The rich and the poor: An aerial photo taken Jan. 4 shows Kibera, Africa’s largest poor neighborhood, home to a million people, with the Nairobi skyline in the background. Photo: Riccardo Gangale, AP

The most frequently used headlines for the election-related violence has been "tribal killings" between the dominant Kikuyu and the Luo. The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle have used words like "savage" in the front page and described the Mungiki ethnic group as "blood drinking" in last week's articles.

In framing the conflict this way, the media not only misleads and oversimplifies the problem - worse, it affirms existing stereotypes that all of Africa's problems can be reduced to savage tribal violence. The implication is that still, 50 years after independence, most African institutions lack the political and economic sophistication of those in the West. It becomes obvious in such scenarios to consider "humanitarian" intervention to bring in much needed civilization.

What the Kenyan election controversy has uncovered is that it has much more to do with economics than with ethnic rivalry. Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o, in a recent article on the subject, stated, "They don't seem to recognize sufficiently that Kenya, like Africa as a whole, has only two tribes: the haves and the have-nots."

This photo, taken Jan. 8, shows Kenyans walking through the rubble of Kibera, which burned during the post-election conflict. Photo: Noor Khamis, Reuters

But spread throughout the city were the poor. In pockets within the city were the slums where the poorest of the poor reside in conditions unimaginable for human survival. It is in such areas that the violence is concentrated - among people who have nothing to fear and nothing to lose.

When violence erupts so suddenly, the immediate response of the most vulnerable is to leave their homes and flee. Already there are reports of Kenyans leaving for neighboring Uganda in the thousands.

What is alarming in this case is that there are already in Kenya millions of refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. Kenya has provided safe sanctuary and passage to millions of refugees escaping conflicts in the Horn of Africa.

Police in the port city of Mombasa disperse demonstrators protesting the re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Photo: Darko Bandic, AP

Nothing short of an independent investigation into charges of election rigging will begin to restore the confidence of Kenyans. It is the first step toward the long term cessation of violence and hostility that can then lead to political stability. It is important that both candidates exhibit the necessary leadership in resolving the crisis.

The worst proposal to "solve" yet another problem in Africa is the consideration of a military alternative, as in AFRICOM, the African Command the U.S. State Department announced a year ago.

Expected to go into full operation in September of this year, AFRICOM is being promoted as a "security" measure to end conflicts and provide humanitarian assistance to Africa's hotspots. The current violence in Kenya will, no doubt, be used as yet another excuse for the U.S. to speed up the operational phase of AFRICOM.

As we have seen in the case of Iraq, military responses to deeper economic and political problems are no solution at all. They in fact exasperate and further divide communities along religious, ethnic and economic lines.

Let Kenyan leaders step in to propose solutions to the election dispute.

Nunu Kidane is the coordinator of Priority Africa Network based in Oakland. Walter Turner is host of KPFA's "Africa Today," broadcast Mondays at 7 p.m. at 94.1 FM, and chair of the Board at Global Exchange.

Tag it:

?