Word: rifts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...small town in Kenya's lush Rift Valley, arrows are scattered around a dusty, hay-littered compound. Men in plaid-checkered shirts construct bows and say they were forced to arm themselves for war. "We were using swords but they were not effective," says Sylvester, 24, slashing a knife in the air. "In a day we can make between 80 and 100 [arrows]," he adds, refusing to give his last name out of fear. Community members pool money together to buy the necessary tools in secret; the arrows are then distributed within the neighborhood. Local leaders know about the arrow...
Shooters say the advantage of arrows is that people often do not see the weapon coming, leaving victims vulnerable. "Before this conflict, arrows were not used for these kind of recent attacks. They were mainly used for activities such as hunting," says former Rift Valley police commander Everett Wasige. "This is obviously something very wrong and very...
...rock star of priests. Greek Orthodox leader Archbishop Christodoulos surfed the Web, cracked jokes and made a point of welcoming people who had AIDS. He mended an age-old rift with the Vatican by receiving Pope John Paul II in 2001?the first visit to Greece by a Pope in 1,300 years. He urged young people to come "as you are, earrings and all," and dramatically upped church attendance. Despite criticism for his sometimes shrill nationalism and willingness to meddle in politics?as when he called the Turks "Eastern barbarians" or attacked NATO's bombers of Serbia as "pawns...
...interview with TIME, however, Ruto denied claims that he had done anything wrong. "Many people, I'm sure in the government, want to say, 'Ruto is responsible for all this,' because they think the Rift Valley voted in a way they did not want the Rift Valley to vote," Ruto said. "But the people of Rift Valley removed anything to do with Mwai Kibaki. They want to look for excuses for violence. This is not about William Ruto, my friend...
...ethnic clashes have certainly exposed deep grievances over land and other resources. Much of the worst violence has occurred in the Rift Valley, where land ownership has always been politically sensitive. In the colonial era, the region's fertile farmland was reserved for British settlers. Britain sold it off to the newly independent government, which in turn parceled it out to members of the Kikuyu tribe, setting off a pattern of ethnic conflict in the Rift Valley that has persisted for much of Kenya's independent history. Many Kalenjins and others who had once lived there believed - rightly or wrongly...