Omwa Ombara

Revisited Omwa Ombara

New Year is one of the sweetest moments in Kenya, the climax of Christmas festivities that gather family from distant ends of the country for two weeks of laughter, sunshine, hugs, food, and drink. But in 2007, the dawn of a new year echoed with drums of war. A political contest for the country's presidency went awfully wrong and in a span of hours, long buried tribal animosities seared to the surface, turning husband against wife and neighbor against neighbor.

Machetes clunked against innocent skulls, women were raped, children bludgeoned and the old and infirm violated and murdered in an orgy of violence that lasted weeks and shocked the world. This is a journalist's account of the blood and tears that destroyed families and stained a nation. Only the politicians won.