.
(AFP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 6, In Somalia at least 60 al-Shabab militants were killed in Kenyan airstrikes on Garbaharey town, a base of the al-Qaida-linked group.
(AP, 1/7/12)
2012 Jan 11, In Kenya alleged Somali Islamist gunmen killed six Kenyans including four policemen and abducted three others, in the northeastern region bordering Somalia.
(AFP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 12, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that Kenyan security forces were abusing civilians and Somali refugees in northeastern regions.
(AFP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 13, Kenyan police arrested 29 Ugandans suspected of seeking to join Islamist rebels in Somalia.
(AFP, 1/15/12)
2012 Jan 15, Two Kenyan fighter jets, apparently targeting a southern Somali militant camp, instead killed five children in Jilib according to an insurgent spokesman and residents. A resident said she saw 2 dead al-Shabab fighters being transported after the attack.
(AP, 1/16/12)
2012 Jan 18, Aid agencies said thousands of people, more than half of them children, died needlessly and millions of dollars were wasted because the international community did not respond to early warnings of an impending famine in East Africa. Earlier this week food donated by Cargill, the Minnesota-based producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products, was delivered to communities in need in Kenya. Cargill donated 10,000 metric tons of rice to World Food Program USA. The donation, the largest ever food donation to WFP USA, would feed nearly 1 million people for a month.
(AP, 1/18/12)
2012 Jan 23, The International Criminal Court ruled that two leading presidential hopefuls are among four prominent Kenyans whom should face trial over deadly post-election violence four years ago. The ICC said charges of crimes against humanity had been confirmed against William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the country's founding president. Radio host Joshua arap Sang (36) and Francis Muthaura (65), the head of Kenya's civil service, will also face trial.
(AFP, 1/23/12)
2012 Jan 26, Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta resigned after the International Criminal Court ruled this week he should stand trial for his alleged role in 2007-8 post-election violence. Head of public service Francis Muthaura, one of the most influential men in President Mwai Kibaki's circle, who also had the charges against him confirmed by The Hague-based court, resigned as well. Kenyatta, one of Africa's wealthiest men, and Muthaura, often described as Kibaki's right-hand man, faced five counts including orchestrating murder, rape, forcible transfer and persecution in the aftermath of the December 2007 polls.
(AFP, 1/26/12)
2012 Jan 29, Kenyan police arrested Abdi Rogo Mohammed, a Muslim preacher. They said they found a cache of weapons in his house. He had been previously arrested but acquitted of the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa which killed 15 people.
(AFP, 1/29/12)(AP, 1/30/12)
2012 Feb 3, In Kenya gunmen opened fire in Garissa, killing two people. In western Kenya a truck crashed into a minibus killing 25 people in Kisumu city.
(AP, 2/3/12)(AP, 2/4/12)
2012 Feb 10, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said more than 40,000 people have fled recent clashes between two northern Kenyan tribes over access to water and pasture. The clashes pit two traditional rivals, the Borana and the Gabra, around the town of Moyale on the Ethiopian border.
(AFP, 2/10/12)
2012 Mar 2, Kenya launched the construction of a massive port, railway and refinery near a UNESCO-listed Indian Ocean island in a project it bills as the biggest ever in an African nation. Residents of the coastal island of Lamu had protested against the planned port.
(AP, 3/2/12)(AFP, 3/2/12)
2012 Mar 8, Kenya sacked 25,000 nurses taking part in a strike, creating a potentially devastating shortage. The nurses went on strike on March 1 to protest the government's failure to implement a salary increase agreed last year.
(AFP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 9, In Kenya hundreds of nurses marched through the capital in a demand for better pay, even after the government sacked all 25,000 taking part in the strike.
(AFP, 3/9/12)
2012 Mar 10, In Kenya a grenade attack blamed on Somali Islamist militia killed six people and wounded 42 at the Machakos bus terminus in Nairobi. 3 more people died of their wounds over the next two days. Four grenades were thrown only yards apart from a car driving past the busy terminal. 4 people were soon arrested.
(AFP, 3/11/12)(AP, 3/12/12)(AFP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 12, Kenya said it will avail 4,660 soldiers to the African Union force in Somalia, where it already has troops fighting the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents.
(AFP, 3/12/12)
2012 Mar 14, In Kenya tens of thousands of nurses agreed to end a two-week strike after talks with PM Raila Odinga, who revoked their mass dismissal during the standoff. It was agreed that all the issues raised by the health workers would be addressed exhaustively.
(AFP, 3/14/12)
2012 Mar 20, Kenya wildlife officials said fires raging across Mount Kenya may have been set by poachers trying to create a diversion from their illegal attacks on animals.
(SFC, 3/21/12, p.A2)
2012 Mar 21, British hostage Judith Tebbutt (57), captured in Kenya on Sep 11, 2011, ago by gunmen who killed her husband, was released in central Somalia and flown out to Nairobi.
(AP, 3/21/12)
2012 Mar 26, Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki said oil has been struck in the northwestern Turkana region after exploratory drilling by Anglo-Irish firm Tullow Oil. Commercial viability was yet to be established.
(AFP, 3/26/12)
2012 Mar 31, In Kenya Agnes Wanjiru (21) was last seen by witnesses walking out of a Nanyuki bar accompanied by two British soldiers. Her body was later discovered behind a room where the soldiers had stayed, with missing body parts and a stabbing injury. She left behind a five-month old daughter. As of 2021 no-one was convicted of her murder.
(BBC, 10/26/21)
2012 Apr 4, In Kenya massive boulders crashed onto houses in Mathare, a Nairobi slum, killing at least six people and trapping many underground after a night of heavy rains.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2012 Apr 16, Kenyan priest John Webootsa was awarded a French-German human rights prize for his work in Korogocho slum, one of the most overcrowded slums in Kenya.
(AFP, 4/16/12)
2012 Apr 16, In San Francisco the annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were presented 6 individuals. They included Sofia Gatica of Argentina work on diseases related to agrochemicals; Caroline Canon of Alaska for her village efforts against oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean; Ma Jun of China for his efforts on air and water violations by major manufacturers; Ikal Angelei of Kenya for her efforts to protect Lake Turkana; Evgenia Chirikova of Russia for her efforts to protect the Khimki Forest; and Father Edwin Gariguez of the Philippines for advocating against mining developments on indigenous lands.
(SFC, 4/16/12, p.A10)
2012 Apr 21, Kenyan rangers shot dead five suspected elephant poachers overnight in a firefight at Chepareria in West Pokot County.
(AFP, 4/21/12)
2012 Apr 22, In Kenya 7 people were killed when flash floods hit as they were trekking through Hell's Gate national park.
(AFP, 4/23/12)
2012 Apr 22, Kenya's Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany triumphed in the London Marathon. Claire Squires (30) collapsed and died near the end of her charity run in the race.
(AFP, 4/22/12)(SFC, 4/25/12, p.A2)
2012 Apr 24, In Kenya a stone thrown by a rioter killed one protester in the coastal city of Mombasa after police blocked members of an outlawed group from entering a court house. Riot police fired teargas to stop more than 100 members of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) from reaching the court to hear a case in which they are challenging the ban on their group. The MRC has repeatedly claimed that the Mombasa region, predominantly Muslim, is not part of Kenya.
(AFP, 4/24/12)
2012 Apr 29, In Kenya one person died and 15 people were wounded when a grenade was thrown at God's House of Miracles International Church in Nairobi during Sunday service. A church elder said his church may have been targeted by neighbors who claim to own the land on which it is built. On May 15 police charged Ibrahim Kibe Kagwa, a Kenyan, with six counts of causing grievous body harm during the grenade attack.
(AP, 4/29/12)(AP, 5/16/12)
2012 May 15, In Kenya a landmine killed a policeman and seriously wounded two others, when it exploded beneath their vehicle as they escorted aid workers near the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. Attackers fired shots and detonated four grenades outside a nightclub in the coastal town of Mombasa after they were denied entry, killing a security guard and wounding 4 people. One suspect was arrested. Both attacks were blamed on Kenyan recruits of the al-Shabab Somali militant group.
(AFP, 5/15/12)(AP, 5/16/12)
2012 May 22, Sri Lankan authorities seized 1.5 tons of African ivory marked as plastic waste and addressed to a buyer in Dubai. They informed the authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Kenya to take action against the shipper and the consignee.
(AFP, 5/23/12)
2012 May 23, In Kenya Sylvester Opiyo, also known as Musa Osodo, was abducted by armed men after the car he was traveling in with five other people broke down in western Kenya. Police have denied they are holding him. Opiyo, sympathetic to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, was arrested in March after three grenades were thrown at a Nairobi bus stop, killing nine people. He was released without charge.
(AP, 5/25/12)
2012 May 28, In Kenya a blast ripped through shops in central Nairobi, killing one person and wounding dozens in what PM Odinga called a "terrorist" attack despite initial police reports of an accidental cause.
(AFP, 5/28/12)(AP, 5/31/12)
2012 May 30, The Somali militant group al-Shabab threatened to bring down skyscrapers in Kenya within two weeks, a warning that followed a bomb attack in Nairobi's city center. Kenya naval forces bombarded the Somali town of Kismayo, a key stronghold of the Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. Ground troops attacked Afmadhow.
(AP, 5/31/12)(SFC, 5/31/12, p.A2)
2012 May, Kenya police said Alexander Monson (28), a British national, has died of a drug overdose while under police custody. Monson had been arrested in the beach resort of Diani for possession of cannabis. In 2018 Kenya's director of public prosecutions ordered the arrest of four police officers for killing Monson. In 2019 a trial of four Kenyan policemen accused of killing Monson opened in a Mombasa court. In 2021 the four police officers were given jail terms of between nine and 15 years but between five and six years were suspended in each case.
(http://tinyurl.com/y84ao5vy)(AP, 6/28/18)(Reuters, 1/22/19)(AP, 11/16/21)
2012 May, In Kenya Magd Najjar, a Swiss national, was arrested. On June 6 he was charged in Nairobi of "engaging in organized criminal activities by being a member of Al Shebab."
(AFP, 6/6/12)
2012 Jun 2, Kenyan troops were officially integrated into the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defense minister signing an agreement at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(AFP, 6/2/12)
2012 Jun 10, Kenya's Internal Security Minister George Saitoti (66) was killed with five other people in a helicopter crash near Nairobi.
(AP, 6/10/12)
2012 Jun 19, Double amputee Spencer West completed his ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania. West (31) of Canada, lost the use of both legs at the age of five. West and his two best friends, David Johnson and Alex Meers made the ascent to raise money for Free the Children, an organization that supplies drinking water to hundreds of people in Kenya.
(AFP, 6/23/12)
2012 Jun 20, In Kenya 6 lions were speared to death overnight on the outskirts of Nairobi after they strayed from the city's national park and killed four goats. Kenya has been losing 100 lions a year for the best part of the past decade, leaving the country with just 2,000 of its famous big cats. On June 22 an official said Maasai warriors who speared to death the six lions will be arrested for killing wildlife.
(AFP, 6/20/12)(AP, 6/22/12)
2012 Jun 19, Kenyan police officers arrested two Iranians suspected of being involved in terrorism. Officials later said the men, who led authorities to a cache of explosives after their arrest, planned to attack Israeli, US, British or Saudi targets inside Kenya.
(AP, 6/22/12)(AFP, 7/3/12)
2012 Jun 24, In Kenya a grenade and gunfire attack on a bar outside the coastal city of Mombasa left at least 3 people dead and some 25 wounded.
(AP, 6/25/12)
2012 Jun 28, In Kenya demonstrators in Nairobi left 49 mock coffins at the gates of parliament to bury 49 years of impunity, charging political rulers with corruption and calling for change ahead of elections due next year. Kenya has been mired in multiple corruption scandals since independence in 1963, but high level suspects have seldom faced justice.
(AFP, 6/28/12)
2012 Jun 29, In Kenya gunmen killed at least one person and kidnapped 4 aid workers in the Dadaab refugee camp complex near the border with war-torn Somalia. The 4 aid workers were released safely in southern Somalia after a short overnight gunfight on July 2.
(AFP, 6/29/12)(AFP, 7/2/12)
2012 Jul 1, In Kenya gunmen killed 17 people and wounded dozens in gun and grenade attacks on two churches in the town of Garissa near the border with Somalia.
(AFP, 7/1/12)
2012 Jul 4, Three Kenyan musicians were charged for inciting ethnic violence through their songs, under laws set up following deadly post-poll violence four years ago.
(AFP, 7/4/12)
2012 Jul 13, Thailand customs officials discovered a half ton of ivory hidden in crates aboard a flight from Kenya. One official estimated that the 158 pieces of ivory were from the tusks of around 50 elephants.
(AP, 7/17/12)
2012 Jul 27, In Kenya Olga Fonseca Gimenez (57), the charge d'affaires and acting ambassador of Venezuela, was found dead at her official residence in Nairobi. Police said she was murdered by strangulation. Fonseca arrived in Kenya in July to replace Ambassador Gerardo Carillo-Silva, who had fled the country after three male workers at the ambassador's residence filed a complaint with the police accusing him of sexual harassment. Dwight Sagaray, First Secretary at the embassy, was arrested the next day in connection to the murder.
(AP, 7/27/12)(AFP, 7/30/12)
2012 Aug 3, In Kenya a grenade attack killed one person in a Somali suburb of Nairobi, on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the city.
(AFP, 8/3/12)
2012 Aug 6, Kenyan authorities charged Dwight Sagaray, the first secretary of Venezuela's embassy, with the murder of that country's acting ambassador to Kenya. Police believed the killing was motivated by a battle over embassy leadership. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Sagaray's friend and an alleged co-conspirator, was also charged. Prosecutor Tabitha Ouya said the two suspects strangled Olga Fonseca Gimenez on the night of July 26 to 27.
(AP, 8/6/12)
2012 Aug 12, In Kenya three Russian-made Mi-24 combat helicopters from Uganda went down in a remote mountainous region. One was found a day later, with all seven servicemen on board rescued. 3 soldiers were later confirmed dead in another crash. 8 surviving Ugandan servicemen were found on Aug 14. The helicopters were flying to Somalia to support African Union troops battling Shebab insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda.
(AFP, 8/14/12)(AP, 8/15/12)
2012 Aug 22, In southeast Kenya at least 52 people were killed in clashes over land between pastoral and farming communities. Another 50 were missing. Last week the Orma, a pastoralist community, attacked Pokomo farmers.
(AP, 8/22/12)(AP, 8/23/12)
2012 Aug 23, Kenya's government said it will conduct a countrywide operation to disarm all communities with illegal weapons.
(AP, 8/23/12)
2012 Aug 27, In Kenya deadly riots broke out in Kenya's main port of Mombasa after the assassination of a radical cleric linked to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab militants. Thousands of angry protestors took to the streets after Aboud Rogo Mohammed, who was on US and UN sanction lists for allegedly supporting the Shebab, was shot dead. One civilian was killed in the riots.
(AFP, 8/27/12)(AP, 8/29/12)
2012 Aug 28, In Kenya angry youths threw a grenade at a police truck, killing a prison officer and injuring 16 officers as riots rocked the port city of Mombasa for a 2nd day after the killing of a radical Islamist cleric. Two more officers died of their wounds the next day.
(AFP, 8/28/12)(AP, 8/29/12)
2012 Aug, Yao Ming, former basketball star and a goodwill ambassador to WildAid, a nonprofit dedicated to ending illegal wildlife trading, took a trip to Kenya, where he spent several days interacting with wildlife officials and seeing some of the effects of poaching. Ming accepted to work as an ambassador for elephant conservationists hoping to convice the Chinese public not to buy trinkets from African ivory.
(Econ, 11/3/12, p.48)(http://tinyurl.com/au6uxs5)
2012 Sep 4, The Kenyan Navy said it has shelled Somalia's port town of Kismayo, the remaining significant stronghold of al-Qaida-linked militants, in preparation for the ground forces to capture the town. 7 people believed to be members of the al-Shabab militia group were killed in the shelling that occurred on Sep 1 and Sep 3.
(AP, 9/4/12)
2012 Sep 7, In southeastern Kenya fighting between a community of cattle herders and farmers over land and water killed 12 people in Tana River delta.
(AP, 9/7/12)
2012 Sep 10, In southeast Kenya clashes between farmers and herders escalated with 38 people killed, including nine police officers. The Red Cross suggested the military be deployed to the area.
(AP, 9/10/12)
2012 Sep 11, In Kenya armed raiders killed four people in the southeast despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent further clashes between two tribes that have left more than 100 people dead.
(AP, 9/11/12)
2012 Sep 14, Kenyan police disrupted a major terrorist attack in its final stages of planning, arresting two people with explosive devices and seizing a cache of weapons and ammunition. A manhunt was launched for eight more suspects including would-be bombers and the masterminds behind the planned attack.
(AP, 9/14/12)
2012 Sep 25, Kenya's military said that its bombing of the Somali port city of Kismayo destroyed a warehouse and armory belonging to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which controls the city.
(AP, 9/25/12)
2012 Sep 28, One Somali journalist was shot dead by gunmen. A second journalist, a day earlier, was beheaded and his body dumped in the street. The two attacks brought the number of Somali journalists killed this year to 15. Kenyan troops invaded Kismayo, al-Shabab's last stronghold in Somalia, coming ashore in a predawn assault.
(AP, 9/28/12)
2012 Sep 30, In Kenya an explosive device set off in a Sunday school class killed one child and seriously wounded three. The Somali militant group al-Shabab were suspected behind the attack at an Anglican church in Nairobi.
(AP, 9/30/12)
2012 Oct 5, Britain's High Court ruled that three elderly Kenyans tortured during a rebellion against British colonial rule can proceed with compensation claims against the British government.
(AP, 10/5/12)
2012 Oct 9, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki vetoed a move by the country's parliament to award legislators bonuses of up to $110,000 at the end of their term next year. The legislators last week quietly awarded themselves the bonuses, sparking public outrage. Earlier this year parliament inaugurated a new 350-seat chamber, where each of the seats cost about $3,000.
(AP, 10/10/12)
2012 Oct 15, In Kenya 3 members of the Mombasa Republican Council, a banned secessionist group, were killed when its leader Omar Hamisi Mwamnuadzi was arrested. The group had won a court battle this year to get legal status.
(Econ, 11/3/12, p.48)
2012 Oct 17, In Kenya a terror suspect threw a grenade at officers, wounding four of them in the Mombasa area. Three suspects were killed in the clash.
(AP, 10/17/12)
2012 Oct 20, Hong Kong officials said customs officers have confiscated 4 tons of ivory valued at $3.4 million in containers shipped from Tanzania and Kenya.
(SSFC, 10/21/12, p.A4)
2012 Oct 31, A top a top Kenyan official said more than 2,700 African Union troops from Uganda have died in Somalia. About three dozen Kenyan forces have died there over the last year.
(AP, 10/31/12)
2012 Nov 2, In Kenya a separatist leader said the Mombasa Republican Council will not allow the coast to take part in general elections in March if their succession demands are not met.
(AP, 11/2/12)
2012 Nov 10, In northwestern Kenya at least 34 police officers were killed when they were ambushed while pursuing men who had stolen cattle. 7 officers remained missing.
(AP, 11/12/12)(SFC, 11/13/12, p.A3)
2012 Nov 18, In Kenya an explosion on a bus in Nairobi killed 7 people and wounded 29. A UN Security official at the scene of the explosion said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device.
(AP, 11/18/12)(AP, 11/19/12)
2012 Nov 19, Police in Kenya fired bullets into the air and tear gas into the streets to stop two groups from clashing. 3 Kenyan soldiers were killed.
(AP, 11/19/12)(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 20, In northern Kenya 13 people were shot and one woman died as hundreds of shops burned to the ground amid rising Somali-Kenyan tensions.
(AP, 11/20/12)
2012 Nov 27, The Open Society Justice Initiative said four suspects in the Jul 11, 2010, bombings in Uganda claimed men who identified themselves as US FBI agents beat them up during questioning. Human rights groups have said Kenya and Tanzania circumvented their extradition laws to illegally deport suspects to Uganda where they could be interrogated at length by local and foreign agents without scrutiny.
(AP, 11/27/12)
2012 Dec 2, In Kenya Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister William Ruto announced an alliance to run for the presidential and vice presidential seats in the country's March election. They both faced crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal court. Kenyatta faced charges of committing murder, forcible deportation, persecution and rape against supporters of the prime minister after the 2007 election. Ruto has been charged with the murder, forcible deportation and persecution of supporters of the president's party.
(AP, 12/2/12)
2012 Dec 5, Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy said that two male black rhinos and two female black rhinos were killed over the weekend. The four deaths brought Lewa's rhino population to 71. Kenya had about 600 rhinos in total.
(AP, 12/5/12)
2012 Dec 7, In Kenya a grenade thrown at worshippers leaving a mosque in a Somali neighborhood of Nairobi killed 3 people and wounded 15.
(SFC, 12/8/12, p.A2)
2012 Dec 13, A Kenyan official said an intelligence message intercepted from an al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group shows that the rebels are being offered up to $8,000 as a reward for killing Kenyan security officers.
(AP, 12/13/12)
2012 Dec 14, Kenya’s government decided that all refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia must return to the large refugee camp complex known as Dadaab, a seemingly endless expanse of refugee housing on the sands of Kenya close to the Somali border. More than 400,000 refugees live in Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world.
(AP, 12/14/12)
2012 Dec 21, In southeastern Kenya at least 39 people were killed when farmers raided a village of herders. The Pokomo tribe of farmers raided a village of the semi-nomadic Orma herding community at dawn in the Tana River Delta. 13 children, 6 women, 11 men and 9 attackers were killed.
(AP, 12/21/12)
2012 Anthony Sinclair authored “Serengeti Story: Life and Science in the World’s Greatest Wildlife Region."
(Econ, 12/1/12, p.88)
2013 Jan 4, Hong Kong customs officials said they have intercepted a container with 779 elephant tusks weighing 2,900 pounds from Kenya.
(SFC, 1/5/13, p.A2)
2013 Jan 5, In Kenya a poaching gang used gunfire to kill an entire family of 11 elephants in Tsavo National Park for their ivory tusks.
(AP, 1/8/13)
2013 Jan 8, Kenya’s The National Police Service Commission suspended three senior police officers from the Rift Valley province where Joshua Waiganjo (34) operated as a fake officer extorting money from civilians. Commission Chairman Johnston Kavuludi said Waiganjo's case has prompted a detailed audit of all police to weed out "ghost" officers.
(AP, 1/9/13)
2013 Jan 9, Legislators in Kenya voted themselves a hefty pay package in a late-evening vote on the last day of session before national elections. The bill also would give Kenya's president, vice president and prime minister hefty retirement packages, in a move that could tempt President Mwai Kibaki not to veto the legislation.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 9, In eastern Kenya 7 people were killed in tribal violence near the Tana River after more than 100 people launched an attack on a local village.
(AP, 1/9/13)
2013 Jan 10, A Kenyan community retaliated with their own tribal assault, killing 10 people and furthering a tribal feud that threatens to explode as March elections approach.
(AP, 1/10/13)
2013 Jan 12, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki vetoed legislation in which members of parliament gave themselves a hefty send-off package in a late-evening vote on the last day of session before national elections. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission said it was unconstitutional for legislators to set their own pay under the constitution the country adopted in 2010.
(AP, 1/12/13)
2013 Jan 12, The Kenya Red Cross said at least 200 people have been killed in violence in the southeast since August in fighting that could be related to political tensions ahead of March elections.
(AP, 1/12/13)
2013 Jan 15, Kenyan custom officials in Mombasa seized 638 pieces of illegal elephant ivory estimated to be worth $1.2 million. The ivory was in a container destined for Indonesia. The tusks were said to be from Tanzania.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 16, In Kenya hundreds of demonstrators angered at the conduct of outgoing Kenyan legislators doused 221 coffins with gasoline and set them on fire, causing an inferno outside parliament's main entrance.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 16, A Kenyan official said gunmen suspected to belong to Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebels have shot dead five people and seriously wounded three others at a restaurant in Garissa town.
(AP, 1/16/13)
2013 Jan 25, Twitter suspended the account used by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group two days after al-Shabab used the platform to announce a death threat against Kenyan hostages unless Kenya's government meets its demands.
(AP, 1/25/13)
2013 Feb 11, Millions of Kenyans watched and listened to the nation's first-ever presidential debate. The two front-running candidates, Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta and PM Raila Odinga. traded barbs over the looming trial of Kenyatta in the International Criminal Court.
(AP, 2/12/13)
2013 Feb 13, In Kenya the families of seven people shot dead in 2007 and eight wounded survivors filed a lawsuit to sue the government claiming the shots were fired by police during a dispute over who won Kenya's 2007 presidential election.
(AP, 2/15/13)
2013 Feb 15, In Somalia Al-Qaeda-linked militants claimed that they have executed a Kenyan soldier after the Nairobi government failed to meet their demands.
(AP, 2/15/13)
2013 Feb 16, In Kenya a suspected militant died while planting an improvised explosive device in Garissa at a venue where one of the country's presidential contenders was going to hold a campaign rally.
(AP, 2/21/13)
2013 Feb 21, In eastern Kenya gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles opened fire at a mosque, killing 7 people in the remote and tiny village of Maayleey.
(AP, 2/21/13)
2013 Feb 27, Kenya police said 32 people have died after the bus they were travelling in rolled in the Tulimani area.
(AP, 2/27/13)
2013 Mar 4, Kenyans waited in long lines to vote in the nation's presidential election. A secessionist group in Mombasa and nearby Kilifi launched multiple attacks which killed 19 people. 47 county governments and the Senate were established following the General Election as part of the implementation of devolution.
(AP, 3/4/13)(https://softkenya.com/kenya/devolved-government/)
2013 Mar 5, In Kenya the electronic transmission system meant to collate voting results broke down a day after the elections.
(Econ, 3/9/13, p.44)
2013 Mar 8, In Kenya the latest vote tally by the election commission showed Uhuru Kenyatta with 50.5 percent of the vote. The Kenyatta family reportedly owned half a million acres, according to the Kenya Land Alliance pressure group, along with interests in banking, property, hotels, an airline and a TV network.
(AP, 3/8/13)(Econ, 3/16/13, p.50)
2013 Mar 9, Kenya's election commission named Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of the country's presidential election with 50.07%. Opponent, PM Raila Odinga, refused defeat and alleged multiple failures in the vote saying Kenya's democracy was on trial.
(AP, 3/9/13)(SSFC, 3/10/13, p.A5)
2013 Mar 11, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) dropped charges of crimes against humanity against Francis Muthaura, Kenya’s former public service chief, after a key witness recanted.
(SFC, 3/12/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 16, Police in Kenya lobbed tear gas on crowds supporting the PM Raila Odinga as he filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to void the presidential election, a vote Odinga says was neither free nor fair.
(AP, 3/16/13)
2013 Mar 25, Kenya’s Supreme Court ordered the election commission to recount votes in 22 of the country's 291 constituencies to see if any of the tallies exceed the number of registered voters.
(AP, 3/25/13)
2013 Mar 30, Kenya's Supreme Court upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president. Protests led to clashes leaving 5 people dead.
(AP, 3/30/13)(SFC, 4/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Apr 9, Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the Kenya's 4th president in a stadium filled with tens of thousands and a dozen African leaders.
(AP, 4/9/13)
2013 Apr 18, In Kenya a masked gunman believed to be a member of an al-Qaida-linked Somalia militant group stormed a hotel near the border with Somalia and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing nine people.
(AP, 4/19/13)
2013 May 2, A Kenyan court found 2 Iranian nationals guilty of terror-related charges. Officials accused them of planning to attack Western targets inside Kenya. Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested in June 2012 and led officials to a 15-kg (33-pound) stash of the explosive RDX. On May 6 the two men were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 5/2/13)(AP, 5/6/13)
2013 May 13, Kenya police searched for 40 mentally ill patients who escaped from Mathari Mental Hospital, the country's only public psychiatric facility. The escapees had earlier complained that the drugs they were being given are ineffective.
(AP, 5/13/13)
2013 May 18, Kenya police shot dead a couple suspected to be terrorists after they threw four grenades, wounding five officers. The man killed was Kenyan national Felix Otuko, who was suspected of carrying out two grenade attacks on October 24, 2011.
(AP, 5/19/13)
2013 May 21, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report whose findings showed that his father, the country's first president, presided over a government responsible for numerous human rights violations, including political assassinations and illegal allocation of land. The report also finds that two former presidents, Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, who succeeded the late Jomo Kenyatta, presided over governments responsible for massacres, economic crimes and large-scale corruption, among other violations.
(AP, 5/22/13)
2013 May 25, In Kenya gunmen believed to be Somali militants killed six people in a late night attack on police posts near the border with Somalia. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility in Twitter updates.
(AP, 5/26/13)
2013 May 26, Kenya’s anti-terrorism police killed Khalid Ahmed, a wanted terrorist, and recovered a cache of weapons in the port city of Mombasa. The Somali national had sneaked into Kenya from Somalia where he had undergone paramilitary training.
(AP, 5/26/13)
2013 May 28, Kenya MPs unanimously voted to remove a directive reducing their salaries and then many walked out following the vote, even though there were other important reports and motions to be discussed.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 29, Human Rights Watch in a report released saying Kenya police had arrested more than 1,000 asylum seekers between mid-November and late January and accused Kenyan policemen of raping, beating, and extorting money from refugees of Somali origin.
(AP, 5/29/13)
2013 May 31, A UN official said more than 23,500 people have fled fighting in South Sudan's Jonglei state and sought refuge in neighboring countries of Uganda (2.5k), Kenya (5k) and Ethiopia (16k).
(AP, 6/1/13)
2013 Jun 6, Britain expressed regret about the abuse of Kenyans by colonial forces during the Mau Mau insurgency in the 1950s and announced a compensation package for more than 5,200 survivors worth a total of 20 million pounds.
(AP, 6/6/13)
2013 Jun 17, In Kenya police in Mombasa killed Kassim Omolo Otieno and Salim Mohammed Nero for suspected links with terrorists. Family and witnesses later said the suspects were arrested without a fight. One was handcuffed, one begged for his life and both were executed.
(AP, 6/26/13)
2013 Jun 28, Kenya's High Court ordered Deputy President William Ruto to surrender a 100-acre farm in the lush Rift Valley and pay compensation to a farmer who had accused the politician of grabbing the land during election violence five years ago.
(Reuters, 6/28/13)
2013 Jun 30, Somalia's government called for a neutral force in the disputed port city of Kismayo, accusing Kenyan troops there of backing one militia against others in ongoing fighting for control of the strategic southern city.
(AP, 7/1/13)
2013 Jul 11, In Kenya Joshua Walde, a US information management officer at the Nairobi embassy, rammed into a full mini-bus, killing a father of three whose widow is six months pregnant. Embassy officials rushed Walde and his family out of Kenya the next day leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance to pay for a funeral and for hospital bills for the eight or so others who were seriously injured.
(AP, 8/2/13)
2013 Jul 24, Kenyan police said they have discovered a large quantity of explosives packed in boxes on a bus in the capital Nairobi that was headed to a town in the coastal region.
(Reuters, 7/24/13)
2013 Jul 24, The EU said it will give Kenya 40 billion shillings ($458.45 million) between 2014 and 2020, for use in agriculture and other sectors, extending an aid program to the African country.
(Reuters, 7/24/13)
2013 Jul 25, In central Kenya a small plane went missing. On July 27 three Swiss nationals were found dead along with the wreckage of their plane on Aberdares mountain.
(AP, 7/27/13)
2013 Jul 30, A Kenyan court in Mombasa sentenced nine Somalis to five years in prison each for attempting to hijack the German merchant vessel MV Courier in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009.
(Reuters, 7/30/13)
2013 Jul 31, A Kenyan court awarded compensation to 11 victims of the largest illegal deportation of terrorism suspects in Africa to countries with appalling human rights records. Their 2007 deportation from Kenya to Somalia and finally Ethiopia was ruled unlawful and unconstitutional.
(AP, 8/1/13)
2013 Aug 4, African leaders meeting in Uganda said the Somali city of Kismayo "should be handed over" to the central government, a decision that puts pressure on Kenyan troops who face charges of backing a powerful militia in the disputed port city.
(AP, 8/4/13)
2013 Aug 7, A fire engulfed Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, forcing the indefinite suspension of international passenger flights and choking a vital travel gateway to east Africa. First responders looted electronics, a bank and an ATM during and after the blaze.
(Reuters, 8/7/13)(AP, 8/8/13)
2013 Aug 11, In Kenya a white rhino was found shot and killed by poachers who cut off its horn in Nairobi National Park, the first poaching death of a rhino in the urban park in six years. The killing brings to 35 the number of rhinos killed in Kenya so far this year, a sharp rise from the 29 killed in total in 2012.
(AP, 8/13/13)
2013 Aug 16, In Kenya some 40 armed extremist, believed to be from Somalia's Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, killed at least 4 police in an attack on a police post near the Somalia border.
(AP, 8/17/13)
2013 Aug 29, In Kenya a hacked corpse was left outside the headquarters of the National Police Service Commission in the center of Nairobi. A box containing a head and 2 hands, apparently hacked from the same corpse, was sent to Kenya's police commission chief, viewed as a grim warning against his efforts to reform the force.
(AFP, 8/30/13)
2013 Aug 29, In Kenya the driver of a bus traveling on a dark, country road lost control of the vehicle and it plunged into a valley, shearing the roof off as it rolled and killing at least 41 people.
(AP, 8/29/13)
2013 Sep 5, Kenya’s parliament voted to pull out of the Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC), after legislators staged what amounted to a parliamentary revolt against the trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto, scheduled to start next week.
(AP, 9/6/13)
2013 Sep 21, In Kenya gunmen threw grenades and opened fire killing dozens of people with at least 175 wounded in an attack targeting non-Muslims at the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi that was hosting a children's day event. In 2020 two men were sentenced to 18 and 33 years in jail after they were convicted of helping Islamist militants attack the shopping mall.
(AP, 9/21/13)(AP, 9/22/13)(AFP, 9/23/13)(BBC, 10/30/20)
2013 Sep 22, Kenyan military forces engaged in sporadic gun battles with the Islamic extremists holding an unknown number of hostages inside an upscale Nairobi mall.
(AP, 9/22/13)
2013 Sep 23, In Kenya thick smoke poured from the besieged Westgate shopping center in Nairobi where officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages. 2 terrorists were reported killed. Four huge explosions from military rocket propelled grenades rocked the mall and officials later said this was the likely time that three floors collapsed. Soldiers plundered the Westgate center while searching for attackers.
(Reuters, 9/23/13)(AP, 9/27/13)(Econ, 5/10/14, p.47)
2013 Sep 23, The International Criminal Court briefly excused Kenyan Vice President William Ruto from his crimes against humanity trial so he can deal with the bloody Nairobi shopping mall siege.
(AFP, 9/23/13)
2013 Sep 24, Kenyan officials said 3 soldiers have died and 8 others have been injured in a fight with militants who attacked The Westgate mall in Nairobi. Fighting there continued for a 4th day with at least 62 people killed.
(AP, 9/24/13)
2013 Sep 25, In Kenya bomb disposal experts and investigators searched through the wreckage of the Westgate shopping mall after a four-day attack by Islamist militants that killed at least 67 people with 39 missing. Militants attacked a police patrol in Wajor leaving one bystander dead.
(Reuters, 9/25/13)(SFC, 9/27/13, p.A2)(SFC, 10/1/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 26, In Kenya al-Shabab fighters attacked the border town of Mandera, killing two police officers, injuring three others and destroying 11 vehicles.
(AP, 9/26/13)
2013 Sep 26, Interpol issued an arrest notice on behalf of Kenyan authorities for Samantha Lewthwaite (29), a Muslim convert and fugitive Briton whom news media have dubbed the "white widow." Her first husband was one of the suicide bombers in the 2005 attack on the London transit system that killed 52 commuters. She was wanted by Kenyan authorities over alleged involvement in a plot to bomb holiday resorts.
(AP, 9/26/13)
2013 Oct 2, The International Criminal Court said it has issued an arrest warrant for Walter Barasa, a Kenyan journalist in Deputy President William Ruto’s political stronghold of Eldoret, for trying to bribe witnesses to withdraw testimony against Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/2/13)
2013 Oct 3, In Kenya Sheikh Ibrahim Omar was shot dead in Mombasa. He preached at a mosque that has in the past been linked to the Somali al Shabaab Islamists who claimed responsibility for the shopping center attack.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 4, In Kenya young Muslims set fire to a church, burned tires and clashed with police in the main port city of Mombasa, after the killing of an Islamic cleric his followers blamed on security forces.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 8, Kenyan customs officers seized 2 tons of elephant ivory in a shipments bound for Turkey. This followed a similar seizure on Oct 4.
(AFP, 10/9/13)
2013 Oct 10, Kenyans demanded justice after three men accused of brutally gang raping a school girl (16) and dumping her in a pit latrine were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 10/10/13)
2013 Oct 12, In Ethiopia foreign ministers of the 54-member African Union agreed that sitting heads of state should not be tried by the International Criminal Court where Kenya's leaders are in the dock. They also called for deferring the cases of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.
(Reuters, 10/12/13)
2013 Oct 16, Kenya wildlife officials said they will place microchips in the horn of every rhino in the country in a bid to stamp out a surge in poaching the threatened animals.
(AFP, 10/16/13)
2013 Oct 18, Kenya officials identified Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow (b.1990), a Norwegian-Somali, as one of the four attackers of the Westgate Mall on Sep 21. Charred body parts taken from a collapsed portion of the shopping center still awaited forensics analysis to determine if they were the remains of the assailants.
(AP, 10/18/13)(SFC, 10/18/13, p.A2)
2013 Oct 20, Kenya's biggest selling newspaper “The Nation" reported that security camera footage showed soldiers appearing to loot goods during last month's Nairobi shopping mall siege.
(Reuters, 10/20/13)
2013 Oct 20, In Kenya 2 Christian clerics were found killed in separate attacks.
(AFP, 10/21/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Kenya court sentenced 4 Somali pirates sentenced to seven years each in prison after they were found guilty of hijacking a fishing dhow in the Indian Ocean in 2010.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 24, Kenya's media said the police chief has threatened journalists with arrest after they reported on looting and disarray among security forces during the massacre in Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 28, In Kenya a petition campaign demanding justice topped a million signatures after three men accused of brutally gang raping a Kenyan schoolgirl in June were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 10/28/13)
2013 Oct 29, Kenyan police said they are holding five people over last month's attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall, while two soldiers were court martialed for looting during the attack.
(AFP, 10/29/13)
2013 Oct 30, In Kenya a train crashed into a passenger bus as it passed through a rail crossing in the capital, Nairobi, killing at least 11 people.
(AP, 10/30/13)
2013 Oct 31, Kenya MPs voted to set up and appoint a new Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal with the teeth to impose penalties of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings (173,000 euros, $234,000) on offenders and even bar journalists from working.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Oct 31, Kenyan warplanes destroyed a Shebab rebel camp in southern Somalia used to train gunmen who attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Nov 1, Kenya's media reacted with shock and outrage after parliament voted through a bill that could see journalists and outlets slapped with huge fines for violating a code of conduct.
(AFP, 11/1/13)
2013 Nov 2, Kenya's chief justice said he has ordered "immediate action" over a case where men accused of brutally gang raping a schoolgirl last June were ordered to cut grass as punishment.
(AFP, 11/2/13)
2013 Nov 4, A Kenyan court charged four Somali men with terrorist offences for helping al Qaeda-linked militants carry out an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.
(Reuters, 11/4/13)
2013 Nov 10, The governments of Kenya and Somalia signed a deal with the UN’s High Commission for Refugees to facilitate voluntary returns.
(Econ, 11/30/13, p.48)
2013 Nov 17, In Kenya poachers infiltrated the privately owned Lewa Wildlife Conservancy during the full moon and killed Meluaya," a 17-year-old black rhino suspected to have been heavily pregnant and with a two-year-old calf.
(AFP, 11/19/13)
2013 Nov 28, Kenya launched construction of a Chinese-funded 13.8 billion dollar (10-billion euro) flagship railway project, hoping to dramatically increase trade and boost Kenya's position as a regional economic powerhouse.
(AFP, 11/28/13)
2013 Nov 30, Five east African countries signed a protocol to establish a monetary union, in a first step towards creating a single currency. At a summit in Kampala, leaders from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda inked the framework to set up a single market modelled after the eurozone.
(AFP, 11/30/13)
2013 Dec 5, Kenyan lawmakers adopted amendments to a controversial media bill despite an opposition walk out and international concern about press freedom.
(AFP, 12/5/13)
2013 Dec 7, In northern Kenya more than 10 people were killed in fighting in the town of Moyale where troops have been sent to stop a week of fighting between rival ethnic groups that has sent thousands fleeing into Ethiopia.
(Reuters, 12/7/13)
2013 Dec 10, In Kenya gunmen killed 8 people including 5 policemen and wounded at least two others in an ambush in the Garissa region close to war-torn Somalia.
(AFP, 12/10/13)(AFP, 12/15/13)
2013 Dec 14, In Kenya one person was killed and three injured in a double explosion at a market in the town of Wajir.
(AP, 12/15/13)
2013 Dec 14, In Kenya a suspected grenade attack on a minibus in Nairobi killed 4 people near a Somali-dominated area of the city. 2 more died of their wounds the next day.
(Reuters, 12/14/13)(AFP, 12/15/13)
2013 In Kenya biometrics were introduced to the refugee camps of Kakuma and Dadaab. This led to a steep drop in their recorded populations saving the World Food Program some $1.4 million a month.
(Econ, 2/11/17, p.50)
2013 Teachers in Kenya, according to a World Bank report, were absent from classrooms about half the time.
(Econ, 2/22/14, p.42)
2014 Jan 2, In Kenya 10 people were wounded when attackers hurled a grenade into a restaurant in Diani, a popular coastal tourist resort town.
(AFP, 1/2/14)
2014 Jan 9, The Kenyan military killed at least 30 Islamic militants in an airstrike on a militant camp in Somalia.
(AP, 1/10/14)
2014 Jan 16, In Kenya an explosive device blew up a trash can and part of the ceiling of the Java House restaurant near the entrance of an international departure terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Four suspects, including a man identified as a Somali diplomat, were soon arrested.
(AP, 2/4/14)
2014 Jan 23, A Kenyan court sentenced 24 Somalis to seven years each in prison for attempting to hijack an Iranian merchant vessel, FV Ariya, in the Gulf of Oman in October 2010.
(Reuters, 1/23/14)
.
2014 Jan 26, Kenya officials said poachers have slaughtered a rhino in the capital's Nairobi National Park, a brazen attack flouting tough new laws designed to stem a surge of such killings.
(AFP, 1/26/14)
2014 Jan 28, A Kenyan court ordered a Chinese man to pay $230,000 in fines or be jailed seven years for ivory smuggling in the first of what will likely be many cases as authorities implement a stringent new law to deter illegal trading in wildlife products.
(AP, 1/28/14)
2014 Jan 29, South Sudan released to Kenya seven of the 11 key leaders held after an alleged coup bid last month, as Nairobi accepted to host the group.
(AFP, 1/29/14)
2014 Feb 2, In Kenya gunfire erupted in and around a mosque in the port city of Mombasa following a raid by armed police who had received a tip-off that Muslim youths were being radicalized and trained for militant attacks. At least one officer and a young man were killed.
(Reuters, 2/2/14)(AP, 2/2/14)
2014 Feb 3, Kenyan police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse Muslim youths rioting for a second day in protest against a raid on a mosque used by firebrand preachers in the port city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 2/3/14)
2014 Feb 10, In Kenya gays and lesbians joined a global effort to protest against an anti-homosexuality bill passed by Uganda's parliament that is now in the hands of the country's president.
(AP, 2/10/14)
2014 Feb 12, In Kenya 70 men arrested during a raid on a mosque in the port city of Mombasa were formally charged with being members of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels.
(AFP, 2/12/14)
2014 Feb 13, A top Kenyan official, Francis Kimemia, accused the United States of trying to overthrow Kenya's government by supporting activists even as baton-wielding police used tear gas to break up an anti-government protest in downtown Nairobi. Kimemia served as the chairman of the National Security Advisory Committee and the secretary of the president's Cabinet.
(AP, 2/13/14)
2014 Feb 26, A Kenyan court dropped charges against 41 men and released on bail 29 others arrested on Feb 2 during a raid on a mosque accused of supporting Islamist extremists.
(AFP, 2/26/14)
2014 Mar 7, Kenya's president and cabinet agreed to a pay cut as part of austerity measures meant to reduce the government wage bill and free up funds for use in economic development. They called on lawmakers to do the same.
(Reuters, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 19, In Kenya scientist Richard Leakey and Paula Kahumbu, the founding former chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service, urged Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta to invoke emergency measures to protect the country's elephants and rhinos from a poaching crisis sweeping Africa.
(AP, 3/19/14)
2014 Mar 20, Kenya's parliament passed a bill allowing men to marry as many women as they want, prompting a furious backlash from female lawmakers who stormed out. Women are not allowed to marry more than one man in Kenya. The bill must now pass before the president to be signed before becoming law.
(AFP, 3/21/14)
2014 Mar 23, In Kenya attackers shot dead 4 worshippers when they burst into a church service near the port city of Mombasa, spraying the congregation with bullets.
(AFP, 3/23/14)
2014 Mar 25, Kenya’s wildlife authority said it needs help to curb the killings of elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns. Poachers this year have killed 18 rhinos and 51 elephants.
(SFC, 3/26/14, p.A2)
2014 Mar 30, In Kenya a man died after an explosive device he was assembling blew up in a residential area of Nairobi. Police looked for three other men who were seen running out of the apartment after the blast.
(AP, 3/30/14)
2014 Mar 31, In Kenya three almost simultaneous blasts in Eastleigh, the main Somali district of Nairobi, left at least 6 people dead.
(AFP, 4/1/14)
2014 Apr 1, In Kenya unknown attackers in Mombasa shot dead Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, more commonly known as Makaburi (meaning graveyard in Swahili). He was accused by the US and the UN Security Council of supporting Somali militants.
(Reuters, 4/4/14)(SFC, 4/3/14, p.A2)(Econ, 4/5/14, p.42)
2014 Apr 8, A Kenyan official said at least 3,000 people have been arrested during four days of security operations following a wave of terror attacks. Most of those arrested were scrutinized by security agencies and released, but 447 were being held in custody under anti-terrorism laws.
(AP, 4/8/14)
2014 Apr 9, Kenya expelled over 80 Somalis as security forces maintained a major crackdown on suspected Islamists that has seen thousands rounded up in the capital.
(AFP, 4/9/14)(SFC, 4/10/14, p.A2)
2014 Apr 11, Kenya's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources said the central government will oversee the running of the country's wildlife authority for the next three months in a bid to stop poaching of the country's elephants and rhinos.
(AP, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 11, Kenya's defense ministry said its troops have freed two Kenyans kidnapped near its northern border by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels in 2011. Officials identified the two as James Kiarie Gichuhi, a driver with CARE International, and Daniel Njuguna Wanyoike, said to be working with a logistics firm that may have been delivering medicines to the charity.
(AFP, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 13, Wilson Kipsang (32) of Kenya captured his second London Marathon title by breaking the course record by 11 seconds in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 29 seconds. Kenya's Edna Kiplagat saw off compatriot Florence Kiplagat to win the women's London Marathon.
(AP, 4/13/14)
2014 Apr 13, In the Netherlands Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the Rotterdam Marathon, but failed in his bid to break the course record on a windy day in the port city.
(AP, 4/13/14)
2014 May 2, Kenya wildlife authorities caught two police officers with six pieces of ivory at a road block while travelling from the central town of Meru to Nairobi.
(AP, 5/3/14)
2014 May 3, In Kenya 4 people were killed when attackers threw an explosive device at passengers at a bus station in Mombasa, and also targeted a luxury hotel in the coastal city.
(Reuters, 5/4/14)
2014 May 4, In Kenya two buses driving along a busy highway in Nairobi were struck by explosive devices thrown at them.
(Reuters, 5/4/14)
2014 May 7, Kenya police and hospitals said at least 63 people have died this week and dozens more are sick after consuming toxic alcohol.
(AFP, 5/7/14)
2014 May 11, China signed a deal with East African leaders to build a $3.8 billion rail link between Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
(AFP, 5/11/14)
2014 May 16, In Kenya at least 10 people were killed and 70 wounded in two explosions in Nairobi.
(AP, 5/16/14)
2014 May 19, In northeast Kenya Somali militants killed 12 people including 3 police reservists in a border ambush for which Al-Shabab claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/20/14, p.A2)
2014 May 20, Kenyan university students threw rocks at police in Nairobi as authorities fired back with tear gas in running battles that didn't end until police cornered students in a campus building and fired dozens of rounds of tear gas inside. Students demonstrated in at least four cities across the country over a proposed increase in university fees.
(AP, 5/20/14)
2014 May 26, Two Kenyan soldiers were killed when militants from Somalia's Shebab rebels ambushed a military convoy near Lamu on the Kenya-Somalia border.
(AFP, 5/26/14)
2014 May 27, Bus operators in Kenya unveiled plans for a cashless fare system aimed at protecting passengers from theft and police extortion which they say siphon a third of their revenue away.
(AFP, 5/27/14)
2014 Jun 5, Kenyan authorities said they have seized 228 whole elephant tusks and 74 others in pieces as they were being packed for export in the port city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 6/5/14)
2014 Jun 5, Kenyan gunmen shot and killed an Australian media executive Carey Eaton, a co-founder of the online marketplace One Africa Media. This was the second such attack on an Australian citizen in the past year in the crime-ridden capital Nairobi.
(AFP, 6/6/14)
2014 Jun 10, In Kenya gunmen shot and killed moderate Muslim leader Sheik Mohamed Idris, the chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK). He was the fourth prominent Muslim to be shot dead in Mombasa in two years. On April 15, 2016, Sudi Mohamed Sudi (44) was sentenced to death for killing Idris, who had campaigned against radical interpretations of Islam.
(AP, 6/10/14)(AP, 4/15/16)
2014 Jun 15, In Kenya at least 50 people were killed after suspected al Shabaab gunmen in two minibuses sped into Mpeketoni town on the coast, shooting soccer fans watching a World Cup match in a television hall and targeting two hotels, a police post and a bank.
(Reuters, 6/16/14)(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 16, In Kenya an attack in Majembeni village left 10 people died. Majembeni is next to Mpeketoni where four dozen people were slaughtered a day earlier.
(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 17, Kenya's president blamed political leaders inside Kenya for carrying out two nights of deadly attacks that killed at least 60 people in coastal communities, saying that despite claims of responsibility from al-Shabab, the Islamic extremists were not behind it.
(AP, 6/17/14)
2014 Jun 19, Kenyan fighter jets attacked two bases belonging to Islamist al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia and killed at least 80 militants. Al Shabaab rebels denied any of its fighters had been killed.
(Reuters, 6/23/14)
2014 Jun 20, Kenya's Interior Ministry said security forces have shot and killed five people suspected of killing 60 residents in two nighttime attacks on a coastal town this week.
(AP, 6/20/14)
2014 Jun 23, The first-ever United Nations Environmental Assembly opened in Kenya, as more than 150 high-level delegations began a weeklong examination of the intersection between global economic progress and the environment.
(AP, 6/23/14)
2014 Jun 23, In Kenya 5 people were killed in attacks in Witu, near Mpeketoni where some 60 people were killed last week.
(SFC, 6/25/14, p.A2)
2014 Jun 25, Kenyan police arrested Lamu county Governor Issa Timamy in connection with gun attacks in his area that killed about 65 people. Timamy denied responsibility and was released on bail on June 30.
(Reuters, 6/26/14)(AP, 6/30/14)
2014 Jul 2, In Kenya 4 people were killed when a cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff at the international airport in Nairobi.
(AP, 7/2/14)
2014 Jul 2, African nations agreed to suspend military operations for six months against Congo-based Rwandan rebels in order to give them more time to lay down their arms. The suspension was announced after a meeting in Angola of foreign ministers from a regional bloc including Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
(Reuters, 7/3/14)
2014 Jul 5, In Kenya at least 22 people were killed in late night attacks by gunmen in the coastal towns of Hindi and Gamba. Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed responsibility but Kenyan officials blamed local separatists.
(AP, 7/6/14)(Reuters, 7/6/14)(SFC, 7/7/14, p.A4)
2014 Jul 7, In Kenya thousands of people rallied in Nairobi against President Uhuru Kenyatta's rule, with some calling for him to step down because he had failed to improve the lives of Kenyans more than a year after he came to office.
(AP, 7/8/14)
2014 Jul 11, In Kenya gunmen raided Pandanguo village in Lamu County where they locked up men praying in a mosque, looted medical supplies from a local dispensary and took six rifles from police reservists.
(AP, 7/11/14)
2014 Jul 12, In Kenya Mohamed Shahid Butt, a prominent businessman who was facing terrorism-related charges, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Mombasa.
(SSFC, 7/13/14, p.A7)
2014 Jul 24, In Kenya a female tourist from Germany was killed in the port city of Mombasa in the same area where a Russian visitor was murdered earlier in July by a criminal gang.
(Reuters, 7/24/14)(AFP, 7/25/14)
2014 Jul 31, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said a vast coastal zone nearly the size of Luxembourg around a proposed multi-billion dollar port area had been stolen “under dubious and corrupt circumstances" by 22 companies between 2011 and 2012, fuelling a wave of massacres. Kenyatta said he ordered the lands ministry "to revoke and repossess these land parcels with immediate effect."
(AFP, 7/31/14)
2014 Aug 1, In Kenya journalist Godwin Chepkurgor was attacked and killed while on assignment for a magazine by a bull elephant that scooped him up with its trunk and threw him in the air. In 2005 Chepkurgor made headlines after revealing that he had written Clinton to ask for daughter Chelsea's hand in 2000 during the then-president's visit to Kenya.
(AP, 8/6/14)
2014 Aug 12, Kenya Wildlife Direct chief executive Paula Kahumbu delivered a petition on this World Elephant Day calling for the arrest of Feizal Ali Mohamed, whom Wildlife Direct alleges is a Mombasa-based businessman evading an arrest warrant in relation to a massive ivory seizure in June.
(AP, 8/12/14)
2014 Aug 14, South Korea’s Korean Air Lines Co. said will suspend flights to Kenya in a measure to prevent the spread of Ebola.
(AP, 8/14/14)
2014 Aug 18, Human Rights Watch said it has documented at least 10 cases of unlawful killings and 10 cases of enforced disappearances carried out by the Kenya Anti-Terror Police Unit from last November to June.
(SFC, 8/19/14, p.A2)
2014 Aug 20, In Kenya suspected Shebab Islamist militants kidnapped a group of traders and took them to the dense Boni forest area in Lamu county. The militants released three of them who were Muslims and beheaded a Christian.
(AFP, 8/23/14)
2014 Aug 27, Muslims for Human Rights alleged that corrupt Kenyan wildlife rangers have been killing poachers to cover up the officers' collusion with the criminals slaughtering the country's elephants. The group has documented the disappearances of 18 suspected poachers over the last three years.
(AP, 8/27/14)
2014 Aug 28, Somalia took its maritime border dispute with Kenya to the United Nations' top court, which could decide the fate of potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves off east Africa. Somalia said the maritime frontier should follow on in the same direction as the land border, while Kenya argued that it has always been taken in a horizontal line from the point where the two countries meet at the coast.
(AFP, 8/29/14)(BBC, 3/14/21)
2014 Sep 4, In northern Kenya anthropologists discovered a complete skull of a baby ape dating back 13 million years. It belonged to an undiscovered species and was named Nyanazpithecus alesi.
(http://tinyurl.com/ydfq4ev8)(SFC, 8/19/17, p.A9)
2014 Sep 28, In Germany Dennis Kimetto of Kenya knocked 26 seconds off the world marathon record. Kimetto won the 41st edition of the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 57 seconds, becoming the first man to complete a marathon in under 2 hours, 3 minutes.
(AP, 9/28/14)
2014 Oct 1, A Kenyan court ordered two Iranians held under anti-terrorism laws to serve two years in jail or pay a hefty fine after they pleaded guilty to using fake Israeli passports to enter the East African country last month.
(Reuters, 10/1/14)
2014 Oct 3, In Kenya protesters blocked truckers on the only highway from Mombasa port to the capital Nairobi, threatening to choke the main trade artery with much of east Africa. More than two hundred residents in Voi halted traffic with burning tires to demand jobs from a Chinese company contracted to build a section of a railway in the area.
(Reuters, 10/3/14)
2014 Oct 6, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation in an address before parliament that he would temporarily step down as president while attending a hearing at the International Criminal Court this week insisting that he be a private citizen during the court hearing and not the first president to sit before the court.
(AP, 10/6/14)
2014 Oct 7, International prosecutors accused the Kenyan government of failing to hand over phone and bank records they said would help them show President Uhuru Kenyatta paid collaborators to take part in post-election violence in 2007.
(Reuters, 10/7/14)
2014 Oct 7, In Kenya transgender activist Audrey Mbugua won a landmark case when the High Court ordered the Kenya National Examinations Council to change her name on her academic certificates.
(Reuters, 10/7/14)
2014 Oct 18, Kenyan and Somali soldiers killed five suspected Islamic extremist bombers attempting to cross into the country from Ethiopia in a car laden with explosives and six suicide vests.
(AP, 10/19/14)
2014 Oct 25, In Kenya armed bandits attacked two vehicles belonging to an advanced security team and killed three officers and two civilians.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Oct 27, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to Ethiopia that the EU and several regional development banks have pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa. Countries targeted are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
(AFP, 10/27/14)(AP, 10/27/14)
2014 Nov 1, In northern Kenya raiders ambushed and killed 22 police. Regional powerbrokers later said the attackers mistook the police for an invading tribe.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Nov 2, Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta ordered all guns and attackers be turned over to authorities in the North Rift region after raiders killed 22 police a day earlier. Troops shot and killed 6 machete-wielding attackers who tried to gain entry into a barracks on the coast.
(AP, 11/2/14)
2014 Nov 3, In northwestern Kenya 4 more refugees were killed, bringing the total number of people killed over the past week to 8. Violence at the Kakuma camps were sparked by reports of the attempted rape of a young refugee girl on Oct 28.
(AFP, 11/4/14)
2014 Nov 6, A Kenyan Roman Catholic priest, Father Guyo Waqo, and four others were sentenced to death by a court in Nairobi for murdering Italian Bishop Luigi Locati in 2005.
(AP, 11/6/14)
2014 Nov 17, In Kenya nearly 1,000 people marched through the streets of Nairobi to protest a recent rash of attacks by mobs of men on women who have been deemed too provocatively dressed. A mob of Kenyan men attacked and stripped a woman claiming she was inappropriately dressed just hours after the march.
(AP, 11/17/14)(AP, 11/18/14)
2014 Nov 17, Kenyan officials said police have shot dead a man and arrested about 250 others when they searched two mosques in Mombasa that they said were used to recruit militants and stash weapons. About 10 youths chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), killed a shopkeeper who tried to close his store in case of a riot. The youths killed the two other men when they attacked people on public transport.
(Reuters, 11/17/14)(Reuters, 11/18/14)
2014 Nov 22, Somalia's al Shabaab Islamists staged an attack in Kenya in which gunmen ordered non-Muslims off a bus and shot 28 dead, while sparing Muslim passengers outside Mandera town. Kenya’s military responded with air strikes that destroyed the attackers’ camp in Somalia and reportedly killed over 100 militants.
(Reuters, 11/22/14)(SSFC, 11/23/14, p.A5)(SFC, 11/24/14, p.A2)
2014 Nov 25, Kenyan police used teargas to disperse demonstrators shouting "President, Stop the killings!" outside President Uhuru Kenyatta's offices, in a protest over 28 people killed in a weekend attack claimed by Islamist militants.
(Reuters, 11/25/14)
2014 Nov 30, Police in Kenya arrested 37 Chinese nationals with advanced communications equipment in a house in an upscale Nairobi neighborhood following a fire that left one person dead. 40 more Chinese nationals were arrested on Dec 3 and police consulted technical experts to see if they were committing espionage.
(AP, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 2, In northeast Kenya Somali al Shabaab Islamist militants killed 36 non-Muslim workers at a quarry near the Somali border. Thus prompted Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta to sweep out his top security officials to tackle a relentless wave of violence.
(Reuters, 12/2/14)
2014 Dec 4, In Kenya two men were reported jailed for gang raping children after Kenya's high court in 2013 ordered the police to re-open 10 cases where officers had yelled at, demanded bribes from and even locked up girls who tried to report rape to them.
(Reuters, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 4, A Kenyan military aircraft crashed in the region of the southern Somali city of Kismayu due to technical problems after a combat mission.
(Reuters, 12/4/14)
2014 Dec 5, Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court withdrew their crimes against humanity charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta said he was "vindicated" after the ICC's decision.
(Reuters, 12/5/14)(SFC, 12/6/14, p.A4)
2014 Dec 11, In Kenya more than 20 machete-wielding men, said to be members of the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), attacked a police camp. The outlawed group wants independence for Kenya's Indian Ocean coastal regions, citing decades of neglect by the government.
(Reuters, 12/22/14)
2014 Dec 17, In Kenya 6 people died and 11 were injured in a central Nairobi building collapse, with fears that the toll could rise as crews continued to dig through the rubble.
(AFP, 12/18/14)
2014 Dec 18, In Kenya fistfights and scuffles broke out in parliament as legislators passed controversial security measures which the government says will help fight terrorism but which critics say are meant to silence dissent by curtailing civil liberties.
(AP, 12/18/14)
2014 Dec 19, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a contentious bill saying it will help the country fight terrorism, but which critics say will be used to crush dissent by curbing civil liberties.
(AP, 12/19/14)
2014 Dec 22, Kenyan police arrested Feisal Mohammed Ali, an alleged ivory trafficker, at a rental house in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On Dec 24 a Kenyan court charged him with smuggling tusks.
(AP, 12/23/14)(AFP, 12/24/14)
2014 In Kenya Islamic extremists killed 173 people this year, the highest number in the three years that Kenya has experienced violence blamed on neighboring Somalia's al-Shabab militants.
(AP, 2/25/15)d
2015 Jan 2, Kenya's High Court suspended key parts of a controversial new national security law that the opposition had warned risked turning the east African nation into a dictatorship.
(AFP, 1/2/15)
2015 Jan 4, In Kenya Fidel Odinga (41), the son of main opposition leader Raila Odinga, was found dead in his home near Nairobi, prompting a major police investigation and minor unrest in the capital.
(AP, 1/4/15)
2015 Jan 4, In Kenya at least 2 people were killed and several others were injured when a six-storey residential building collapsed in Nairobi.
(AFP, 1/5/15)
2015 Jan 14, In Kenya one soldier and five suspected Islamists insurgents loyal to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab fighters were killed in a battle in the coastal Lamu district.
(AFP, 1/14/15)
2015 Jan 19, Kenyan police fired tear gas at children as young as eight protesting against the seizure of their school playground by a property developer.
(AFP, 1/19/15)
2015 Jan 26, In Kenya at least seven people were injured in clashes between police and protesters from the Maasai ethnic group who accuse a local governor of corrupt handling of tourism funds from the Maasai Mara game reserve.
(Reuters, 1/26/15)
2015 Feb 3, Teachers in northern Kenya bordering Somalia have refused to return to work, fearing attacks by Islamic extremists. Some 700 teachers demonstrated outside parliament in Nairobi demanding that the government transfer them to schools in safer regions.
(AP, 2/3/15)
2015 Feb 7, In Kenya a masked gunman shot and killed a Kenyan lawmaker on a street in Nairobi. George Muchai, was killed alongside his two bodyguards and a driver after they stopped to buy a newspaper.
(AP, 2/7/15)
2015 Feb 17, In Kenya eight international organizations launched a global campaign to stem the spread of AIDS among adolescents. They said AIDS has become the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa and the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally.
(AP, 2/17/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenya's Constitutional Court threw out parts of a new anti-terrorism law, including restrictions on the media, but left most of it intact, including a provision allowing police to hold terrorism suspects for a year without charge.
(Reuters, 2/23/15)
2015 Feb 23, Kenyan police arrested 101 Ethiopian nationals suspected of traveling illegally through Kenya on their way to South Africa.
(AP, 2/24/15)
2015 Mar 3, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to 15 tons of elephant tusks during World Wildlife Day to discourage poaching.
(AP, 3/3/15)
2015 Mar 4, A court in Kenya charged 12 businessmen and former officials including an ex-minister in connection with a multi-million dollar corruption scam involving bogus state contracts. The case relates to the "Anglo-Leasing scandal," which came to light in 2004 when it emerged the government had set up a vast network of phantom companies and inflated invoices to embezzle money meant for security services.
(AFP, 3/4/15)(AP, 3/4/15)
2015 Mar 12, In Kenya three Danish women pleaded guilty to breaking customs laws by attempting to smuggle suitcases stuffed with a narcotic herb out of the country.
(AP, 3/12/15)
2015 Mar 13, In northern Kenya Islamic militants attacked the convoy of a governor, killing 3 people in the second attack on Governor Ali Roba's convoy in five months. Al-Shabab militants from Somalia claimed responsibility for the attack.
(AP, 3/13/15)
2015 Mar 13, The International Criminal Court formally halted proceedings against Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta, three months after prosecutors dropped charges implicating him in fomenting postelection violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007 and 2008.
(AP, 3/13/15)
2015 Mar 15, In northern Kenya Somali Shebab militants killed one man and wounded three others in a shooting in the town of Mandera.
(AFP, 3/16/15)
2015 Mar 17, In Kenya 4 people were shot dead in a shop Wajir town by unknown gunmen who wounded three others. Al-Shabab Islamic extremists soon claimed responsibility, bringing the total number of those killed by the militants since March 13 to 12.
(AP, 3/18/15)
2015 Mar 20, Kenya launched Africa's first water fund, a public-private partnership aimed at raising $15 million to provide clean water to 9.3 million people by protecting the basin of the country's longest river.
(Reuters, 3/20/15)
2015 Mar 28, Kenya's president suspended four cabinet secretaries and 17 other senior officials to facilitate investigations into allegations of corruption.
(AP, 3/28/15)
2015 Mar, Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) named dozens of top politicians and civil servants in a report that gave a damning indictment of the scale of corruption in the country. A total of 175 people were named in the report, including five cabinet ministers, 13 governors and a host of civil servants, MPs and members of the judiciary.
(AFP, 4/23/15)
2015 Apr 2, In Kenya 148 people, including 6 police and soldiers, were killed when Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed the Garissa University College campus, taking Christians hostage and engaging security forces in an extended shootout. All four of the gunmen wore suicide vests packed with explosives, detonating themselves in huge blasts as the dramatic assault finally ended after some 16 hours. It was later reported that all four gunmen were themselves Kenyan. On June 4 four men from Kenya and one from Tanzania were charged in court in connection with the attack.
(AFP, 4/3/15)(AFP, 4/4/15)(AFP, 4/16/15)(Econ., 4/11/15, p.46)(Reuters, 6/4/15)
2015 Apr 3, Kenya offered a $215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty for the capture of alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher believed to now be in Somalia and said to be the mastermind behind the April 2 Garissa attack.
(AFP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 4, Kenyan police paraded the naked corpses of Somali Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab gunmen who slaughtered 148 people at the Garissa University College campus on April 2. Five men were reported arrested. President Uhuru Kenyatta declared three days of national mourning.
(AFP, 4/4/15)
2015 Apr 5, Kenya identified one of the al Shabaab gunmen who massacred students at Garissa University as Abdirahim Abdullahi, a university of Nairobi law graduate and the son of government official in Mandera county.
(Reuters, 4/5/15)(AFP, 4/5/15)
2015 Apr 6, The Kenyan air force said it has destroyed two al Shabaab camps in Somalia, in the first major military response since the Islamist group massacred students at Kenya’s Garissa University last week.
(Reuters, 4/6/15)
2015 Apr 8, Kenya froze key money transfer companies vital for Somalia after the police chief issued a list of 85 people and businesses with suspected links to the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.
(AFP, 4/8/15)
2015 Apr 11, Kenya gave the United Nations three months to remove a camp housing more than half a million Somali refugees, as part of a get-tough response to the killing of 148 people by Somali gunmen at a Garissa University.
(Reuters, 4/11/15)
2015 Apr 12, In Kenya one student was killed and 141 injured in a stampede on the campus of the University of Nairobi when students mistook several accidental explosions for an extremist attack.
(AP, 4/12/15)
2015 Apr 20, The annual Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded in San Francisco to six activists. They included: Marilyn Baptiste (44) of Canada, for her work to stop the development of an open pit gold and copper mine that threatened lakes in British Columbia; Berta Caceres (42) of Honduras for her efforts fighting the Agua Zarca Dam, which threatened to cut off the water and hunting grounds of the Lenca people; Phyllis Omido (35) of Kenya for her work exposing lead fumes from a smelting plant; Jean Wiener of Haiti (50) for his efforts to protect and restore marine wildlife; Howard Wood (60) of Scotland for his efforts to restore undersea ecology; and Myint Zaw (39) of Myanmar for halt the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Irrawaddy River that would submerge 50 villages and displace 18,000 people.
(SFC, 4/20/15, p.A6)
2015 Apr 23, Kenya's top anti-corruption officials were suspended following a bitter standoff with parliament and after they alleged widespread graft in the east African nation.
(AFP, 4/23/15)
2015 Apr 25, Thailand officials seized three tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya and destine for Laos.
(SFC, 4/28/15, p.A2)
2015 May 4, In northwest Kenya suspected Turkana cattle rustlers ambushed villages and drove away hundreds of livestock. 54 people lost their lives in the two communities of Pokot and Turkana. The violence reportedly started after an attack by Pokot warriors on a Turkana village in which 100 goats were stolen.
(Reuters, 5/5/15)(AFP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 4, The US said it will give $45 million to UN refugee operations in Kenya to help the country deal with a growing refugee crisis.
(SFC, 5/5/15, p.A2)
2015 May 6, The Kenya Red Cross said some 75 people have been killed in four days of cattle raids and revenge attacks in northern districts.
(AFP, 5/6/15)
2015 May 20, Kenya health officials said at least 65 people are confirmed to have died in a nearly five-month-old cholera outbreak, with infections also continuing to rise in the capital Nairobi.
(AFP, 5/20/15)
2015 May 20, Scientists reported the discovery of stone tools in Kenya that dated back 3.3 million years, pushing back the previous record by some 700,000 years.
(SFC, 5/21/15, p.A6)
2015 May 21, In northeast Kenya militants from Somalia-based al Shabaab attacked a village late today but were beaten back by security forces.
(Reuters, 5/22/15)
2015 May 25, In Kenya Islamist militants from Somalia attacked two police patrols, triggering a gun battle near Yumbis. The militants claimed in a statement that at least 20 police were killed, although Kenyan authorities said that only one officer died and four others were wounded.
(AFP, 5/26/15)
2015 Jun 1, Kenya police said they have launched an investigation into photos posted on social media that appear to show officers mercilessly whipping a group of young Somali men.
(AFP, 6/1/15)
2015 Jun 11, Kenya said it has set a goal to get 100,000 Somali refugees to return home voluntarily by the end of the year.
(AP, 6/11/15)
2015 Jun 14, In Kenya at least 15 Somali al Shabaab militants and 2 soldiers were killed when al Qaeda-linked fighters attacked a military base near the town of Baure, Lamu County, on the coast near to the Somali border. Thomas Evans, a British jihadist fighting for Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate, was believed to be among the dead.
(AP, 6/14/15)(AFP, 6/15/15)
2015 Jun 18, Kenya's president ordered the central bank to issue regulations and then lift restrictions on key money transfer services vital for Somalia suspended over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab.
(AFP, 6/18/15)
2015 Jun 20, In northeastern Kenya Mohamed Barre Abdullahi, a local chief in Wajir, was gunned down by suspected members of the Somali-led Shebab militia.
(AFP, 6/21/15)
2015 Jun, In Kenya Jean Chrysostome Ntirugiribambe, a Rwandan national, was abducted from a busy market street in Nairobi. He had been a defense investigator and legal assistant at the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the court set up to try those deemed responsible for the genocide. He has not been seen since.
(The Daily Beast, 10/18/20)
2015 Jul 7, In northeast Kenya al Shabaab gunmen killed 14 people, mostly quarry workers as they slept in Soko Mbuzi village, Mandera County, in an early morning attack on a residential complex targeting Christians.
(Reuters, 7/7/15)(SFC, 7/8/15, p.A6)
2015 Jul 16, In south-central Somalia a US drone strike destroyed a vehicle belonging to al Shabaab militants. Kenya said at least 30 Shebab militants were killed.
(Reuters, 7/16/15)(AFP, 7/16/15)
2015 Jul 24, US President Barack Obama arrived in his ancestral homeland Kenya.
(AFP, 7/24/15)
2015 Jul 25, In Kenya President Barack Obama said the United States was ready to work more closely in the battle against Somalia's Islamist group al Shabaab, but chided his host on gay rights and said no African state should discriminate over sexuality. Obama commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for his commitment to rooting out corruption in the east African state.
(Reuters, 7/25/15)
2015 Jul 26, In Kenya US President Barack Obama ended his visit saying Kenyans need deepen democracy, tackle corruption and end exclusion based on gender or ethnicity.
(Reuters, 7/26/15)(AFP, 7/26/15)
2015 Jul 28, Kenyan rangers found the carcasses of 5 elephants killed overnight with their tusks hacked off in Tsavo West National Park.
(SFC, 7/31/15, p.A4)
2015 Aug 6, Top Kenyan athletes completed a giant 840-km (522-mile) "Walk for Peace" against ethnic violence, accompanied by cheering crowds.
(AFP, 8/6/15)
2015 Aug 21, A court in Kenya granted bail to Feisal Mohammed Ali, the suspected ringleader of an ivory smuggling gang. Government prosecutors said they would appeal. On August 24 his bail was suspended.
(AFP, 8/20/15)(AFP, 8/24/15)
2015 Sep 8, The US mission to war-torn Somalia began work without an ambassador or an embassy and based in neighboring Kenya.
(AFP, 9/8/15)
2015 Sep 11, Kenya announced a new security operation aimed at ousting Islamic extremists from a forest along the border with Somalia.
(AP, 9/11/15)
2015 Sep 14, Kenya media reported that attackers tried to hack off body parts from Enock Jamenya (56), a man with albinism, to sell for witchcraft.
(AFP, 9/14/15)
2015 Sep 15, In Kenya Google launched its Street View service in Samburu park, in a move conservationists said could help protect endangered elephants.
(AFP, 9/15/15)
2015 Sep 17, Kenyan security forces searching one of its ships at Mombasa port discovered undeclared weapons among the consignment of UN vehicles. The consignment of vehicles was from Mumbai, India, and was destined for the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo. On Sep 27 the Norwegian-flagged ship was reported released.
(AP, 9/23/15)(AP, 9/27/15)
2015 Sep 18, Kenya's education ministry ordered all schools to shut because of a three-week teachers' strike over pay.
(AFP, 9/18/15)
2015 Oct 25, Kenya's military says it has destroyed a base in Somalia operated by the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab and killed 15 of its fighters in a dawn attack.
(AP, 10/2515)
2015 Nov 12, Kenya's Journalists for Justice said Kenyan forces fighting militants in Somalia are taking cuts from charcoal and sugar smuggling, earning themselves about $50 million a year and boosting an illegal trade that helps fund the Islamists.
(Reuters, 11/12/15)
2015 Nov 23, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta declared corruption a national security threat and he presented a raft of measures to fight the endemic graft.
(AP, 11/23/15)
2015 Nov 24, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta fired five government ministers embroiled in corruption scandals in a cabinet reshuffle late today amid growing criticism of runaway graft.
(AFP, 11/25/15)
2015 Nov 25, Pope Francis arrived in Kenya and was received at Nairobi's airport by President Uhuru Kenyatta on the first leg of a six-day pilgrimage that will also take him to Uganda and the Central African Republic. Francis urged all Kenyans to work for peace and forgiveness in order to heal ethnic, religious and economic divisions.
(AP, 11/25/15)
2015 Nov 26, In Kenya Pope Francis held his first open-air mass in Africa with huge crowds hailing heavy rains as "God's blessing" as they sang and danced in Nairobi.
(AFP, 11/26/15)
2015 Dec 1, Police in Kenya tear-gassed demonstrators as some 200 people marched against to the Supreme Court and parliament to protest government corruption. 26 people were arrested.
(SFC, 12/2/15, p.A2)
2015 Dec 1, Kenya's sports ministry said it will require all government payments to athletes be made via an electronic system in a bid to stop theft by sports officials.
(AFP, 12/1/15)
2015 Dec 9, Kenya and Britain signed a deal to allow British troops to continue military training in the East African nation for five more years, ending half a decade of protracted negotiations which tested their relations.
(Reuters, 12/9/15)
2015 Dec 16, In Kenya al-Shabab militants attacked a convoy on the Mpeketoni-Lamu road burning vehicles and driving another police vehicle to Somalia. 2 people were shot dead, including a police officer, in the coastal Lamu County.
(AP, 12/17/15)
2015 Dec 21, In Kenya witnesses said 2 people died in the attacks in northern Mandera County when gunmen believed to be Somalia's al-Shabab rebels shot at a bus and truck headed for Mandera town.
(AP, 12/21/15)
2015 Dec 24, Kenya's police chief said about 200 Islamic extremist fighters have split from Somalia's al-Shabab rebels, who are allied to al-Qaida, and have instead pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
(AP, 12/24/15)
2015 Dec 26, A Kenyan police official said an Islamic extremist died in the north when a roadside bomb he was planting exploded in Mandera.
(AP, 12/26/15)
2015 Dec 27, In northeastern Kenya gunmen killed 2 policemen and wounded two others in Mandera County.
(AFP, 12/27/15)
2016 Jan 9, UN officials said at least 10 people have died and over 1,000 fallen sick with cholera in an outbreak among Somali refugees in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya.
(AFP, 1/9/16)
2016 Jan 15, In southwestern Somalia at least 63 Kenyan soldiers were killed when al-Shabab Islamic fighters attacked an African Union base in the town of El-Ade. On Jan 26 Kenya said its troops had vacated the camp, and were now stationed nearby.
(AP, 1/15/16)(Reuters, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Kenya said it will torch its vast stockpile of ivory at a star-studded summit to include Hollywood celebrities, presidents and business leaders against "poaching and illegal trade in ivory." The promised destruction of the remaining stockpile is now slated for April 29 and 30.
(AFP, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Five Kenyan policemen were killed in the coastal county of Lamu after their truck hit an improvised explosive device planted on the road by Islamist militants al Shabaab.
(Reuters, 1/27/16)
2016 Feb 8, In southern Somalia Mahad Karate, also known as Abdirahim Mohamed Warsame, was reportedly killed along with 10 middle-level al-Shabab members by a Kenyan airstrike on Nadris camp. Kenya’s army announced the attack on Feb 18, but the Shehab dismissed the report.
(AFP, 2/18/16)
2016 Mar 1, Four Kenyan policemen were charged with illegal possession of ivory at a Nairobi court.
(AFP, 3/1/16)
2016 Mar 19, In Somalia Kenyan military troops killed 21 fighters from the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab in clashes in the southern city of Afmadow. 2 Kenyan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the incident.
(AP, 3/20/16)(SSFC, 3/20/16, p.A2)
2016 Mar 20, In southern Somalia Kenyan soldiers reportedly killed another 13 militants near Ras Kamboni.
(AP, 3/20/16)
2016 Mar 24, Kenyan officials said the country's examination board has been dissolved and its members will be arrested following reports of widespread cheating in the university entrance exams for high school students.
(AP, 3/24/16)
2016 Apr 5, The Int’l. Criminal Court (ICC) terminated the case against Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto saying there was insufficient evidence he was involved in violence following presidential elections in 2007.
(SFC, 4/6/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 10, In Kenya scores of Shebab fighters stormed a police post near the Somali border early today, injuring three officers and torching nearby shops as they fled.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 9, Kenya deported a group of 8 Taiwanese to China after they were acquitted in a cybercrime case. On April 12 a 2nd group of 37 was deported in a move that drew an angry reaction from Taipei.
(Reuters, 4/12/16)
2016 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired tear gas into a crowd of opposition leaders and their supporters as they marched on the office of the country's electoral commission to demand it disband before next year's election.
(Reuters, 4/25/16)
2016 Apr 29, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
(AFP, 4/29/16)
2016 Apr 29, In Kenya a six-story building in Nairobi collapsed late today following heavy rain. A woman was rescued on May 5 after being trapped for six days in the rubble. Over the next days the death toll rose to 49 people with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 4/30/16)(AP, 5/5/16)(Reuters, 5/8/16)
2016 Apr 30, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the world's biggest ivory bonfire, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end "murderous" trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild. Some 100 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn were destroyed.
(AFP, 4/30/16)(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.A4)
2016 May 5, Kenyan businessman and government critic Jacob Juma was shot dead in his car late today in Nairobi.
(Reuters, 5/6/16)
2016 May 11, Kenya’s interior security minister said the government will close Dadaab refugee camp. It held an estimated 328,000-344,000 refugees mostly from Somalia and is often referred to as the world's largest camp.
(AP, 5/11/16)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.40)
2016 May 16, Kenyan police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing crowds protesting in central Nairobi against an election oversight body they say is biased and should be scrapped. Police officers were seen viciously beating an unresponsive fallen protester as they broke up the demonstrations. At least 15 people were arrested and at least one victim died. A day later Kenya's police chief ordered an internal investigation.
(Reuters, 5/16/16)(AFP, 5/17/16)(Econ, 5/21/16, p.41)
2016 May 23, In Kenya at least two people died when police shot, beat and tear gassed demonstrators across the country who called for the electoral commission to be dissolved due to allegations of bias and corruption.
(AP, 5/23/16)
2016 May 24, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 21 suspected al-Shabab extremists who were plotting an ambush in southern Somalia.
(AP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 25, Kenya's opposition said it is suspending weeks of protests to allow for talks with the government after a heavy police crackdown, but warned they would return if no action was taken.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 31, In Kenya South Korea's President Park Geun-hye met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the second day of her three-day visit.
(AP, 5/31/16)
2016 Jun 6, In Kenya one man died and six were injured as police opened fire on an anti-government rally in the western city of Kisumu.
(AFP, 6/6/16)
2016 Jun 9, In Kenya a national commission announced the firing of 302 police officers who refused to be vetted. So far at least 3,000 officers have been vetted with close to 100 fired as part of a reform package.
(SFC, 6/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 14, Eight Kenyan politicians were arrested on suspicion of hate speech in the latest sign of rising political tensions a year ahead of elections and were remanded in custody until June 17.
(AFP, 6/15/16)
2016 Jun 17, In Kenya eight politicians were charged with hate speech and incitement to violence following public comments and calls to supporters made in recent days.
(AFP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, Kenya Forest Service rangers and police began a 2-day eviction of more than 200 families of Ogiek hunter gatherers on the wooded slopes of Mt. Elgon. The indigenous people have suffered repeated expulsions since being moved by the British colonial government in the 1930s.
(http://tinyurl.com/zz37v4q)(Econ, 7/16/16, p.37)
2016 Jun 20, Somalia's al Shabaab militants killed 5 police officers in a border region in northeastern Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 23, In Kenya human rights lawyer Willy Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were abducted while coming from court where Mwenda had been charged with possession of narcotics. Mwenda, a motorcycle taxi driver, had been shot by a plainclothes police officer on April 10, 2015, without provocation. Rights groups later said that in an attempt to cover up the shooting an officer charged Mwenda with drug possession.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jul 1, In northern Kenya suspected al-Shabab gunmen killed at least 6 people when they shot at two buses traveling in Mandera County.
(AP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jul 4, Hundreds of Kenyans including human rights activists, lawyers and taxi operators peacefully protested against what they said are pervasive killings linked to police, as a court ordered three police officers be held for two weeks on charges they murdered three men.
(AP, 7/4/16)
2016 Jul 5, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on counter-terrorism, energy and agriculture, amid tight security on the second leg of his Africa tour.
(AP, 7/5/16)
2016 Jul 6, Kenyan motorcycle taxi drivers burned a police post as thousands demonstrated across the country against extra-judicial killings linked to police that rights activists said is pervasive.
(SFC, 7/7/16, p.A2)
2016 Jul 11, Indian PM Narendra Modi Monday held talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi and agreed to further expand investment ties between the two countries and diversify trade.
(AP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 12, Human Rights Watch urged an end to "forced anal examinations" with a report documenting them in eight countries, mostly in Africa, saying the practice is based on flawed ideas about supposedly proving homosexual conduct. The report drew on interviews with 32 men and transgender women subjected to the exams in eight countries that ban same-sex conduct: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Zambia.
(AP, 7/12/16)
2016 Jul 14, In Kenya a suspected recruiter for the Somali militant group al Shabaab shot dead at least 4 policemen at the Kapenguria police station where he was being held after he snatched a weapon from a guard.
(Reuters, 7/14/16)
2016 Jul 22, In Kenya a court in Mombasa convicted Feisal Mohamed Ali of possessing ivory. He had been accused of leading an ivory smuggling ring. Ali was arrested in Tanzania in December 2014 over illegal elephant tusks weighing more than 2 tons.
(AP, 7/22/16)
2016 Jul 28, In Kenya four schools were set on fire. Over the last three months 117 schools have been partially burnt by arsonists. The government said the burning schools are retribution from a "cartel" formerly linked to the country's exam-setting body, which used to profit handsomely from selling papers and answers.
(AFP, 7/29/16)
2016 Jul, In Kenya one hundred kilos of cocaine, said to be worth around $6 million, were seized from a shipping container owned by sugar trader Jack Marrian in the port of Mombasa. Marrian's colleague Roy Mwanthi was also charged. On March 14, 2019, Kenya’s High Court acquitted the British aristocrat. The case against Mwanthi was also dropped.
(AP, 3/14/19)
2016 Aug 4, Kenyan police charged a British national with trafficking nearly 100 kg (220 pounds) of cocaine that was impounded last week at the country's main seaport. Jack Alexander Wolf Marrian denied the charge in court. A Kenyan, Roy Francis Mwanthi, was charged separately with trafficking the cocaine. It was not clear what happened to a third suspect, also Kenyan.
(AP, 8/4/16)
2016 Aug 26, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrived in Kenya to launch the Tokyo Int’l. Summit on African Development which 35 heads of state are expected to attend.
(AP, 8/26/16)
2016 Aug 26, In Kenya Francis Paul, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), was arrested as investigators probed allegations of mismanagement and corruption at the Rio Games. His deputy James Chicha and Stephen Ara Sou, who headed the Kenyan delegation to Rio, were both arrested at Nairobi airport on their return from the Brazil Games.
(AFP, 8/27/16)
2016 Aug 27, In Kenya Japanese PM Shinzo Abe told African leaders that his country will commit $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in the continent.
(Reuters, 8/27/16)
2016 Aug 30, Kenyan scientist Andrew Mude (39) won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for developing livestock insurance, using state-of-the-art technologies, for herders in East Africa's drylands.
(Reuters, 8/30/16)
2016 Sep 13, Somalia hosted regional African heads of state for a summit that was the first of its kind since the nation plunged into conflict in 1991. The one-day meeting in Mogadishu of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) included Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia.
(Reuters, 9/13/16)
2016 Sep 16, In Kenya angry protesters marched in Nairobi against plans to build an elevated railway line over the country's oldest national park, saying the project will threaten wildlife that includes lions, leopards and giraffes.
(AP, 9/16/16)
2016 Nov 9, The first batch of Kenyan troops who had served in a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan arrived home, after Nairobi ordered them to withdraw in response to the sacking of the Kenyan commander of the UNMISS force.
(Reuters, 11/9/16)
2016 Nov 15, Kenya destroyed some 5,250 illegal firearms by fire as part of efforts to fight crimes like cattle rustling, carjackings and to eliminate threats from terrorism.
(Reuters, 11/15/16)
2016 Nov 15, Amnesty International said Kenya is coercing residents of the world's largest refugee camp to leave it and return to Somalia where they risk getting killed or forcibly recruited into the Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab.
(AP, 11/15/16)
2016 Nov 16, Kenya agreed to suspend the closure of Dabaab refugee camp, the world's largest, for six months after coming under fire over the fate of its 280,000 inhabitants, most of them Somalis.
(AFP, 11/16/16)
2016 Nov 19, Kenyan police officers killed four suspected extremists in the volatile Mandera County, a border region hard-hit by recent attacks by the Somali extremist group al-Shabab.
(AP, 11/20/16)
2016 Dec 1, A Kenyan court charged two Iranian men with collecting information to facilitate a terrorist act after they were allegedly found with video footage of the Israeli embassy.
(AP, 12/1/16)
2016 Dec 5, Doctors working in Kenyan state hospitals went on strike to demand fulfillment of a 2013 agreement between their union and the government that would raise their pay and improve working conditions.
(Reuters, 12/5/16)
2016 Dec 7, Kenya’s Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta urged medical workers to return to work saying nearly 20 people have died three days into a strike because of lack of care.
(SFC, 12/8/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec 9, Kenya deployed army doctors to the country's main teaching and referral hospital where the last remaining doctors joined a five-day strike that has crippled healthcare services around the country.
(AFP, 12/9/16)
2016 Dec 10, In Kenya at least 39 people died when a tanker carrying flammable materials crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha late today.
(AFP, 12/11/16)(SFC, 12/12/16, p.A2)
2016 Dec, Haki Africa, a Kenya-based human rights group, published the names of 81 people, almost all young Muslim men, who it said were killed or disappeared by police since 2012.
(Econ, 2/18/17, p.39)
2016 In Kenya central bank Gov. Patrick Njoroge placed three banks into receivership in less than a year. H alleged that the managing director of one bank had siphoned off $335 million via 20 shell companies over 13 years.
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.58)
2016 Kenya exported some 360 tons of flowers every day out of Nairobi airport, mostly to Europe, but also to Asia and the Middle East.
(Econ, 4/16/16, SR p.8)
2016 Kenya declared qat, a mild stimulant, an officially sanctioned cash crop.
(Econ, 1/21/17, p.38)
2017 Jan 19, University lecturers in Kenya began a strike over pay, joining doctors who walked out in early December, crippling the country's healthcare.
(AFP, 1/19/17)
2017 Jan 27, In Somalia the al-Shabab extremist group attacked a Kenyan military base early today. Kenya's military said nine soldiers were killed and that more than 70 al-Shabab extremists were killed. Al-Shabab said 51 Kenyan soldiers were killed.
(AP, 1/27/17)(SFC, 1/28/17, p.A4)
2017 Jan 31, Kenya extradited Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha to the US. They had been arrested by Kenyan police over two years ago after allegedly handing over 99kg of heroin and 1kg of methamphetamine to people working for America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
(Econ, 2/11/17, p.45)
2017 Jan, In Kenya Aggrey Idri Ezibon, a member of a South Sudanese opposition group, and Dong Samuel Luak, a human rights lawyer disappeared in Nairobi. In 2019 a report by the UN Security Council panel of experts said multiple credible sources suggested that the two men were likely killed by South Sudanese National Security Service (NSS) officers on Jan. 30, 2017, on a farm owned by President Salva Kiir.
(Reuters, 5/1/19)
2017 Feb 2, Residents in northern Kenya said armed cattle herders have been flooding onto farms and wildlife conservancies in their drought-ravaged area, leading to violence in which at least 11 people have been killed and a tourist lodge torched.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 2, The United Nations' highest court ruled that it has the authority to adjudicate in a maritime boundary dispute between Kenya and Somalia over stretches of the Indian Ocean potentially rich in oil and gas.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 9, Kenya's High Court blocked the government's decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp -- the world's largest -- and force Somali refugees to return home.
(AFP, 2/9/17)
2017 Feb 13, A Kenyan court jailed seven union officials for a month over a doctors strike that has crippled public hospitals for 10 weeks. The seven doctors were released on Feb 15 in an effort to encourage negotiations to end the strike.
(AFP, 2/13/17)(AP, 2/15/17)
2017 Feb 14, Human Rights Watch said the huge newly-built Ethiopian Gibe III dam is cutting off the supply of water to Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.
(AFP, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 18, Kenyan officials said police have arrested two Kenyans who were deported from Turkey on suspicion of training with the Islamic State organization in neighboring Syria.
(AP, 2/18/17)
2017 Mar 2, In Somalia at least 57 al-Shabab members were killed after African Union troops from Kenya and Somali forces attacked one of its camps outside Afmadhow.
(AP, 3/2/17)
2017 Mar 6, In Kenya the body of rancher Tristan Voorspuy was found 190 km (118 miles) north of Nairobi. He was shot dead while inspecting some of his lodges, which had been burned by attackers. 379 pastoralist herders were soon arrested for invading ranches that led to the killing of the British farmer. Samson Lokayi (25), suspected of involvement in the death of Voorspuy, was arrested on March 12.
(AP, 3/6/17)(AFP, 3/14/17)
2017 Mar 6, In Kenya one of Africa's oldest and largest elephants was killed by poachers in Tsavo National Park. Two poachers believed to be responsible for the killing were soon apprehended.
(AFP, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 7, The Kenyan government ordered striking medical staff to go back to work and said it had withdrawn an offer of a 50 percent pay hike after the workers' union became inflexible in their negotiations.
(Reuters, 3/7/17)
2017 Mar 7, National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) executives, led by two-time Olympic champion Kip Keino, defied the IOC at a meeting and refused to make changes to their constitution.
(AP, 3/9/17)
2017 Mar 8, Kenya's state sector doctors, who have been on strike for three months, said they would not resume work after a government order the day before, and would wait for the conclusion of court-supervised resolution of the dispute. Authorities said they would hire foreign doctors to get public hospitals running again after talks failed to end a strike that has crippled healthcare for 94 days.
(Reuters, 3/8/17)(AFP, 3/8/17)
2017 Mar 10, The International Olympic Committee said it has frozen all cash funding for sport in Kenya as it battles the national Olympic body over its governance.
(AP, 3/10/17)
2017 Mar 14, In Kenya thousands of public hospital doctors agreed to end a 100-day strike after the government and union members signed a deal in Nairobi to address pay and other issues in dispute.
(SFC, 3/15/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 15, Kenya announced that it will ban all plastic bags, becoming the 2nd African country to do so after Rwanda. Earlier efforts by Kenya in 2007 and 2011 failed.
(Econ, 3/25/17, p.41)
2017 Mar 17, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the military to deploy to the volatile counties of Baringo and Laikipia in the Rift Valley to calm deadly violence fueled by drought that affects roughly half the country.
(AP, 3/17/17)
2017 Mar 22, It was reported that villagers in northern Kenya have begun to burn piles of animal carcasses, hoping to head off an outbreak of disease as their livestock starve to death in the region's worst drought in five years.
(Reuters, 3/22/17)
2017 Mar 23, Kenya, a pioneer in mobile money, began selling the first ever government bonds via mobile phone, allowing anyone from teachers to shop owners to invest and fund infrastructure projects.
(AFP, 3/23/17)
2017 Mar 26, Kenyan troops in Somalia killed 31 Islamist al Shabaab militants in a raid on two of their bases in the southern Somali region of Jubbaland.
(Reuters, 3/27/17)
2017 Apr 21, Kenyan troops killed 52 al Shabaab fighters in an attack on the militants' camp in southern Somalia.
(Reuters, 4/21/17)
2017 Apr 23, In northern Kenya gunmen wounded Italian-born conservationist Kuki Gallmann (73) at her conservation park, in the latest of a string of attacks during land invasions in the drought-stricken area. Gallmann is known for her bestselling book “I Dream of Africa." Two suspects were killed by security agencies following the shooting of Gallmann. Other suspects were taken into custody.
(Reuters, 4/23/17)(AP, 4/24/17)(SFC, 4/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 24, The World Health Organization announced that Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will begin piloting the world’s first injectable malaria vaccine next year with hundreds of thousands of young children, who have been at highest risk of death.
(AP, 4/24/17)
2017 Apr 25, Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse hundreds of people who took to the streets to protest the outcome of a regional party primary in the west of the country.
(Reuters, 4/25/17)
2017 Apr 25, In Kenya 27 people were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a trailer truck on a road linking Nairobi and Mombasa.
(SFC, 4/26/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 26, In Kenya one person was reported killed and another injured in hotly contested primary elections in the capital Nairobi, as the country heads toward general elections in August.
(AP, 4/26/17)
2017 May 9, The US Embassy in Kenya said it has suspended approximately $21 million in assistance to Kenya's ministry of health because of concerns about corruption. Kenya is ranked 145 out of 176 countries in Transparency International's index of the world's most corrupt countries.
(AP, 5/9/17)
2017 May 15, In northeast Kenya gunmen from Somalia's al Shabaab militant group burst into a government official's house and shot Dekow Abbey Sirat dead late today. A number of his bodyguards also died in the attack.
(Reuters, 5/16/17)
2017 May 20, Kenyan police shot dead one person in northern Isiolo county after a political rally attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta at which supporters of rival political candidates for regional government positions clashed.
(Reuters, 5/21/17)
2017 May 24, In Kenya eight police officers were killed by two roadside bombs during ongoing operation in Liboi. Both attacks were claimed by Shabaab Islamists.
(AFP, 5/25/17)
2017 May 25, In Kenya five police officers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in an attack claimed by Shabaab Islamists.
(AFP, 5/25/17)
2017 May 31, In Kenya four police officers and a civilian were killed and two more police were missing after their truck hit a landmine on a road along the northern coast.
(Reuters, 5/31/17)
2017 May, Kenya’s government unveiled a 6 billion shilling ($58.14 million) maize (corn) subsidy program to lower the unit cost of flour to 90 shillings, after it soared by a third to around 136 shillings during a regional drought.
(Reuters, 5/24/17)
2017 May, In Kenya a new Chinese-built railway opened connecting the coast to Nairobi.
(Econ 8/5/17, p.34)
2017 Jun 13, In Kenya at least four people were missing after the collapse of a eight-storey building in Nairobi overnight. Rescuers soon pulled two children and their mother from the building. Two people were thought to be still trapped in the debris.
(AFP, 6/13/17)(SFC, 6/14/17, p.A2)
2017 Jun 16, In northern Kenya an improvised explosive device killed four people in a passenger vehicle in a suspected extremist attack.
(AP, 6/16/17)
2017 Jun 30, Kenya’s government launched M-Akiba, the world’s first sovereign bond to be sold exclusively through mobile platforms.
(http://www.m-akiba.go.ke/)(Econ 7/1/17, p.64)
2017 Jul 5, In Kenya Somali al Shabaab militants killed three police officers during a raid on the northeastern town of Pandanguo that sparked a day-long gunbattle. Several militants were reported killed.
(Reuters, 7/5/17)
2017 Jul 8, In Kenya at least nine people were shot and hacked to death in coastal Lamu County early today. Police sources said Shabaab militants were believed to be behind the killings.
(AFP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 8, Kenya's interior minister and a retired general, died in a Nairobi hospital a month before the East African country's presidential election. Joseph Nkaissery was 68.
(AFP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 19, Kenya’s health minister said a cholera outbreak in Nairobi has killed four people since May and the government has shut down a three-star hotel and a popular restaurant there to control its spread.
(Reuters, 7/19/17)
2017 Jul 29, In Kenya an intruder killed a police guard at the home of Deputy President William Ruto and armed himself with a rifle before he was shot dead more than 18 hours later.
(AP, 7/30/17)
2017 Jul 31, A senior Kenyan official was found murdered in Nairobi three days after he went missing. Chris Msando, the election board's head of information, communication and technology, was tortured before he died.
(Reuters, 7/31/17)(Econ 8/5/17, p.33)
2017 Aug 3, In Kenya Somalia's al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels killed a Kenyan policeman when they attacked a police station in northern Mandera County, raising security concerns over next week's national elections.
(AP, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 3, USAID said the Trump administration has given $169 million to feed people starving in Ethiopia and Kenya.
(Reuters, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 4, In Kenya John Aristotle Phillips, the CEO of US-based campaign data company Aristotle, Inc, was detained and faced deportation along with Canadian staffer Andreas Katsouris. The two men were assisting opposition candidate Raila Odinga with issues including strategy and data analysis and had chosen to get involved in the Kenyan election because they thought it had the potential for irregularities.
(AP, 8/5/17)
2017 Aug 4, Popular Kenyan televangelist Gilbert Deya was extradited from Britain to face charges of child trafficking amid accusations that he stole children, including newborn babies, to prove miracles.
(AP, 8/4/17)
2017 Aug 8, Kenya held elections. The presidential vote pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta (55), the businessman son of Kenya's founding president, against Raila Odinga (72), a former political prisoner and son of Kenya's first vice-president.
(Reuters, 8/8/17)
2017 Aug 9, In Kenya protests broke out after opposition leader Raila Odinga alleged that election results had been hacked into and manipulated. Two people were reported shot dead in Nairobi during protests over provisional election results showing President Uhuru Kenyatta leading opposition leader Raila Odinga.
(AP, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 10, A Kenyan official said violence has broken out in the county of Garissa, where opposition supporters are demonstrating against the announcement of a ruling party candidate as the winner of a gubernatorial race. An opposition official claimed that election commission data shows opposition leader Raila Odinga won the August 8 election and that he should be declared president. Provisional results released by the election commission on its website showed Kenyatta leading by a big margin with almost all polling stations counted.
(AP, 8/10/17)
2017 Aug 11, Kenya's opposition coalition called on the election commission to give it access to its computer servers and said it would accept the results on Tuesday's vote based on the figures recorded there. Provisional results show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a lead of 1.4 million votes. Unrest erupted moments after the election commission announced late today that Kenyatta (55) had secured a second five-year term in office, despite opposition allegations that the tally was a fraud.
(Reuters, 8/11/17)(Reuters, 8/12/17)
2017 Aug 12, Kenyan police killed at least 11 people in a crackdown on protests as anger at the re-election of Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta erupted in the western city of Kisumu and slums surrounding the capital. The opposition accused the security forces of killing more than 100 people. Stephanie Moraa (8) died in the Nairobi slum of Mathare after being hit by a stray bullet as police fired to disperse protesters, the day after election results were announced. Six-month-old Samantha Pendo was reportedly teargassed and clubbed in her mother’s arms by police who invaded a home in Kisumu looking for protesters.
(Reuters, 8/12/17)(Reuters, 11/13/17)
2017 Aug 13, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a strike to support his claim to the presidency and accused the ruling party of "spilling the blood of innocent people", despite growing pressure on him to concede election defeat. 24 people have been killed since the election.
(Reuters, 8/13/17)(AP, 8/13/17)
2017 Aug 14, Kenyans largely ignored an opposition call to go on strike, re-opening shops and returning to work as they shrugged off demands for demonstrations against President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election and against the killing of protesters.
(Reuters, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 14, Shekue Kahale, a Kenya politician who campaigned for election to parliament in last week's election, survived as eleven other people drowned when the boat they were traveling in capsized in waters in the Indian Ocean off Kenya.
(Reuters, 8/14/17)
2017 Aug 16, A Kenyan government watchdog said it will investigate whether police killed a baby and a young girl during an Aug 12 crackdown on post-election demonstrations.
(Reuters, 8/16/17)
2017 Aug 18, In Kenya suspected members of Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group beheaded at least three men overnight in an attack at Maleli village in Lamu county.
(Reuters, 8/18/17)
2017 Aug 20, In Kenya the bodies of a Caucasian couple thought to be between 60 and 70 years old were found dumped by a rural road in the coastal city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 8/20/17)
2017 Aug 24, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta rebuked newly elected members of parliament for resisting modest cuts to their salaries and perks, worth more than $10,000 a month, and said citizens were angry with extravagance in the government.
(Reuters, 8/24/17)
2017 Sep 1, Kenya's Supreme Court nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's election win citing irregularities and ordered a new poll within 60 days, a rare move in Africa where judicial power is often seen as an extension of government.
(Reuters, 9/1/17)
2017 Sep 2, In Kenya seven teenage schoolgirls died and 10 more were hospitalized after a fire engulfed the Moi Girls School boarding dormitory in Nairobi early today. On Sep 13 a girl (14) was charged with multiple counts of murder for allegedly starting the fire at the Nairobi school dormitory that left nine other schoolgirls dead.
(Reuters, 9/2/17)(AFP, 9/13/17)
2017 Sep 3, In Kenya Raila Odinga, the main rival of President Uhuru Kenyatta, called for the ousting of members of the country's election commission, likening them to "hyenas", while judges slammed "veiled threats" by the president after the shock annulment of his re-election victory.
(AFP, 9/3/17)
2017 Sep 3, Two Kenyan police officers were killed by gunmen on a motorbike as they were guarding a church near the Indian Ocean, in an attack police believe could be the work of Shabaab militants.
(AFP, 9/3/17)
2017 Sep 6, In northern Kenya suspected militants from the Somali group al Shabaab beheaded four men in two different attacks in Lamu County.
(Reuters, 9/6/17)
2017 Sep 11, Kenyan police detained lawmaker Moses Kuria from the ruling party and former opposition senator Johnson Muthama over allegations of hate speech.
(Reuters, 9/11/17)
2017 Sep 13, Kenyan police in the western city of Kisumu fired tear gas and bullets in the air to disperse young men who broke into a hotel and beat women attending an election meeting.
(Reuters, 9/13/17)
2017 Sep 19, Kenyan police fired teargas at supporters of Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta who protested outside the Supreme Court against the invalidation of his Aug. 8 re-election.
(Reuters, 9/19/17)
2017 Sep 26, Kenyan police used tear gas to disperse opposition protesters outside the headquarters of the election commission a month before a scheduled re-run of the annulled presidential poll.
(AFP, 9/26/17)
2017 Sep 28, Kenya's opposition called for demonstrations against the government after the ruling party moved to change the electoral law ahead of next month's re-run presidential poll.
(AFP, 9/28/17)
2017 Oct 2, In Kenya police fired teargas at opposition supporters who rallied in Nairobi calling for the sacking of election board officials they blame for August's botched presidential vote.
(Reuters, 10/2/17)
2017 Oct 3, In Kenya administrators closed the Univ. of Nairobi, citing fears for students' safety in a planned protest over police beatings at a campus demonstration last week.
(Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017 Oct 6, Kenyan police fired tear gas at opposition protesters in Nairobi who were demanding that officials involved in August's canceled presidential election be sacked. Crowds had gathered in Nairobi, the port of Mombasa and Kisumu, the western stronghold of the opposition, for the second time this week.
(Reuters, 10/6/17)
2017 Oct 9, Kenyan police fired teargas and shots in the air as hundreds of demonstrators marched through the capital Nairobi to protest against proposed legal changes that would make it harder for the Supreme Court to annul an election.
(Reuters, 10/9/17)
2017 Oct 9, Kenya's military said it had gunned down five suspected al-Shabab militants in the Bodhei area of Lamu County.
(AP, 10/10/17)
2017 Oct 10, In Kenya gunmen killed two female employees of a university in Ukunda, near Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast in a suspected extremist attack. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga shocked the country by withdrawing his candidacy for the Oct 26 presidential election ordered by the Supreme Court, saying the election commission has not made changes to avoid the "irregularities and illegalities" cited in the nullified August vote.
(AP, 10/10/17)
2017 Oct 11, In Kenya police used tear gas to disperse thousands of opposition protesters who regrouped outside the election commission's offices in Nairobi and demanded reforms. A judge ruled that a minor opposition candidate can run for president in this month's election. Lawmakers approved amendments to the electoral law that have been criticized by the opposition and Western diplomats.
(AP, 10/11/17)
2017 Oct 12, Kenya's opposition vowed to pursue a campaign of protest for electoral reform, defying a ban on rallies in main city centers announced today by the government.
(AFP, 10/12/17)
2017 Oct 13, Police in Kenya shot and killed two opposition protesters who allegedly stormed a police station with farm tools and rocks in the western part of the country, while police used tear gas on rallies in the capital and elsewhere demanding reforms ahead of the new election. Opposition leader Raila Odinga said he's willing to return to the race if the government is "ready to do business and deal" on reforms.
(AP, 10/13/17)
2017 Oct 14, In Kenya gunmen shot dead seven people, including six students, in a raid on Lokichogio Mixed Secondary School that appeared to be a revenge attack by a student who had been suspended for fighting. The suspended student was arrested, but angry members of the public overwhelmed police and killed him. The attackers were thought to be from neighboring South Sudan.
(AP, 10/14/17)
2017 Oct 16, Kenya police shot dead a street vendor as opposition supporters held demonstrations calling for electoral reform. Human Rights Watch said as many as 67 people have died across the East African nation after President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election was announced.
(AP, 10/16/17)
2017 Oct 17, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said he was suspending a protest campaign after three people were shot dead in demonstrations against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
(AP, 10/17/17)
2017 Oct 18, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a mass protest on Oct. 26, the date the country is due to hold a presidential vote that he is boycotting. Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election commissioners, resigned and fled the country saying that the upcoming elections had no chance of being credible and fair.
(Reuters, 10/18/17)(SFC, 10/19/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 20, Kenya’s electoral board chief executive Ezra Chiloba said that he would take three weeks' leave. The opposition has demanded Chiloba resign, and the announcement that he will not participate in running the vote suggests progress in behind-the-scenes negotiations involving Western diplomats and religious and civil society leaders.
(Reuters, 10/20/17)
2017 Oct 23, Kenya’s chief prosecutor's office said authorities will arrest and charge Ruth Odinga, the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga, with incitement to violence after attacks on the election board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 25, Kenya plunged deeper into crisis after a no-show by a majority of Supreme Court judges scuppered an eleventh-hour petition to delay a presidential election and the governor of a volatile opposition region endorsed rebellion against the state.
(Reuters, 10/25/17)
2017 Oct 26, In Kenya at least three people were shot dead in clashes over an election re-run, prompting officials to delay the vote in four counties to Oct. 28 as the country's worst political crisis in a decade deepened.
(AFP, 10/26/17)(Reuters, 10/26/17)
2017 Oct 27, In western Kenya one person was shot dead as opposition supporters protested plans to stage a poll on Oct. 28 in four western counties where voting had been blocked by election-day unrest. A local media tally said President Uhuru Kenyatta has won over 96 percent of the votes counted so far from the re-run election.
(AFP, 10/27/17)(4, 10/27/17)
2017 Oct 28, Kenyans who boycotted a repeat presidential election voiced relief on after authorities indefinitely delayed further attempts to hold the vote in some opposition areas due to the risk of violence. President Uhuru Kenyatta has won more than 97 percent of votes counted so far.
(Reuters, 10/28/17)
2017 Oct 29, Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga called for calm. He said that the country's repeat presidential election was a sham and that a new vote should be held within 90 days. The body of George Odumbe (64), a Luo laborer, was found in a sugarcane field in rural western Kenya with three arrows in the back and severe head wounds.
(Reuters, 10/29/17)(AP, 10/29/17)
2017 Oct 30, The head of Kenya’s election commission said President Uhuru Kenyatta won last week's repeat presidential election with slightly more than 98 percent of the vote. The turnout, boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga, was just under 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters.
(Reuters, 10/30/17)
2017 Oct 31, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga harshly criticized an election rerun in which President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner, saying it should be scrapped in favor of yet another vote and that the opposition would continue to protest in the streets.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Oct 31, A Kenyan court released a man whom police had called the prime suspect in the murder of his estranged Australian wife. Gabrielle Maina was shot dead by armed men riding a motorbike as she walked near her home in Nairobi, earlier this month.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Oct, Tanzania seized and auctioned off 1,300 cattle which had wandered across the border from Kenya to graze in a region where herders typically pay little heed to frontiers.
(AFP, 11/8/17)
2017 Nov 7, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga said he wants an interim government to run the country for six months while the constitution is reviewed to curb the president's authority.
(Reuters, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 8, Kenya's parliament began an unscheduled three-week recess, following a deadlock over the allocation of leadership posts, indicating a protracted political crisis could reverberate beyond the October election.
(Reuters, 11/8/17)
2017 Nov 17, In Kenya at least five people were killed as police tried to disperse supporters cheering a convoy carrying opposition leader Raila Odinga from the airport to central Nairobi. The interior ministry spokesman accused the opposition supporters of blocking roads, burning vehicles and looting businesses along the route.
(Reuters, 11/17/17)(SFC, 11/18/17, p.A4)
2017 Nov 19, In Kenya clashes erupted in a Nairobi slum after four bodies were found in the streets, hiking tensions on the eve of a Supreme Court ruling on the validity of last month's divisive election re-run. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called for "international intervention" in the country's election crisis, saying at least 31 supporters have been killed by police and militia since his return from an overseas trip on Nov 17.
(AFP, 11/19/17)
2017 Nov 20, Kenya's Supreme Court upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month's repeat presidential vote, paving the way for him to be sworn in next week.
(Reuters, 11/20/17)
2017 Nov 28, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term, shortly before riot police teargassed the convoy of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who promised supporters he would be sworn in himself on Dec. 12. A boy (7) was killed by a stray bullet as Kenyan police chase opposition supporters during the swearing-in ceremony. At least two people other were shot dead in clashes with the police.
(Reuters, 11/28/17)(AP, 11/28/17)(AFP, 11/28/17)
2017 Dec 9, Lecturers in Kenya's public universities ended a strike after reaching agreement with the government over pay and other issues, according to a statement from their union.
(Reuters, 12/9/17)
2017 Dec 31, In central Kenya 36 people were killed and 11 injured early today in a head-on collision between a bus and a lorry on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.
(AFP, 12/31/17)
2017 In 2017, In Kenya publisher Angela Wachuka (35) and author Wanjiru Koinange (31) launched the "Book Bunk" scheme to modernize the McMillan Memorial Library, situated in Nairobi's buzzing business quarter, as well as the libraries at Makadara and Kaloleni in residential areas of the city.
(AFP, 8/2/18)
2018 Jan 15, Kenyan police arrested Roman Catholic priest in Muranga County for allegedly engaging sexual relations with a man (18).
(AP, 1/16/18)
2018 Jan 17, The European Union shelved a 3.6 billion shilling ($35 million) water conservation assistance scheme to Kenya one day after forest guards killed a member of a community indigenous to one of the forests involved in the project. The bloc had told the government it would reconsider financial support if the use of force against innocent locals persisted.
(Reuters, 1/17/18)
2018 Jan 30, The Kenyan government declared the opposition's 'National Resistance Movement' a criminal group. Independently owned Citizen TV and Radio, KTN News and NTV were switched off as supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga watched him take a symbolic presidential oath in a Nairobi park in a direct challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
(Reuters, 1/30/18)(Reuters, 1/31/18)
2018 Feb 1, A Kenyan court suspended a government shutdown of three TV channels that was prompted by their coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's symbolic presidential inauguration this week, one of the channels reported.
(Reuters, 2/1/18)
2018 Feb 2, Kenya's three leading TV stations were off the air for a fourth day as police prevented the delivery of a court order to restore their transmissions after they tried to broadcast opposition leader Raila Odinga swearing himself in as "the people's president".
(AP, 2/2/18)
2018 Feb 4, In Kenya Esmond Bradley Martin, a leading American investigator into the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade, was found stabbed to death in his Nairobi home. He had researched the illegal ivory trade in Myanmar shortly before he was killed. In October the "Save The Elephants" conservation group released a report saying the illegal flow of ivory from Myanmar to neighboring China is continuing "largely unabated."
(AP, 2/5/18)(AP, 10/2/18)
2018 Feb 5, Two Kenyan television channels shut down by the government over their coverage of the political opposition resumed partial broadcasting, although a third channel remained off the air. Police teargassed demonstrators demanding the stations reopen as they tried to march on government offices.
(Reuters, 2/5/18)
2018 Feb 6, A Kenyan opposition politician was charged with treason over the symbolic presidential "swearing in" of opposition leader Raila Odinga, reigniting street protests in which one person was killed.
(Reuters, 2/6/18)
2018 Feb 7, Kenyan authorities overnight deported lawyer Miguna Miguna, charged with treason for attending the symbolic presidential inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga, prompting a rare rebuke from the Chief Justice who accused the government of defying court orders.
(Reuters, 2/7/18)
2018 Feb 7, A Kenyan court convicted a policeman of murdering a suspected thief in 2013 in a rare victory for the independent police watchdog that brought the case. The judge ruled that policeman Titus Musila should have arrested Kenneth Mwangi, whom he believed had stolen a mobile phone, instead of shooting him three times in the head.
(Reuters, 2/8/18)
2018 Feb 8, In Kenya Citizen TV, the last of three television stations shut down by the government last week, resumed transmission.
(Reuters, 2/8/18)
2018 Feb 16, In Kenya two non-Muslim teachers were killed in an al-Shabab attack in Wajir County. This prompted the Teacher's Service Commission to transfer 329 teachers elsewhere and many other to leave on their own. At least 224 primary schools and 42 secondary schools were no longer able to function.
(SFC, 5/4/18, p.A3)
2018 Mar 1, Kenyan conservationists expressed outrage after construction of a railway line began inside Nairobi's famed national park, saying this defied a court order halting the project.
(AFP, 3/1/18)
2018 Mar 9, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga promised to unite the country after elections last year in which around 100 people were killed mainly in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces.
(Reuters, 3/9/18)
2018 Mar 12, The Kenyan Red Cross Society said more than 2,000 Ethiopians have crossed into Kenya seeking refuge, after several civilians were killed in what the Ethiopian military said was a botched security operation targeting militants.
(Reuters, 3/13/18)
2018 Mar 19, In Kenya the world's last male northern white rhino died, leaving only two females of its subspecies alive in the world, although scientists still hope to save it from extinction by in vitro fertilization.
(AP, 3/20/18)
2018 Mar 22, A Kenyan appeals court ruled unlawful the use of forced anal exams to test whether men had gay sex.
(SFC, 3/23/18, p.A2)
2018 Mar 26, In Kenya opposition figure Miguna Miguna was detained when he returned on a flight from Canada, a month after being deported in a dispute over his dual citizenship. Plainclothes officers tried to hustle him onto an outbound plane, but that failed when he protested. A High Court order the next day called for the his immediate release and a court appearance.
(Reuters, 3/27/18)(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar 27, In Kenya columnists from the country's top media group resigned en masse a day after police punched and kicked journalists covering the attempted deportation of an opposition politician at Nairobi airport.
(Reuters, 3/27/18)
2018 Mar 29, A Kenyan judge fined the country's interior minister, police chief and permanent secretary for immigration $2,000 each for contempt of court over the deportation of an opposition politician, Miguna Miguna.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar 29, Kenyan opposition politician Miguna Miguna alleged he was drugged and deported to Dubai early today after his attempt to enter Kenya led to him being detained in an airport toilet for more than a day.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Apr 5, A Kenyan court sentenced a policeman to 15 years in prison, after he was found guilty of killing a man in 2013 he suspected of stealing a mobile phone. Titus Musila was last month convicted of murder for shooting Kenneth Mwangi three times in the head instead of arresting him.
(Reuters, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 5, Kenya started marking rhinos and aimed to tag and identify 22 of them in two weeks at a cost of $600,000, as part of conserving their dwindling numbers.
(Reuters, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 16, In Kenya three commissioners from the electoral commission said they've resigned over the suspension of the chief executive officer who was sent on compulsory leave to pave way for wider investigations into the conduct of the commission in last year's elections.
(AP, 4/16/18)
2018 Apr 22, The hottest-ever London Marathon featured a Kenyan double as Eliud Kipchoge (33) swept to a third victory in front of Buckingham Palace joining Vivian Cheruiyot who won the women's race.
(AP, 4/22/18)
2018 Apr 27, A Kenyan movie due to become the first in the country's history to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board for seeking to "promote lesbianism." The story by Ugandan writer Monica Arac Nyeko won the 2007 Caine Prize, which is awarded to African writers of a short story published in English.
(AFP, 4/27/18)
2018 Apr 30, Kenya's Red Cross estimated that at least 100 have also died in the downpours since early April, and that the disaster needs emergency funding.
(Reuters, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr 30, Swiss police said four people have died in the Swiss Alps and five others were in a serious conditions after bad weather forced 14 people to spend a night outdoors in the Pigne d’Arolla area.
(Reuters, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr 30, The Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said three quarters of freshwater species endemic to East Africa's Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction, warning the biodiversity there was being "decimated." The lake stretches into Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and its catchment also touches Burundi and Rwanda.
(AFP, 4/30/18)
2018 May 2, In Kenya three rhinos were found dead with their horns missing in Rhino Sanctuary in Meru National Park. The country's Ministry of Tourism called it an act of poaching.
(Reuters, 5/3/18)
2018 May 3, It was reported that a government taskforce in Kenya has called for the management of the Kenya Forest Service to be sacked and some of its staff investigated for alleged corruption which it said had allowed for illegal logging and significant destruction to forests.
(Reuters, 5/3/18)
2018 May 3, In Kenya eight people were swept off a bridge in a flashflood outside the capital. 120 people have died over the last two months following weeks of torrential rain. Rwanda officials said 116 people had died and 207 had been injured in flooding and landslides since January. Torrential rains have also hit Tanzania, where 14 people died in April, as well as Uganda where flash floods have destroyed homes and left at least three dead.
(AFP, 5/4/18)
2018 May 9, In Kenya the Patel Dam, dam burst its banks in the Rift Valley late today, killing at least 45 people and forcing hundreds from their homes. At least 20 of the dead were children. 40 people remained missing.
(AP, 5/10/18)(Reuters, 5/10/18)(AFP, 5/11/18)
2018 May 11, Kenyan police on the trail of one of the country's most wanted criminals shot dead Arnold Mudanya (17) after mistaking him for suspect Shimoli Junior.
(Reuters, 5/15/18)
2018 May 16, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a new law that outlaws the abuse of people on social media but which critics say could be exploited to repress civil liberties.
(Reuters, 5/16/18)
2018 May 20, Kenya's head of the directorate of criminal investigations George Kinoti said investigators have summoned more than 40 people for questioning after a "massive theft of public funds" at the country's National Youth Service (NYS). Domestic media reports said 10 billion shillings ($100 million) had been stolen through fictitious invoices, and multiple payments on one supplier invoice, at the NYS.
(Reuters, 5/20/18)
2018 May 20, In Kenya a train carrying 250,000 liters of petrol derailed at Mombasa and dumped part of its cargo into the Indian Ocean and onto a major highway.
(Reuters, 5/21/18)
2018 May 25, Chris Foot, the head of Kenya's film commission, slammed a decision to impose a domestic ban on "Rafiki," a Kenya-made film about lesbian love that received a standing ovation at this month's Cannes festival.
(AFP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 28, Kenyan authorities charged 54 people, mainly civil servants in an investigation into the theft of nearly $100 million of public funds, a rare move to hold officials to account for graft in a nation where it is widespread.
(Reuters, 5/28/18)
2018 May 29, Kenyan officials denied charges related to alleged wrongdoing in the National Youth Service following investigations into a $79 million corruption scandal.
(SFC, 5/30/18, p.A2)
2018 May 30, In Kenya a new cybercrime law came into force, but without a ban on "false" information, after bloggers and journalists won a court order blocking rules they said could curtail free expression.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 30, In Kenya wildlife troopers shot dead three armed men in Mount Elgon National Park, while two other suspected poachers were injured but escaped.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 31, Kenya's director of criminal investigations confirmed that authorities will investigate 10 financial institutions suspected of handling funds that were stolen from the government's National Youth Service (NYS). Hundreds of people marched in Nairobi to protest against widespread corruption.
(Reuters, 5/31/18)(SFC, 6/1/18, p.A2)
2018 Jun 3, In Kenya at least three people were killed after a five-story building collapsed in Nairobi. Authorities say 30,000 to 40,000 buildings built without approval in the capital are at risk, and dozens have died in similar disasters in recent years.
(Reuters, 6/3/18)
2018 Jun 5, In Kenya a small plane, operated by East African Safari Air Express, took off from the western town of Kitale in the late afternoon and soon disappeared. Wreckage was discovered in central Kenya two days later and all ten people onboard were killed.
(AFP, 6/7/18)
2018 Jun 6, In eastern Kenya five police officers were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device suspected to have been planted by Somalia's al Shabaab group.
(Reuters, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 16, It was reported that Kenya's donkey population has fallen from 1.8 million to 1.2 million as the country's three slaughterhouses butcher some 1,000 donkeys a day to supply skins to China, where donkey skins are processed to produce ejiao, a gelatin that purports to provide health benefits. The Chinese demand for donkey skins has led to donkey theft across Africa.
(SFC, 6/16/18, p.A4)
2018 Jun 17, In eastern Kenya eight police officials were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device planted by Somalia's al Shabaab militant group.
(Reuters, 6/18/18)
2018 Jun 28, In Kenya a fire at Nairobi's Gikomba market killed 15 people less than a year after a blaze destroyed much of the capital's largest open-air market.
(AP, 6/28/18)
2018 Jul 6, Kenya's top prosecutor said corrupt judges are hampering an anti-graft drive, undermining President Uhuru Kenyatta's attempt to restore public trust in the government, national security and the economy.
(Reuters, 7/6/18)
2018 Jul 12, Kenyans voiced outrage as it emerged that a group of lawmakers had gone to the World Cup at the taxpayers' expense, even though the country had failed to qualify for the tournament.
(AFP, 7/12/18)
2018 Jul 13, Kenya's government said eight critically endangered black rhinos died after being moved to a new reserve in southern Kenya, doubling the number of deaths from similar operations in the previous dozen years. Kenya's Tourism and Wildlife Minister Najib Balala ordered the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to immediately suspend the ongoing translocation of black rhinos.
(AFP, 7/13/18)
2018 Jul 14, Kenyan authorities said they had arrested Ben Chumo, a former chief executive officer of the state-run distributor Kenya Power, on suspicion of economic crimes and wanted to charge the current chief executive. Two other company officers were also arrested.
(Reuters, 7/14/18)
2018 Jul 16, In Kenya former US President Barack Obama praised a rapprochement between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga but said they must do more to heal the rifts between Kenya's 40-odd ethnic groups. Obama was there to open a school in his father's home village of Kogelo.
(Reuters, 7/16/18)
2018 Jul 19, A Kenyan court sentenced Ruth Kamande, a 24-year-old jail beauty queen, to death for murdering her boyfriend by stabbing him 25 times, drawing criticism from rights groups who called the punishment "inhumane." She had slashed her partner Farid Mohammed (24) to death in 2015 and was convicted in May.
(AFP, 7/20/18)
2018 Jul 26, Kenyan wildlife authorities said a tenth critically endangered black rhino has died after being moved from the capital to a new wildlife park and the sole survivor has been attacked by lions in what some conservationists have called a national disaster.
(AP, 7/26/18)
2018 Jul 30, In Kenya poachers killed a 12-year-old black rhino in Lake Nakuru national park days after the authorities announced that ten of the critically endangered animals had died in a bungled relocation.
(Reuters, 7/31/18)
2018 Aug 8, Kenya's national wildlife service said authorities have arrested a suspected poacher linked to the killing of a 12-year-old black rhino last month in Lake Nakuru national park.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 8, Kenyan runner Nicholas Bett (28), who won the 2015 world championship title in the 400-meter hurdles, was killed in an early-morning car crash in the country's famed high-altitude training region.
(AP, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 11, It was reported that Kenyan authorities have arrested the head of the agency that manages public land and the boss of the state railway on suspicion of corruption over land allocation for the new $3-billion flagship Nairobi-Mombasa railway. 18 officials, businesspeople and companies were named in a statement listing arrests that was posted on the prosecutor's office's Twitter feed.
(Reuters, 8/11/18)
2018 Aug 11, In Kenya a Chinese tourist died after he was attacked by a hippo as he was taking pictures on the shores of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley.
(AP, 8/12/18)
2018 Aug 28, Kenya’s deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu was arrested on suspicion of corruption, failure to pay tax, and improper dealings with a local bank now in receivership.
(Reuters, 8/28/18)
2018 Aug 29, The corruption trial of Kenya's deputy chief justice Philomena Mwilu, the country's second-highest judge, was suspended amid a barrage of legal petitions at various courts.
(AFP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 29, Kenya's military said five soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb blew up the vehicle they were travelling in southeastern Lamu County.
(AP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 30, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council member David Okeyo of Kenya was banned from track and field for life for his role in diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars of sponsorship money from Nike for his and others' personal use.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 30, British PM Theresa May became the first UK leader to visit Kenya in 30 years, bringing security and development funding to East Africa's commercial hub.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Sep 24, Kenyan police charged Migori province Gov. Okoth Obado with the murder of a university student who claimed he had impregnated her in an extramarital affair. Sharon Otieno was kidnapped along with journalist Barack Oduor last month when they were due to meet with the governor. Otieno's body was later found in a forest.
(AP, 9/24/18)
2018 Sep 24, Kenya's military said it's killed 10 rebels from the al-Shabab extremist group in an ambush in the south where several soldiers have died from roadside bombs.
(AP, 9/24/18)
2018 Oct 5, US First Lady Melania Trump cozied up to baby elephants and went on safari in Kenya, on the third leg of a solo tour of Africa that has contrasted with the ongoing tumult in Washington.
(AP, 10/5/18)
2018 Oct 10, In Kenya 50 people were killed when a bus travelling between Nairobi and the western city of Kisumu swerved off the road coming down a slope.
(Reuters, 10/10/18)
2018 Oct 15, Running great Kip Keino was given more time to report to police in Kenya after being one of seven former Olympic and government officials accused of corruption relating to the misappropriation of more than $545,000 around the time of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
(AP, 10/15/18)
2018 Oct 19, In Kenya running great Kip Keino (78) said that charges against him in a Kenyan Olympic corruption case have been dropped and he has been released.
(AP, 10/19/18)
2018 Nov 20, In Kenya gunmen kidnapped Silvia Costanza Romano (23) and shot and wounded four people in Chakama, a small town south of the border with Somalia. Romano was working as a volunteer with an Italian humanitarian group when she was abducted. On Dec. 9 a suspect, identified as Ibrahim Adan Omar, was arrested in Bangali town in Tana county. Abductors eventually passed her into the hands of militants linked to Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamic extremists. On May 10, 2020, she returned home after 18 months as a hostage.
(Reuters, 11/21/18)(AP, 11/22/18)(AP, 12/11/18)(AP, 5/10/20)
2018 Dec 10, A Kenyan court charged senior officials from the state-run oil pipeline and others from the state health insurance fund for abuse of office and economic crimes that led to the loss of billions of shillings from the two institutions.
(Reuters, 12/10/18)
2018 Dec 13, A court in Kenya convicted ex-senior police officer Nahashon Mutua of murder in the death of Martin Koome, a suspect taken into custody in 2013, in what rights groups welcomed as a further step toward curbing years of police brutality.
(Reuters, 12/13/18)
2018 Dec 16, In western Kenya five people were killed in a village after residents resisted the arrest of a suspect in a domestic abuse case. A policeman was soon arrested in connection with the deaths.
(AP, 12/17/18)
2019 Jan 15, In Kenya a huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. At least 7 people were killed. One of the five was later identified as Mahir Khalid Riziki (25), who grew up in Mombasa.
(AFP, 1/15/19)(Reuters, 1/15/19)(AFP, 1/19/19)
2019 Jan 16, Kenya's government said security forces have killed at least five militants who stormed the upscale Nairobi DusitD2 hotel compound, taking at least 21 lives and forcing hundreds of others into terrifying escapes after a 20-hour, overnight siege.
(AFP, 1/15/19)(Reuters, 1/15/19)(SFC, 1/17/19, p.A4)
2019 Jan 17, Kenyan police said nine more people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the extremist attack on the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi this week, bringing the total number of suspects in detention to 11.
(AP, 1/17/19)
2019 Jan 19, Kenyan officials said they have arrested six more people suspected of involvement in the Jan. 15 extremist attack in Nairobi, bringing the total number of detainees to 12.
(AP, 1/19/19)
2019 Jan 20, In Kenya four people were wounded when gunmen opened fire late today on a Chinese construction site in the remote northeast, before being quickly repelled. The attack was suspected to be the work of Somali Islamists al-Shabaab.
(AFP, 1/21/19)
2019 Feb 12, Kenya said it is seeking to close the Dabaab refugee camp within six months. The camp held more than 200,000 refugees from Somalia.
(SSFC, 3/31/19, p.A4)
2019 Feb 13, In Kenya a small plane crashed in the country's west killing all five people on board, including three Americans.
(AP, 2/13/19)
2019 Mar 3, In northwestern Kenya four Americans and their Kenyan pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed just after take-off from a remote island in Lake Turkana.
(AP, 3/4/19)
2019 Mar 6, In Kenya thousands of air passengers were stranded after a strike by aviation workers at the main Nairobi airport led to the cancellation and delay of scores of flights and the use of riot police to break up the industrial action. By the end of the day however, most scheduled arrivals had been processed while the departures backlog was being cleared.
(Reuters, 3/6/19)
2019 Mar 13, In Kenya the sixth Global Environment Outlook was released at a UN conference in Nairobi. It said unsustainable human activities globally have degraded the Earth's ecosystems, endangering the ecological foundations of society.
(SFC, 3/14/19, p.A6)
2019 Mar 15, In Kenya nations meeting at the UN environment assembly in Nairobi announced that they had agreed to "significantly reduce" single-use plastics over the next decade.
(AFP, 3/15/19)
2019 Apr 12, Suspected Al-Shabaab jihadis in northeastern Kenya kidnapped a Cuban general practitioner and a surgeon in Mandera and whisked them to Somalia. One of two police officers escorting the doctors to work was shot dead by the attackers, who later demanded $1.5 million (1.35 million euros) for their release.
(AFP, 4/12/19)(AFP, 5/16/19)
2019 Apr 24, A Kenyan court found British national Jermaine Grant, in custody since 2011, guilty of possessing bomb-making materials. Grant is believed to be part of an al-Shabab-linked cell that planned multiple attacks over Christmas in 2011. Grant's former flatmate Samantha Lewthwaite, whose husband Germaine Lindsay killed 26 people in a suicide bombing on the Piccadilly Line of London Underground in 2005, is still at large and wanted in Kenya on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy.
(AP, 4/24/19)(AP, 4/24/19)
2019 May 16, Animal activists urged Kenya to ban the slaughter of donkeys for use in Chinese medicine, a practice which has soared in recent years and decimated African populations of the animal.
(AFP, 5/16/19)
2019 May 21, Kenya author Binyavanga Wainaina (48), one of Africa's best-known authors and gay rights activists, died in Nairobi.
(AP, 5/22/19)
2019 May 22, It was reported that Michael Rotich, the coach of Kenya's Olympic track team in 2016, has been banned for 10 years for corruption after he asked for $12,000 to give athletes advance notice to help them beat doping tests.
(AP, 5/22/19)
2019 May 24, In Kenya a three-judge panel of the High Court upheld sections of the country's penal code that criminalize same-sex relations.
(AP, 5/24/19)
2019 Jun 1, Kenya's central bank set a Sept. 30 deadline for everyone to convert their old 1,000 shillings note, worth about $10, into new ones after it became the banknote of choice for criminals of all types in the East Africa region.
(Reuters, 10/2/19)
2019 Jun 12, Scores of Kenyans protested against a project to build a coal power station near the Lamu archipelago, a popular tourist spot that includes a UNESCO World Heritage site and boasts vibrant marine life. Plans for the country’s first coal plan were unveiled in 2013. Later this month an environmental tribunal suspended the project’s license pending a more comprehensive impact assessment.
(AFP, 6/12/19)(Econ, 7/27/19, p.40)
2019 Jun 14, Somali Islamist insurgents kidnapped three Kenyan police reservists in Wajir district in northeast Kenya.
(Reuters, 6/15/19)
2019 Jun 15, In Kenya a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle patrolling near the border with Somalia, killing several of the 11 officers inside.
(Reuters, 6/15/19)
2019 Jul 1, Somalia said it has protested formally to Kenya, after Nairobi referred to the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland as a country. Somaliland declared its independence in 1991 but is not recognized by the international community, which considers it an autonomous region of Somalia.
(AFP, 7/1/19)
2019 Jul 3, A Kenyan court sentenced Rashid Charles Mberesero to life in jail for being an accomplice in the 2015 attack on Garissa Univ. that left 148 people dead. Mohamed Abdi Abikar and Hassan Aden Hassan were sentenced to 41 years each for assisting in the attack.
(SFC, 7/4/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 19, Kenya's Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta opened the Lake Turkana Wind Project, said to be Africa's largest wind farm.
(SFC, 7/22/19, p.A2)
2019 Jul 22, Kenya's Finance Minister Henry Rotich and other treasury officials were arrested on corruption and fraud charges over a multi-million dollar project to build two mega dams.
(The Telegraph, 7/22/19)
2019 Jul 23, Kenya's Finance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders, in an unprecedented legal move against a sitting minister in a country notorious for graft.
(Reuters, 7/23/19)
2019 Jul 23, Kenya's parliament voted to nationalize the country's main airline Kenya Airways to save it from mounting debts.
(AP, 7/23/19)
2019 Aug 27, It was reported that Kenya is urging the UN to list Al-Shabaab under the same sanctions as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but foreign donors said the move could leave millions in drought-stricken Somalia without aid.
(AFP, 8/27/19)
2019 Aug, Kenya entered the club of oil producers with a symbolic shipment of 200,000 barrels.
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.35)
2019 Sep 1, In Kenya flash floods killed six family members and their tour guide at the Hell's Gate National Park in the Rift Valley.
(Reuters, 9/1/19)
2019 Sep 12, Kenya's acting finance minister said the government plans "brutal" cuts to spending, including on government officials' overseas trips, in an effort to rein in the fiscal deficit.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 23, In Kenya the Precious Talent Top School in Nairobi collapsed and killed at least seven children.
(AP, 9/23/19)
2019 Sep 26, Somalia committed to comply with any United Nations International Court of Justice ruling on its maritime border dispute with Kenya, and to accept the boundary that is delimited by the tribunal.
(Bloomberg, 9/26/19)
2019 Oct 1, Kenyan police shot dead three men suspected of planning militant attacks in the coastal city of Mombasa.
(Reuters, 10/1/19)
2019 Oct 2, Kenya's central bank said an anti-corruption drive has uncovered the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in unexplained wealth when it retired old banknotes, adding much of the cash appeared to have been gained in "the criminal area".
(Reuters, 10/2/19)
2019 Oct 12, In southern Kenya a roadside bombing killed 11 officers near Liboi on the border with Somalia.
(SSFC, 10/13/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 15, The IMF said Kenya's economy is expected to expand by 5.6% this year and 6.0% in 2020, lowering its forecasts from earlier this year.
(AP, 10/15/19)
2019 Oct 16, Kenya's opened a $1.5 billion Chinese-built railway line linking Nairobi to Naivasha, despite delays in building an industrial park in the Rift Valley town to encourage freight.
(Reuters, 10/16/19)
2019 Oct 24, Kenya's top telecoms operator Safaricom said it has named Peter Ndegwa as its new CEO, ending a three-month search for a new leader following the death of its long-time head Bob Collymore.
(Reuters, 10/24/19)
2019 Nov 4, Kenya's chief justice lashed out at budget cuts that he said were intended to undermine the court system and would hamper an anti-corruption drive.
(Reuters, 11/4/19)
2019 Nov 4, It was reported that heavy rains and floods have killed more than 50 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes across East Africa as researchers warned warming oceans are causing unpredictable weather patterns in the region. Kenya reported 48 people killed; Somalia reported at least 17 killed.
(Reuters, 11/6/19)
2019 Nov 15, It was reported that Kenya and Somalia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations that had deteriorated over the disputed ownership of an Indian Ocean territory thought to be rich in hydrocarbons.
(Bloomberg, 11/15/19)
2019 Nov 23, A Kenyan official said at least 36 people, including seven children, have been killed overnight by landslides triggered by unusually heavy rains in northwestern West Pokot County.
(Reuters, 11/23/19)
2019 Dec 6, In Kenya at least ten people were killed and 30 injured when a residential building collapsed in Nairobi. Rescue workers struggled to free a woman who was screaming from under the rubble. 20 people remained missing.
(Reuters, 12/6/19)(SFC, 12/9/19, p.A2)
2019 Dec 6, Kenyan police officers were among those killed when gunmen suspected to be from Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked a bus near the border with Somalia. Police said 10 people were killed and that the attackers had specifically targeted non-Somalis after flagging down the bus.
(Reuters, 12/7/19)
2019 Dec 9, In Kenya Mike Gideon Mbuvi, governor of Nairobi, was charged with ten counts of graft related charges including embexxlement and money laundering.
(SFC, 12/10/19, p.A2)
2020 Jan 2, In Kenya four people were killed in two ambushes in which passenger buses were fired on by gunmen suspected to be Islamic extremists in the country's eastern coastal area.
(AP, 1/2/20)
2020 Jan 5, In Kenya al-Shabab extremists overran a key military base early today used by US counterterror forces. One US service member and two American Department of Defense contractors were killed in the attack on the Manda Bay Airfield. Five US aircraft, including fixed-wing and helicopters, were destroyed and one damaged in the hours-long assault at the airfield in coastal Lamu county. Kenyan police arrested three suspected terrorists who tried to force their way into a British training camp in Laikipia County. In September a military court in Somalia sentenced militant Islamist Farhan Mohamud Hassan to life in prison for his role in the attack.
(AP, 1/5/20)(AP, 1/6/20)(SFC, 1/7/20, p.A4)(BBC, 9/16/20)
2020 Jan 7, In Kenya four small children were shot dead early today while trying to take refuge from the latest al-Shabab extremist attack in eastern Garissa county. Police officers on patrol killed two attackers in the early morning assault near the village of Saretho.
(AP, 1/7/20)
2020 Jan 13, In eastern Kenya al-Shabab extremists killed three people in an assault early today in Kamuthe town, Garissa county. This was its fifth attack in thirteen days.
(AP, 1/13/20)
2020 Jan 15, Researchers announced the successful creation of another embryo of the nearly extinct northern white rhino. The last two females, hosted in Kenya, provided the eggs.
(SFC, 1/16/20, p.A4)
2020 Jan 25, It was reported that worst outbreak of desert locusts in Kenya in 70 years has seen hundreds of millions of the bugs swarm into the country from Somalia and Ethiopia. Those two countries have not had an infestation like this in a quarter-century.
(AP, 1/25/20)
2020 Jan 30, Kenya's high court said the government could go ahead with a new digital ID scheme, as long as it brought in stronger regulations and did not use it to collect citizens' DNA and geo-location data.
(Reuters, 1/31/20)
2020 Feb 4, In Kenya Daniel arap Moi (95), a former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s longest-serving president (1978-2002), died. He led the East African nation through years of repression and economic turmoil fueled by runaway corruption.
(AP, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 6, US President Donald Trump met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who came to the White House with a warning: Africa is not a battlefield for proxy disputes with countries such as China.
(AP, 2/6/20)
2020 Mar 11, Kenyan officials said a white female giraffe and her 7-month-old calf have been killed by poachers. About 110,000 giraffes remained in Africa.
(SFC, 3/12/20, p.A2)
2020 Mar 12, It was reported that a supercomputer, donated by Britain and based in Kenya, is boosting efforts in East Africa to control a locust outbreak that raises what the UN food agency calls "an unprecedented threat" to the region's food security. The UN recently raised its aid appeal relating to locusts to $138 million, up from $76 million, saying the need for more help is urgent. Experts have warned that if the number of locusts is unchecked they could grow 500 times by June, when drier weather is expected in East Africa.
(AP, 3/12/20)
2020 Mar 13, Kenya confirmed East Africa's first case of coronavirus, a woman who had returned to the capital Nairobi from the United States.
(Reuters, 3/13/20)
2020 Mar 15, Kenya has now recorded three coronavirus cases.
(Reuters, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 28, In Kenya police fired tear gas at a crowd of ferry commuters as the country's first day of a coronavirus curfew slid into chaos. Virus cases across Africa climbed above 4,000.
(SSFC, 3/29/20, p.A5)
2020 Mar 30, In Kenya Yasin Moyo (13) was fatally shot as he stood on a balcony in March watching police enforce a night-time curfew. At least seven people were killed in different parts of Kenya in the first five nights of the curfew. In June policeman Duncan Ndiema was charged with the murder of Moyo. Ndiema pleaded not guilty.
(AP, 6/23/20)
2020 Mar 30, Kenya's Archbishop Mwana a'Nzeki (b1931) died. He was the lastborn of a family of five children, was ordained as a priest in 1961, and served the Catholic Church until his retirement in 2007. In the early 1990s he helped Nobel Peace laureate Prof Wangari Maathai evade the security forces during a brutal government crackdown on human rights activists.
(BBC, 4/6/20)
2020 Mar 31, Kenya now has 59 coronavirus cases, including one death from the disease. A family mourned the death of a boy (13), struck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of his family’s home with his siblings. Police officers had moved through their crowded neighborhood, enforcing a new coronavirus curfew. The director of public prosecutions ordered an investigation into the fatal shooting in the slum of Mathare.
(AP, 3/31/20)(Reuters, 3/31/20)
2020 Apr 6, Kenya increased its restrictions to combat the coronavirus, announcing travel bans into and out of Nairobi, Mombasa and the counties of Kilifi and Kwale.
(SFC, 4/7/20, p.A4)
2020 Apr 10, In Kenya thousands of people surged for food aid in a brief stampede in Nairobi, desperate for help as coronavirus restrictions keep them from making a living. Witnesses said police fired tear gas and injured several people.
(AP, 4/10/20)
2020 Apr 10, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned of an increasing number of new locust swarms forming in Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia. The UN has raised its aid appeal from $76 million to $153 million, saying immediate action is needed before more rainfall fuels further growth in locust numbers.
(AP, 4/10/20)
2020 Apr 13, The UN said swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid. Billions of desert locusts have already chomped their way through much of East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
(AFP, 4/13/20)
2020 Apr 14, The Kenyan parliament voted to lower the value-added tax rate to 14% from 16%, part of President Uhuru Kenyatta's attempts to cushion citizens from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. Kenya has reported 216 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease.
(Reuters, 4/14/20)
2020 Apr 15, Kenyan travelers say they are being held in a government quarantine center after the expiry of their mandatory 14 days of isolation following their return from abroad because they cannot pay hefty bills for their stay. Kenya has reported 225 COVID-19 infections and 10 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/15/20)
2020 Apr 16, In Kenya a Catholic priest was charged in court with spreading the novel coronavirus, the second person to face such charges. Authorities said he failed to adhere to coronavirus quarantine rules following a visit to Italy. Kenya has 234 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths.
(AP, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 21, Kenya has confirmed almost 300 cases of COVID-19. It was reported that village chiefs in Kenya will make house-to-house checks after reports some rural communities were taking advantage of school closures due to the coronavirus to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on girls.
(Reuters, 4/21/20)
2020 Apr 21, In Kenya as many as 50 people escaped a quarantine area as a meal was being served at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). Kenya has recorded 296 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus, including 14 deaths.
(BBC, 4/22/20)
2020 Apr 26, Kenya's government announced that all long-distance lorry drivers will be tested before crossing the border after Uganda confirmed that eight Kenyan drivers had tested positive for the virus.
(BBC, 4/27/20)
2020 Apr 28, A letter from the American Chemistry Council’s director for international trade, Ed Brzytwa, urged the US and Kenya to prohibit the imposition of domestic limits on “production or consumption of chemicals and plastic" and on their cross-border trade. Kenya three years ago imposed what was praised as the world's strictest ban on the use, manufacturing and import of plastic bags, part of growing efforts around the world to limit a major source of plastic waste.
(AP, 9/1/20)
2020 Apr 29, A Kenyan court refused to lift a ban on a locally-made acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance. The film's producer said that she would continue to fight for freedom of expression in the East African nation. The film "Rafiki" - which means friend in Kiswahili - was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in April 2018 on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality in a country where gay sex is a criminal offence.
(Reuters, 4/29/20)
2020 May 4, A private Kenyan African Express aircraft with coronavirus medical supplies crashed in Somalia near the city of Baidoa, killing all six on board. A report from the African Union later said the plane may have been shot down by Ethiopian troops.
(AP, 5/5/20)(SFC, 5/6/20, p.A2)(SFC, 5/12/20, p.A2)
2020 May 7, It was reported that flooding as a result of recent heavy rains has killed more than 275 people across East Africa. Kenya has recorded 194 deaths, Rwanda 65 and 16 in Somalia.
(AP, 5/7/20)
2020 May 8, In Kenya hundreds of protesters blocked one of Nairobi's major highways with burning tires to protest government demolitions of the homes of more than 7,000 people and the closure of an adjacent food market. Police used teargas and water cannons on the protesters, who then looted shops and parked cars.
(AP, 5/8/20)
2020 May 14, It was reported that huge swathes of Nairobi, Kenya, are struggling with little to no supplies of water. Heavy rains swept away the main water pipes running through forests in the Aberdare mountain range north of the capital a week ago. Soon after that, the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company shut down a treatment plant feeding the city.
(Reuters, 5/14/20)
2020 May 16, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a cessation of movement between the country and neighboring Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. He exempted cargo trucks but said drivers would have to be tested for the disease.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 May 21, The World Bank announced a $500 million program for East African countries affected by historic desert locust swarms. The affected countries included Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/22/20, p.A6)
2020 May 29, In Kenya two children and an unborn child were killed in a police operation aimed at detaining a family member. Police confirmed the children’s deaths and asserted they were used as “human shields" by the man, whom they called a suspected Islamic extremist with an al-Qaida linked group. The suspect was killed.
(AP, 5/30/20)
2020 May, In Kenya more than 100 people arriving from Tanzania tested positive for coronavirus and were sent back. At Ugandan border testing points, at least 15 Tanzanian lorry drivers tested positive. The authorities in Tanzania have not released official figures on the extent of the outbreak there since the start of May.
(BBC, 6/19/20)
2020 Jun 1, In Kenya residents of a slum in Nairobi protested the death of James Mureithi (51), a homeless man, who they said was killed by police for violating a dusk-to-dawn curfew for the coronavirus.
(AP, 6/2/20)
2020 Jun 7, A Kenyan police officer was filmed apparently dragging a 21-year-old woman tied to a motorcycle. Another man is seen whipping her as she pleads for them to stop in Olenguruone, Nakuru County. Three officers were soon arrested. Mercy Cherino was treated in hospital for a broken leg, among other injuries. She was accused of being part of a gang of three who had stolen some items from a police officer's house.
(AP, 6/11/20)
2020 Jun 16, Gregory Dow (61), an American Christian missionary, pleaded guilty in a US court to sexually abusing young girls at an orphanage he started in Kenya. The orphanage was in operation from 2008 to 2017 when Mr Dow fled Kenya.
(BBC, 6/16/20)
2020 Jun 18, Kenya defeated Djibouti for an African seat on the UN Security Council in a second round of voting held under dramatically different procedures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(AP, 6/18/20)
2020 Jun 26, It was reported that Kenyan police have killed three people when a crowd of motorcycle taxi drivers protested against the arrest of a colleague for ignoring coronavirus restrictions. Kenya has 5,384 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 132 people have died.
(BBC, 6/26/20)
2020 Jul 5, In western Kenya residents of Rioma, Kisii County, stormed the local police station this evening after a police officer reportedly shot and killed a trader he accused of selling fake hand sanitizers.
(AP, 7/6/20)
2020 Jul 7, Kenyan police fired tear gas and detained scores of protesters demanding an end to police brutality. About 100 people took part in demonstrations across the capital, Nairobi.
(AP, 7/7/20)
2020 Jul 7, It was reported that all schools in Kenya will remain closed until next January because of the coronavirus pandemic. Kenya has confirmed more than 8,000 cases of coronavirus with at least 164 deaths along with a recent surge in new infections.
(BBC, 7/7/20)
2020 Jul 25, In Kenya two people were killed at Soko Ng'ombe market in eastern Garissa county, during a protest against the arrest of a man suspected of murder. Two police officers were soon arrested in connection with the shooting. According to Amnesty International, Kenyan officers have killed 21 people since March for failing to comply with coronavirus prevention measures such as curfews and mask-wearing.
(AP, 7/26/20)
2020 Jul 31, It was reported that after a decade of campaigning, Kenyan environmental activist Phyllis Omido has won a court ruling that awarded $12m (£9.2m) to the Owino Uhuru community poisoned by lead pollution from a nearby factory.
(BBC, 7/31/20)
2020 Aug 21, Kenya's police teargassed protesters holding a peaceful demonstration against alleged corruption including the theft of supplies for the fight against COVID-19.
(AP, 8/21/20)
2020 Sep 23, Investigators from Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said: "Investigations had established criminal culpability on the part of public officials in the purchase and supply of Covid-19 emergency commodities at Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) that led to irregular expenditure of public funds."
(BBC, 9/24/20)
2020 Sep 28, In Kenya a man died outside an emergency ward of Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, after he was not treated for hours by striking staff.
(AP, 9/28/20)
2020 Oct 7, In Kenya a court found Mohammed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa guilty of helping Islamist militants to attack an upmarket shopping mall in Sept. 2013. At least 67 people died in the assault by al-Shabab on the Westgate shopping complex in Nairobi. A third man, Liban Abdullahi Omar, was found not guilty. A day later he was abducted by unknown gunmen.
(BBC, 10/7/20)(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Nov 2, It was reported that Paul Gicheru, a Kenyan lawyer wanted by International Criminal Court prosecutors for allegedly bribing witnesses, has surrendered to authorities in the Netherlands. Prosecutors alleged that Gicheru and another lawyer, Philip Kipkoech Bett, corruptly influenced six witnesses in their investigations into deadly violence that erupted after Kenya's 2007 elections. Bett was not in custody.
(AP, 11/2/20)
2020 Nov 3, Kenya and Britain said they have agreed in principle the text of a new trade agreement to safeguard annual trade, estimated at 200 billion shillings ($1.84 billion), after Brexit.
(Reuters, 11/3/20)
2020 Nov 17, It was reported that Kenya's government has ordered an investigation into the theft and sale of babies following a BBC investigation into the black market trade. Police soon arrested three senior medical officers for allegedly running a child-trafficking syndicate following a BBC investigation into the theft and sale of babies. Police arrested four more people for allegedly running the child-trafficking syndicate.
(BBC, 11/17/20)(BBC, 11/18/20)(BBC, 11/19/20)
2020 Nov 21, It was reported that police in Kenya are investigating an "online cartel" that targets girls stuck at home because of coronavirus and lures them under false pretenses to what officers describe as orgies.
(BBC, 11/21/20)
2020 Nov 26, Officials in Kenya arrested 21 people accused of attempting to use fake "Covid-free certificates" to travel from Kenya to the United Arab Emirates. This came after the UAE issued a visa ban on Kenyans, allegedly after visitors were found using forged certificates.
(BBC, 11/27/20)
2020 Dec 10, In Kenya four women subjected to sexual assault in the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election were set to receive compensation. The government was ordered to pay $36,000 (£27,000) to each one.
(AP, 12/10/20)
2020 Dec 15, Somalia's government said it has severed ties with strategic neighbor Kenya "to safeguard the unity, sovereignty, stability of the country."
(AP, 12/15/20)
2020 Dec 21, Kenyan doctors and other crucial medical personnel in public hospitals started a nationwide strike to protest the lack of personal protective equipment and health insurance for frontline workers fighting against the spread of the coronavirus.
(AP, 12/21/20)
2020 Dec 24, Kenyan doctors working in public hospitals ended a nationwide strike with ministers saying concerns about inadequate protective equipment during the pandemic, delayed pay and a lack of insurance had been addressed.
(Reuters, 12/24/20)
2020 Dec, In Kenya Gidion Mbuvi Kioko, (aka Sonko, rich person in Swahili), the governor of Nairobi, was impeached for gross misconduct and abuse of office. He is alleged to have embezzled more than 300 million shillings ($2.7m; £1.9m) partly through the irregular awarding of contracts to friends' companies that are said to have wired money to his personal accounts after receiving their payments from Nairobi county.
(BBC, 3/27/21)
2021 Jan 4, It was reported that millions of mask-wearing pupils in Kenya have returned to school nine months after they were closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Kenya has reported almost 97,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 1,600 deaths since the start of the outbreak in March last year.
(BBC, 1/4/21)
2021 Feb 5, American Christian missionary Gregory Dow was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for abusing underage girls in an orphanage in Kenya between 2013 and 2017. Last year, Dow pleaded guilty in the US to four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place.
(BBC, 2/5/21)
2021 Feb 22, It was reported that three rare, Rothschild's giraffes have died after being electrocuted by low-hanging power lines in Soysambu conservancy in Nakuru, Kenya. Conservationists have estimated there are fewer than 1,600 in the wild with about 600 in Kenya.
(BBC, 2/22/21)
2021 Mar 2, The United Nations launched an appeal for $266 million (221 million euros) to help feed more than three million refugees and asylum seekers across East Africa, suffering extra hardship because of the coronavirus pandemic. A funding shortfall has led the WFP to slash its monthly assistance for refugees in Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda.
(AFP, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 5, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda started inoculating frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens against COVID-19 as Africa, the world's poorest continent and home to 1.3 billion people, stepped up its vaccination campaigns.
(Reuters, 3/5/21)
2021 Mar 17, Kenya's high court upheld a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in a landmark ruling welcomed by campaigners seeking to eradicate the internationally condemned procedure.
(Reuters, 3/17/21)
2021 Mar 24, In Kenya five passengers died and dozens were severely injured morning after a bus they were traveling in ran over a roadside improvised bomb on Lafey-Mandera road near the Kenya-Somali border in Mandera County.
(SFC, 3/25/21, p.A4)
2021 Mar 25, In central Kenya a fire, blamed on a British military exercise, broke out at the privately owned Lolldaiga conservancy. The 4-day destroyed about 12,000 acres of land. Linus Murangiri was crushed to death by a vehicle as he rushed to help put out the fire.
(Reuters, 3/26/21)(AP, 7/27/21)
2021 Mar 26, Kenya's biggest telecoms operator Safaricom started trials for 5G high-speed internet network using technology from Nokia and Huawei. Safaricom is part owned by South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone.
(Reuters, 3/26/21)
2021 Mar 29, Spain launched a diplomatic push into Africa, marking out the continent as a political priority with an ambitious plan to build closer economic and institutional ties. PM Pedro Sanchez unveiled his “Africa Focus 2023" plan at a formal event in Madrid attended by the President of Ghana, Nana Auko-Addo, the foreign ministers of Ghana and Senegal, Kenya’s head of trade, and the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.
(AP, 3/29/21)
2021 Mar, Sudan paid $335m (£244m) as compensation for victims of past attacks against US targets. The payment included punitive damages only to families of victims or those injured who are US nationals or US embassy workers. The majority of the estimated 5,000 people injured the twin bombings to hit the American embassies in Nairobi and the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on 7 August 1998 will not get any money; neither will the families of the more than 200 locals who died in the blasts.
(BBC, 4/27/21)
2021 Apr 2, Kenya ordered an immediate suspension on private importations of vaccines citing fears that it may lead to counterfeit inoculations getting into the country. Kenya's government said the country's positivity rate jumped from 2.6% at the end of January to 19.1% on April 2.
(AP, 4/3/21)
2021 Apr 17, In Kenya thousands of motorists and passengers were stuck in traffic for hours after police blocked major roads in Nairobi, to enforce a Covid curfew to battle infections. Kenya has confirmed more than 151,000 cases of the virus and just over 2,400 deaths.
(BBC, 4/18/21)
2021 May 1, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta loosened infection-control measures after the number of coronavirus cases in the country dropped from an early spring surge.
(AP, 5/1/21)
2021 May 6, Somalia said it has resumed diplomatic ties with neighboring Kenya after severing relations late last year.
(AP, 5/6/21)
2021 May 13, Kenya MP Moses Kuria told the BBC he received a $1,000 (£700) bribe in parliament last year to back the appointment of the majority leader, as he was summoned to appear before the house speaker for alleging some politicians received about $1,000 to vote for the constitutional amendment bill known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
(AP, 5/13/21)
2021 May 13, Five High Court judges in Kenya blocked a government-backed plan to make fundamental changes to the country's constitution. The judges said the constitution amendment bill, popularly referred to as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), was irregular, illegal and unconstitutional.
(BBC, 5/14/21)
2021 May 13, In Kenya Bashir Mohamed Mohamud (36), an American investor of Somali origin, was by unknown assailants as he drove from a mall in Nairobi's wealthy Lavington neighborhood. His body was found with torture wounds days after he went missing. His family later asked Kenya's director of public prosecutions to run a separate investigation from one being done by police.
(AP, 5/29/21)
2021 Jul 18, In western Kenya a petrol tanker overturned and caught fire in Siaya County. People rushed to the scene with jerrycans to siphon off the fuel from the overturned tanker when it exploded. At least 13 people were killed.
(AP, 7/18/21)
2021 Jul 30, Kenya's health minister said the government had suspended all in-person meetings and public gatherings to try to contain COVID-19, whose spread in the country he now attributes to the more infectious Delta variant.
(Reuters, 7/30/21)
2021 Aug 8, In Japan Eliud Kipchoge, 36, of Kenya won his second consecutive Olympic marathon in 2 hours 8 minutes 38 seconds, reaffirming his status as the greatest runner in history over the distance of 26.2 miles.
(NY Times, 8/8/21)
2021 Aug 20, Kenya's Court of Appeal upheld a decision to stop President Uhuru Kenyatta from making broad constitutional changes, limiting his ability to prevent his estranged deputy from succeeding him next year.
(Reuters, 8/20/21)
2021 Aug 26, In Kenya nine people were killed after a crane collapsed at a high-rise construction site in Nairobi.
(AP, 8/26/21)
2021 Aug 27, Frustrated drivers in Kenya spent hours overnight in an enormous traffic jam in the capital, Nairobi.
(BBC, 8/27/21)
2021 Aug 31, Kenya said its black rhinos, sable antelope and three other species are critically endangered, while nine more species including lions, elephants and cheetahs are endangered, citing the threat from an expanding human population.
(Reuters, 9/1/21)
2021 Oct 4, It was reported that the family of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta secretly owned a network of offshore companies for decades, according to the Pandora Papers, a huge leak of financial papers published a day earlier.
(BBC, 10/4/21)
2021 Oct 12, The top UN top court (ICJ) ruled largely in favor of Somalia in its dispute with Kenya, setting a sea boundary in part of the Indian Ocean believed to be rich in oil and gas.
(Reuters, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 13, In Kenya Masten Wanjala (20), a man who confessed to killing more than 10 children, escaped from police cells in Nairobi. Wanjala was soon traced by villagers to a house in Bungoma town and beaten to death.
(BBC, 10/14/21)(BBC, 10/15/21)
2021 Oct 13, Athletics Kenya said long-distance runner Agnes Tirop (25), Kenya's two-times World Championship bronze medalist, was found stabbed to death at her home. She was allegedly stabbed by her husband.
(Reuters, 10/13/21)
2021 Oct 14, President Joe Biden told visiting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that the United States will make a one-time donation of more than 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union.
(Reuters, 10/14/21)
2021 Oct 15, It was reported that drought in northern Kenya is pushing millions towards hunger. The United Nations World Food Program said the lack of rain means 2.4 million people in the region will struggle to find enough to eat by November.
(Reuters, 10/15/21)
2021 Nov 7, In NYC Peres Jepchirchir, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, took first at the New York City Marathon among women. Albert Korir, also from Kenya, won the men’s race.
(NY Times, 11/7/21)
2021 Nov 15, Kenya's High Court jailed four policemen found guilty of the manslaughter of Alexander Monson, the son of a British aristocrat who was found dead in a police cell in the beach town of Diani in 2012.
(Reuters, 11/15/21)
2021 Nov 15, In Kenya three Islamist militants, described as dangerous, escaped from a maximum-security prison just outside Nairobi. Seven prison wardens were soon arrested. The militants, one of whom had taken part in a 2015 attack that killed 148 people, were recaptured on Nov. 18.
(BBC, 11/16/21)(Reuters, 11/18/21)
2021 Nov 19, In Kenya Kate Mitchell, a British national who worked for BBC Media Action in a number of African countries, was found dead in Nairobi. Police told local media they were investigating it as a murder and exploring possible motives.
(BBC, 11/22/21)
2021 Nov 21, Kenya's government issued a directive that residents must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 21 to access services. Only 8.8% of people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Kenya so far.
(Reuters, 11/22/21)
2021 Dec 4, In Kenya at least 20 people drowned after a bus traveling to a wedding plunged into the Enziu River.
(BBC, 12/4/21)
2021 Dec 7, A Kenyan police officer shot dead six people in a rampage in a neighborhood in Nairobi and then shot and killed himself.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 7, In western Kenya a suspected member of Somali Islamist group al Shabaab detonated an explosive device that killed two people at their home and himself.
(Reuters, 12/8/21)
2021 Dec 14, A Kenyan court temporarily halted the government's plan to require COVID-19 vaccination for access to public services until a petition challenging it is heard and ruled upon.
(Reuters, 12/14/21)
2021 Dec 14, Kenya Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe told a press conference in the coastal city of Mombasa that the country had detected cases of the Omicron variant for the first time.
(Reuters, 12/15/21)
2021 Dec 22, Kenya announced new rules demanding proof of vaccination to access public places and transport. The rules were met by a combination of bemusement, dismissal and the occasional spot of enforcement as people headed home for Christmas.
(Reuters, 12/23/21)
2021 Kenya overtook South Africa to become the continent's top avocado exporter. The avocado sector has become so lucrative that organized criminal gangs began to target growers.
(BBC, 1/16/22)
2022 Jan 2, Richard Leakey (77), a Kenyan conservationist and paleoanthropologist, died. He spearheaded campaigns against the ivory trade to save the dwindling African elephant population. In 1981, he fronted a seven-part BBC television series called "The Making of Mankind", which made him a household name. At the time of his death, he was serving as chairman of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University in the United States.
(Reuters, 1/3/22)(BBC, 1/2/22)
2022 Jan 5, China's foreign minister began a visit to Kenya, where the government has relied on Chinese loans to develop infrastructure but faces criticism over the resulting debt burden.
(Reuters, 1/5/22)
2022 Jan 11, Power supply was restored in all parts of Kenya, which earlier experienced a nationwide outage after a high voltage transmission line connecting the capital broke.
(Reuters, 1/11/22)
2022 Jan 17, In western Kenya two human rights activists said that bodies that had been found in the River Yala in recent months were still in a Yala mortuary. At least 19 unclaimed bodies have been waiting for identification. There were deep suspicions that the police are responsible for many of them.
(Reuters, 1/21/22)
2022 Jan 31, In northeastern Kenya attackers ambushed a minibus, locally known as a matatu, after a roadside blast and opened fire on its occupants near Mandera town.
(BBC, 1/31/22)
2022 Feb 8, The UN World Food Program said that 13 million people across the Horn of Africa face severe hunger, calling for immediate assistance to avoid a repeat of a famine a decade ago that killed hundreds of thousands of people. People in a region including Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya faced the driest conditions recorded since 1981.
(Reuters, 2/8/22)(AP, 2/8/22)
2022 Feb 28, The UN opened an environment summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where nations are being urged to adopt the blueprint for a landmark global treaty to reduce plastic pollution.
(AFP, 2/28/22)
2022 Mar 2, In Kenya the UN Environmental Assembly meeting in Nairobi voted unanimously for a resolution to end plastic pollution.
(SFC, 3/3/22, p.A4)
2022 Mar 7, Moderna signed a memorandum of understanding with Kenya’s government for the drugmaker’s first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa.
(AP, 3/7/22)
2022 Mar 11, Kenya lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on large indoor gatherings such as religious services and a requirement to present a negative COVID-19 test for arriving air passengers.
(Reuters, 3/11/22)
2022 Mar 28, It was reported that millions of dollars of public funds allegedly stolen by two of Kenya's richest men are being returned from Jersey to Kenya to buy life-saving Covid-19 equipment following a landmark agreement signed in London.
(BBC, 3/28/22)
2022 Mar, In Somalia a roadside bomb mid-month killed 10 Kenyan soldiers.
(BBC, 3/22/22)
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Subject = Kenya
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