Come back to Kenya, government urges foreigners

Information Minister Samuel Poghisio said on Thursday the violence in Kenya was diminishing and that most of the country was unaffected, so investors and tourists should not take fright.

"Come in and hold hands with Kenyans and say 'We are with you' and let not the images beamed internationally be the ones to guide you," Poghisio said in an interview with Reuters.

But he acknowledged Kenya had been through what he called a dark period in its history.

More than 1,000 people have been killed - mostly in ethnic clashes and some by police during protests - and about 300,000 displaced since violence erupted after a disputed December 27 election in which President Mwai Kibaki was returned to power.

The violence has prompted tourists to shun Kenya and some businesses have made contingency plans to relocate should the bloodshed between government and opposition supporters go on.

Poghisio said the world had an exaggerated image of the violence as most of Kenya was not affected, life was back to normal for many, and political foes were now talking.

"The international community needs to know that it is still very possible to travel to Kenya," he said.

"It's not what you hear and what you see."

But Poghisio said he was under no illusion about the gravity of events.

"It is a period in our country that will always remain as a black hole. It is a dark period in history," he said.

"We went into elections very normally. Turnout was good and everything looked good. And then bang, the announcement, and almost all hell broke loose literally. Neighbour turned against neighbour, friend against friend."

HATE RADIO

Nevertheless, political polarisation among local media and the repeated use of gruesome images by foreign media had worsened the impact on Kenya's reputation, said Poghisio.

"If on a daily basis they show pictures of demonstrations, and riots and mutilated bodies, of war and burning houses ... that has tended to give a bad image," he said.

"What's going on in Kenya is an isolated case of some politically instigated violence ... If you put it in perspective, 80 percent of Kenya's land mass is not experiencing violence. There are many people going about business as normal."

Poghisio, who has just lifted a government ban on live broadcasting introduced when trouble first flared, said his ministry was preparing legal action against provincial radio stations accused of inciting violence.

Recalling Rwandan broadcaster Radio Television Libres del Milles Collines' incitement prior to that country's 1994 genocide, he said some Kenyan radio stations had been playing war songs and stirring communities to action.

"I have understood the Rwanda situation ... And we're saying let's be careful as a country that we do not have this repeated," he said.

"When you go into the realm of crime, directing people even on how to punish somebody else, how to burn houses and do all these things ... it is crime."

Poghisio said the world should give Kenya a chance to resolve the election dispute rather than rushing to condemn it and "push it down".

Violence was slowing, mediation led by former U.N. head Kofi Annan was progressing, and some government and opposition legislators were going out together to preach peace, he said.

"Knowing Kenya's history, and the way that Kenya has been gradually climbing and not declining, sometimes a small valley is a prelude to a very good, steep climb ahead."