Kenya

Lions and elephants move freely through the rich wheat and cattle country of southwestern Kenya--a sight that fills people here with dread. The protected animals, so popular with tourists, threaten not only crops but the very lives of the local residents, driving some to launch a counterattack. In January in the Narok district three teen-age Masai herders took up spears to kill a lion that attacked their cows. "I've had problems with lions before," said Parseni ole Naiji, 15. The lion had mauled him, raking his back with its claws.

Villagers in central Kenya clashed with a criminal gang using machetes, axes and clubs, killing at least 29 people and leaving the streets stained with blood, police said Tuesday. Residents near the town of Karatina fought Mungiki members overnight because the gang had been extorting money from them, deputy police spokesman Charles Owino said. "The majority of the dead are Mungiki members," Owino said. At least three others were seriously wounded.

In a year as a "freelance" slum electrician, Francis Otieno has been shocked five times. Three of the accidents were "not so bad," just enough to throw him across the room. Two nearly killed him. "I just cried out. I didn't know what was going on. I passed out," he says. "For two days, I didn't know where I was." But he was luckier than his best friend, who had the job before him: He was killed when he jumped on a roof to fix a short, unaware that the roof was live because a rat had nibbled at a wire.

From his tented refugee camp, James Karanga Ngugi seethed as he scanned a vast horizon of fallow, unoccupied land -- most of it owned by two of Kenya's most prominent political families. "Why do they have so much and I have nothing?" he asked. His grandfather once prospered here, before he was displaced by British colonialists. After independence, villagers regained control, but were soon forced out again, this time by a rich Kenyan businessman with ties to the president.

South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has recovered sufficiently from a bout of mild pneumonia to address a rally in Nairobi, Kenya, an aide said. Mandela, 71, initially caught a cold as he neared the end of a grueling tour of three continents, and it grew worse in the chill of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8,000 feet above sea level, where he attended a meeting of the Organization of African Unity this week.

Moses Tanui of Kenya won the men's 10,000 meters Sunday in the Kobe Relay Carnival. Tanui took the lead at the halfway point and won the race in 28 minutes, 25.76 seconds, well off the world record of 27:13.81, held by Fernando Mamede of Portugal. Tomoyuki Taniguchi placed second in 28:32.82 and Japanese compatriot Hiromi Taniguchi was third in 28:34.18.

A magistrate today sentenced a U.S. fashion and wildlife photographer to a six-month prison term or a $300 fine for violating Kenya's immigration laws. Peter Beard, 47, of New York, the estranged husband of model Cheryl Tiegs, pleaded guilty to being in the country without a valid visa and elected to pay the fine. The charges said Beard's three-week visa expired March 23, almost five months before his arrest Aug. 19.

The crescent moon of the railway track divides the slum, a metal slash in the tumble of rusted tin roofs, stinking channels of sewage and narrow paths where children play with toys made of scraps of wire and rubbish. A band of youths hangs about on the track, perhaps slum hoods and their girls. Closer, you make out the boy among them. He looks tense, surrounded. Closer still: He wipes his hands over his face, as if washing off anxiety. One of the bigger youths totes a grubby supermarket bag. Gently, as if lifting out a loaded gun, Victor Onuoch produces a video camera.

In response to "Not Exactly the Life of the Multi-Party," editorial (July 15), and other recent media attention regarding Kenya's bilateral relationship with the United States, I would like to comment about our country's commitment to the principles of democracy and the preservation of human and civil rights. Under the leadership of President Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya has been a consistent ally of the U.S. in Africa, and a model of economic and political stability in a very volatile region of the world.