Kenya: Weapons and Words (UPDATED)

ODM MP Melitus “Mugabe” Were was murdered by a mob; Obama appeals for peace via a Nairobi radio station.
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It is inconceivable how people who have all along lived in harmony, shared resources and common utilities, can turn around and start butchering each other senselessly. [SNIP]

Most surprising, President Kibaki, at whom the buck stops, and his rival Raila Odinga, other than that photo-ops session last week, have not taken the message of peace to the doorstep of their followers.

Is there an echo in here or is that just plain common sense?
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Many reasons for the implosion. One result.
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US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer says that the situation in Kenya is an example of ‘ethnic cleansing’ rather than of genocide. The difference?

The aim originally was not to kill, it was to cleanse, it was to push them out of the region[.]

Normally, I'm just as much the pedant as the next blogger over, but I doubt that this distinction makes a difference to the dead and their families.
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Granted, this was started by politicians. The elections were just the flint that set alight the situation. However I refuse to absolve the participants of the mayhem of their share of the blame. The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day you must take responsibility for your [own] actions.

If you threw stones, hacked people, burnt houses or looted then you are also to blame.

If you didn’t throw stones or hack or burn or loot but you spread hate through your blogs, your text messages, your emails and your conversations, please believe you are just as bad as the panga wielding youths. You are equally to blame.

PERSONAL: I asked my sister whether my father and step-mother wanted to get out and, if so, if there was anything I could do to facilitate them doing so and coming here—with me being the lone American in the bunch. However, the only way out is via land vehicle into a neighboring country--such as Uganda--and then by air. And the initial part of that method is more risky than hunkering down at home—at least for some.

Oh and then there’s this.

Reporters Without Borders urges the Kenyan authorities to use all necessary means to quickly identify and punish those responsible for the death threats sent to leading journalists [via email] in Nairobi yesterday, hours after an opposition Orange Democratic Movement parliamentarian was murdered.

My father’s name wasn’t listed, but I don’t think that he’s reading his email anyway.

To those who are praying for my family, I thank you and I urge you to keep doing so for them and for all of the others.

UPDATE: State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack on Frazer's words:

...he would let Jendayi Frazer’s comments stand but did not say they represented Washington’s official position.

He stressed that the State Department’s Office of War Crimes Issues continues to closely monitor the post-election violence between Kenya’s ethnic groups for “any incidence of atrocities” and is documenting all cases being brought to its attention.

The Kenya Crisis