U.S. troops wait for Kenya violence to calm

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U.S. troops wait for Kenya violence to calm
By Zeke Minaya, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The small contingent of U.S. servicemembers on a humanitarian mission in Kenya has all but ceased operations as they wait for the violence triggered by a disputed presidential election to subside.

The group of roughly 30 U.S. personnel has been hunkered down in a remote location in northeast Kenya since late December. No Americans have been hurt during violent clashes that have claimed nearly 500 lives.

“In Kenya we are keeping operations to a minimum as well as our movements throughout the country,” said Air Force Maj. Jack Miller, a spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of Africa. The task force, based in Djibouti, sent the group of American servicemembers to Kenya to dig water wells as part of wider humanitarian efforts through east Africa.

The task force is charged with building good will in the region in hopes of preventing anti-American extremism from spreading from the nearby Middle East.

Kenya was considered one of the more stable countries in eastern Africa before the results of the Dec. 27 elections ignited a wave of street clashes that included the burning of a church filled with villagers seeking sanctuary.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51498