Kenya's reluctant refugees find sympathetic haven

By David Lewis

MULANDA, Uganda (Reuters) - Kenya's election months were good times for teenage budding musician Robert Kinganga -- he was given a fistful of money, a microphone and a big crowd to entertain.

The 17-year-old, who prefers to be called King G, wrote lyrics extolling incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and then sang them to hip hop beats, winning votes for the president and local fame for himself in Busia, western Kenya.

"But now I can't go back there," he says from his new home in Mulanda refugee camp in eastern Uganda, where at least 6,000 Kenyans, mostly from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, fled to escape post-election violence.

"I am a wanted man. The Luos and the (opposition) ODM, they will get me," he added. "I am now well known and they say that I am the one who made Kibaki win in that area."

Kinganga's tale is a common one amongst the mostly Kikuyu Kenyans who had been living in Luo-dominated southwestern Kenya.

As soon as Kibaki was declared winner of the controversial December 27 poll, Luo youths went on the rampage, torching Kikuyu homes and businesses and beating those they could.

"I fled and I am safe but now all I have are these clothes and this," he said, pointing to a large scar on his right arm.

WARM WELCOME

Post-election violence in Kenya has killed about 700 people and forced a quarter of a million more from their homes, stripping the east African country of its reputation as a democratic nation with a thriving economy.

Despite mediation attempts and handshakes between Kibaki and Raila Odinga -- his Luo opponent who has rejected the elections which international observers say were flawed -- the violence continues in Kenya.

Tit-for-tat ethnic killings take place on a daily basis and, say some observers, are being orchestrated by some politicians and elders.

With the humanitarian crisis continuing, aid workers in Uganda are trying to move the refugees away from the border to the camp at Mulanda, where locals say they understand their plight and make them as welcome as limited resources allow.

"We have a common understanding and sympathize with their situation," said Frederick Olweny, a governor of an abandoned school that now hosts the refugee camp.

"When Idi Amin overthrew Milton Obote (in Uganda) I went into exile in Kenya. We were welcomed with open arms and now we are returning the favor," he said.

Ugandans flooded into Kenya during the 1980s and 1990s, fleeing the abuses of the security forces in Amin's regime, which is reported to have killed more than 300,000 people.