Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya -- President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner yesterday of Kenya's presidential election and hastily sworn in, defying widespread concern over vote irregularities and sparking riots and tribal violence. As smoke rose over parts of Nairobi, Kenya's emerging democracy also appeared to be smoldering. Before the chaotic election count - which saw some returns officers disappear and European Union observers turned away without access to tallies - analysts and diplomats had viewed Kenya as one of the most promising democracies in Africa.

KIBERA, Kenya -- Machete-wielding youths rioted in Kenya yesterday as each party vying for the presidency declared its candidate the winner, threatening an election that was initially praised by international observers. In early results, challenger Raila Odinga had led President Mwai Kibaki by several hundred thousand votes, but by late yesterday, Odinga's lead had dwindled. Amid opposition accusations of fraud, ethnic riots exploded in several cities. In Odinga's strongholds, supporters from his Luo tribe looted businesses and set fire to shops and houses belonging to Kikuyus, the tribe associated with Kibaki.

Freshmen at Western Maryland College this year are bringing the usual -- backpacks, notebooks, photographs of mom, dad and the dog.And -- at the college's request -- a pair of old running shoes.The school has joined a nationwide effort to collect used footwear and donate it to young athletes in Kenya, some of whom do not have access to good shoes and often practice barefoot.Based in Houston and launched in 1995, the Kenya Shoe Expedition collects thousands of shoes annually -- mostly from track teams and running clubs -- cleans them, and ships them to Kenya, where running is the national sport.

A pioneering program that educates Baltimore youths in Kenya had to send nearly half its pupils back to restore order after a fall semester marked by staff unrest, racial tensions and misbehavior that escalated into a violent brawl.The disorder at the Baraka School, the biggest setback since it was conceived as a life-changing experience for inner-city boys, has worried parents and forced school officials to examine staffing and admissions procedures.Two consultants have been dispatched by the Abell Foundation, which recruits students from public schools for the 4-year-old program it created and finances.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- NATO's decision to use military force in Kosovo has reinforced the view among many Africans that the world community is less inclined to intervene to halt conflicts in Africa than it is in many other regions.Coming as East Africa marks the fifth anniversary of a three-month ethnic rampage in Rwanda that killed an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, the intervention in Yugoslavia has sparked a debate about when and for whom world powers are willing to take action.

Zaccheus Chesoni, 63, Kenya's chief justice, died of a heart attack yesterday in Nairobi Hospital, Kenya Television reported. Chesoni had reportedly been hospitalized for two weeks after falling ill with bacterial meningitis. Mr. Chesoni was chairman of Kenya's Electoral Commission when he was appointed chief justice by President Daniel T. arap Moi in December 1997 -- the second indigenous Kenyan to hold the highest judicial post in the East African nation since it gained independence from Britain in 1963.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. embassies have hired thousands of additional guards, closed nearby streets and installed concrete barriers and metal detectors since terrorists bombed two U.S. posts in Africa a year ago, government officials said yesterday, but the measures fall far short of what many specialists say is adequate.More than 80 percent of U.S. overseas missions are still vulnerable to vehicle bombs, which killed 224 people at embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last year, State Department officials acknowledged.

THE UNITED STATES owes its public servants protection against the nation's enemies. The commission investigating the Aug. 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania reported a persistent failure to meet that obligation.This panel, chaired by Adm. William J. Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spread the blame. What happened was the fault of the State Department but also the CIA and FBI, the White House and its budget office and Congress. It was the fault of the Clinton, Reagan and Bush administrations.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- "You know, when you have the scars," Rebecca Gicuku said, "everybody is staring at you. They tell you, `Sorry.' I don't feel comfortable. It reminds me of the horrible day."Gicuku, 27, was composed enough to talk as a doctor dug two incisions the shape of the letter W into her forehead. She winced. The anesthetic was not working well.But it seemed worth the pain. The doctor was a plastic surgeon smoothing down two bulbous scars, evidence in flesh of the bomb blast that killed more than 200 people on Aug. 7 and wounded 5,000 others.

Families from Westminster and Bel Air plan to leave today for mission work in Kenya -- despite the bombing late last week of the United States embassy in the African country.On Friday, the State Department issued travel advisories to U.S. citizens planning trips to Kenya and to Tanzania, where the embassy also was bombed. It also urged nonessential U.S. personnel to leave the countries."Like many people, we're praying this doesn't affect our trip," said Jerry Rebert, a Westminster resident who is leaving his construction job to spend two years as a missionary for Africa Inland Mission International.

A defending champion was overthrown in the men's competition at the Baltimore Marathon on Saturday, and a new event record was set in the women's. Alphonce Yatich of Kenya took first place overall in the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds - the second-best time in the race's history. Yatich, 25, and Julius Keter - the Kenyan who set the event record last year in 2:11:56 - ran together until about Mile 20, when Yatich took the lead. Keter subsequently dropped out of the race.

Carrying suitcases filled with teaching aids and carry-on bags stuffed with clothing and personal items, several Harford County educators traveled to Kenya last summer. This group of educators knew they were headed to a school where the children sharpened pencils with razor blades and used stone pebbles to count. "We have grown so used to having certain supplies when we teach that they don't have in Mathare Valley," said Nadine Wellington, principal of Mountain Christian School, who went to Kenya with a group of educators in 2007.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Pirates prowling the treacherous waters off the Horn of Africa hijacked another merchant ship yesterday, at least the second in four days, amid growing international concern about a 21st-century version of an ancient security threat. The Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship Delight and its 25-member crew were captured late yesterday morning off the coast of Yemen, Beijing's New China News Agency reported, citing the official Maritime Search and Rescue Center. The vessel was hauling 36,000 metric tons of wheat to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, the news service reported.

Halfway through his meal of grilled goat meat and lemon-scented tomato chunks, Dishon Kimani, 31, leaped out of his seat and pumped his fists in the air. "Oh my God! He took Ohio!" he announced as CNN declared the state for Barack Obama. "This thing is over." Kimani, a tow truck operator from Baltimore, was among about 20 African natives huddled around a flat-screen television at a lounge above George's Auto Repair in Northeast Baltimore. They chatted in a rowdy mix of Swahili, English and Kenyan slang as the election results trickled in. Every few minutes, as if on cue, the crowd would go silent as a winner was declared in a state, erupting in cheers and whistles moments later.

Look, over there, you can see it from here! No, not Russia from Alaska, but the finish line. It's hard to believe not just that the end of the presidential campaign season is actually in sight, but that we're all going to have to find something else to do come Wednesday. In the spirit of those who have jumped the gun and published their postmortems - or pre-mortems, actually - on a race that won't be decided until Tuesday, I'm already feeling nostalgic for the campaign. Somehow, it managed to capture the worst of both a marathon (the length)

UniSun recently caught up with 18-year-old Devon Brown, one of 20 boys from the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Baltimore who was chosen to attend the Baraka School in Kenya, a two-year experimental boarding school that was supposed to separate the students from their city lives in hopes that they would focus on their education while in Africa. Brown is one of the success stories from the program. Last spring, he graduated from the Academy for College and Career Exploration. Later this month, he will attend the Maryland Institute College of Art on a full scholarship from the Abell Foundation, which also sponsored the Boys of Baraka project.

Rotary International has awarded a $17,000 matching grant to the Rotary Clubs of Greater Severna Park and Nairobi Industrial in Kenya to provide a Kenyan primary school with furniture, sports equipment, uniforms, health camps and a 2,500-gallon water tank for collecting rainwater. Kenya Connect, a nonprofit based in Silver Spring, is assisting the Rotarians. Kenya Connect has raised over $117,000 through the efforts of schoolchildren in the United States, resulting in water tanks, classroom renovations, solar-powered learning resource centers, fences, uniforms and sports equipment for impoverished schools in Wamunyu, Kenya.

Over grilled goat meat and Amstel Light, the men banter in a rapid-fire blend of Swahili and English. It's hot, humid and loud on the gravel patio of this Northeast Baltimore bar, where the tables are covered with thatched umbrellas and Kenyan-style Lingala tunes pulse from a nearby TV. Friday nights at Charlie Brown's are typically reserved for partying. But on this recent night, it's all about politics, as conversation centers on Kenya's most famous son - Barack Obama. It doesn't matter that Obama was neither born nor raised in Kenya (his father, also named Barack, was from a small village in Kenya's Nyanza province)

At the height of the crisis that followed a disputed presidential election early this year, Kenyans chuckled at an anonymous text message that poked fun at the Luo, one of the country's largest ethnic communities. They should make up their minds on which of the two Luos they would want to be president, the message said, an apparent reference to Raila Odinga - and Barack Obama. Last year, Odinga sought, but failed, to become Kenya's fourth president since the nation gained independence.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Aden Hashi Ayro, long identified as one of al-Qaida's top operatives in East Africa and the leader of the Islamist comeback in Somalia, was killed yesterday morning by an American airstrike, according to U.S. and Somali officials. Ayro was one of the most feared and notorious figures in Somalia, a short, wispy man believed to be in his 30s who had gone from lowly car washer to top terrorist suspect blamed for a string of atrocities, including ripping up an Italian graveyard, killing a BBC journalist and planning suicide attacks all across Somalia.