Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/kenyas-post-election-violence-stems-from-ethnic-economic-disparities Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The fighting that raged in Kenya after disputed December elections was a sign of deep-seated ethnic tensions and underlying economic problems in the country, including joblessness. Margaret Warner reports from Kenya on the roots of the violence. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Now, Kenya's sudden descent into violence. Margaret Warner is there and she describes how it happened. MARGARET WARNER: On the shores of Lake Victoria, the fishing boats are coming in from their early morning run, loaded with tilapia, Nile perch, and sardines.Waiting for them are local women, who snatch up the best of the lot to sell at open-air markets in nearby Kisumu, one of Kenya's largest cities. The rest go to wholesalers who can afford refrigeration and reap the real profits.It's hard to imagine the brutality that struck Kisumu just two months ago. Fisherman Charles Otieno says he and other members of his Luo tribe late last December thought they were on the verge of electing a new president who would help Luos and other marginalized tribes improve their lot.They reacted with fury when Nairobi election officials announced that incumbent President Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, had won instead. CHARLES OTIENO, Fisherman: As a Luo, I think something was taken from me because the ODM people, they won, but the electoral commission, I think they were bribed. And then they just — they just announced that the PNU won the results. MARGARET WARNER: Within 24 hours, gangs of young Luos, shouting the name of their candidate, Raila Odinga, and the initials of his party, ODM, descended upon businesses owned by prosperous Kikuyus in this city of a million people.Nearly all the Kikuyus, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 of them, had their property destroyed and were driven out of Kisumu altogether. This wreck of a compound just a stone's throw from the fishing dock used to be a prime resort hotel owned by a Kikuyu.Newly installed Mayor Sam Okello toured the wreckage with us. He refused to discuss the ethnic basis of the conflict for fear of scaring off potential investors, but he was frank about its economic roots, including joblessness. SAM OKELLO, Mayor, Kisumu, Kenya: Unless the unemployment is tackled, it is dynamite. It's a huge problem. MARGARET WARNER: Sixty percent of Kisumu's young adults are without work, he said, despite a high level of literacy.