Nairobi burning

The next elections in Kenya will probably be held in December of 2012, and they are already casting an ominous shadow. Will these elections again be accompanied by an escalation of violence as in 2007? Focusing on Nairobi, Kenya’s urban heart of politics, Andreas Jacobs analyzes the decisive characteristics and dynamics of the Kenyan post-election violence from the perspective of the urban poor. Aiming to draw a lesson from the past, he recommends that domestic as well as international actors promote the formation of a truly inter-ethnic alliance that includes Kenya’s main antagonized groups. In regard to the micro level, he points to the complex nature of violence in the slums, warns against repressive police tactics and emphasizes that secure supply corridors to Kenya’s impoverished areas need to be kept open at any circumstances.