Kenya (1983: Doomsday)

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Kenya was the only East African country to remain largely intact in the years after Doomsday and is today one of Africa's more rapidly developing countries, though it continues to grapple with internal political instability and food insecurity.

Pre-Doomsday
Although Kenya is one of the longest inhabited places in the world, known signs of civilizations did not appear in the area until the beginning of the common era. During this time, cities and trading posts appeared along the Kenyan coast. These cities traded with the Greeks, Romans, Indians, Arabs, and Persians. In the interior, various tribes existed and traded with the coastal cities. After the rise of Islam in the 8th Century A.D., many of these city-states became frequented by Muslim Arab and Persians traders who spread Islam in the coastal regions and dominated regional trade. In the early sixteenth century, the Portuguese, looking to gain control of Indian Ocean trade routes, establish forts and gained control of the Kenyan coast. By 1730, the Sultanate of Oman seized control of these coastal forts and pushed deeper into the interior as it established a small empire in East Africa based out of Zanzibar.

In the nineteenth century, European interest in Kenya had begun to increase. The British, in competition with the Germans, began seizing territory that would become modern-day Kenya in 1887. They established the East African Protectorate in 1895 and began to administer the territory directly. During World War I, Kenya served a major military base for British operations in East Africa in their struggle against the resilient forces of German East Africa. After the war, the East Africa Protectorate, now known as the Kenyan Colony, experienced the rapid politicization of its population. World War II brought about another wave of politicization, which led to the rise of the Kenyan African Union, led by Jomo Kenyetta. Independence came slowly, though it was delayed further by the Mau Mau Rebellion, but finally in 1963, Kenya achieved its independence.

Kenya was led by President Jomo Kenyetta until his death in 1978. During his presidency, Kenya established its nationhood through a one party semi-democratic system. After his death, his vice president, Daniel Arap Moi, took over the presidency. Despite a failed military coup in 1982 by the Kenyan Air Force and snap elections in 1983, he continued to lead the country until Doomsday.

Doomsday
The devastation of Doomsday swept quickly across much of the developed world and their close allies. In the course of a few hours, governments had collapsed and millions were dead. Luckily, Kenya was non-aligned and was not directly affected by Doomsday. However, the news was a shock for much of the Kenyan population and started a wave of mass panic. The government rapidly increased the police presence on the street and deployed the Army to ensure stability. Government contingency plans to deal with such an event were immediately implemented to contain an outbreak of violence and maintain stability. A new day had dawned on Kenya and they faced an uncertain future.

Stabilization
In the immediate months after Doomsday, the Kenyan government remained determined to to maintain stability and move the country through this turbulent time. This soon proved to be a difficult task as they watched Tanzania, Somalia, and Uganda slowly dissolve into a collection of smaller states. However, Kenya was in a better position than many of their neighbors thanks to their superior agriculture, historically stable government, and stronger economy. An increased police presence throughout the country and the loyalty of most of the major tribes, particularly the Kikuyu, Luo, and Kalenjin, to the government enabled Kenya to weather the initial storm, though increase amounts of military personnel were forced to deploy to the borders in order to prevent violence from spilling over from their increasingly chaotic neighbors.

Nonetheless, the Kenyan economy neared collapse with the evaporation of trade of its vital export products, coffee and tea. Massive government intervention to redirect agricultural production to more foodstuffs and the artificial manipulation of currency prevented a total economic collapse. The reestablishment of trade with other Indian Ocean states in late 1985 and early 1986 allowed exports to resume, but brought about a temporary economic recession due to the artificial currency manipulation implemented earlier.

The Somali Crisis
Kenya's North Eastern Province (NEP) is inhabited primarily by the Cushite minority, which is largely composed of Somalis. It was once the southern-most portion of Somalia, but it was ceded to Kenya by the British in the 1950s, despite a widespread desire to join the new Somali Republic. These sentiments have continued until after Doomsday and with the government's increased neglect of the NEP after Doomsday, tensions also increased.

The crisis began with an event now known as the Wagalla Massacre. On February 10, 1984 at the Wagalla Airstrip in the NEP, hundreds of Somalis from the Degodia clan were killed by Kenyan security forces under mysterious circumstances. While the government denied it had any official involvement, several important officials were believed to be involved. However, the Somalis in the NEP did not care either way as they saw it as a representation of the failures of the Kenyan government. In the weeks following the massacre as news of it spread, wide spread protests and sporadic violence erupted across the region. The protests and low-level violence would continue off and on for the next six years as the majority of the Somali population of the NEP rejected their Kenyan identity and sought to rejoin Somalia. This low-intensity conflict caused a slow and continual drain on government resources that only exacerbated Kenya's problems.

In 1989, as the neighboring Republic of Somalia was slowly collapsing, a series of rebellions broke out across the areas the Somali Republic still controlled. These rebellions spread to the NEP where the local population, which had been acquiring arms for years, rose up in full rebellion. While the Kenyan government had withdrawn most of their resources from the rural areas of the NEP, the cities and towns were still largely under their control. Now many of these towns began to fall as the population rose up. The Kenyan military was quickly deployed to attempt to crush the uprising, but the influx of weapons and militants from Somalia turned the tide in favor of the rebels. By 1991, most of the central and northern regions of the North Eastern Provinces had escaped Kenyan control and were now ruled by various Somali clans. However, the Kenyan government still lays claim to the entirety of the NEP and regularly launches raids into clan-controlled territory.

Maasai Revolt
In 1990, Kenya was facing multiple crises. The Somali in the North Eastern Province were revolting and waves of refugees were fleeing from the Ugandan Civil War. These two events preoccupied most of the Kenyan government's time and energy. Realizing this, the upstart nation Maasailand, in neighboring Tanganyika, saw a potential opportunity. Their leadership began reaching out to the Maasai tribes in southern Kenya. These tribes had long had issues with the government, so it was fairly easy for Maasailand leaders to convince them to revolt. Armed with weapons and assisted by small bands of Maasailand soldiers, the Kenyan Maasai tribes began their own revolt in November 1990. The Maasai population in Kenya was fairly small, only about 400,000, so the far more numberous Kenyan Army was able to prevent any urban areas from being captured and drove the rebels back. The entirety of the southern Rift Valley province was occupied by the Kenyan Army and the rebels slowly weeded out. Thousands of pro-independence Maasai fled into Maasailand and by 1993, the rebellion ceased to exist. Maasailand, fearing a Kenyan invasion, signed a peace treaty with Kenyan in 1995 and ended all support to any remaining rebels in the country.

Refugee Crisis
Beginning in the late 1980s, Kenya was forced to deal with continual waves of refugees from its neighbors. In the north, Somali refugees fueled the Somali insurgency, which ultimately resulted in the disintegration of Kenyan authority in the North Eastern Province. After the collapse of the unified Ugandan state in 1989, several waves of refugees entered western Kenya. While the Kenyan government was able to deal with many of the early waves of refugees, later groups faced significant tribal violence as regional tribes attempted to protect their lands and drive back the refugees. The Kenyan government became gravely concerned with the tribal violence and quickly increased their forces in the area. After several months of violence, the Kenyan Army was finally able to restore order, though tensions remained high.

Along the Tanganyikan border, Kenya was forced to place significant forces in order to manage the refugees and defend the border from any spillover of violence. The dissolution of Tanganyika greatly worried the Kenyan government and they did what they could in order to assist the Tanganyikan government, including joint monitoring of borders and small amounts of aid. Tanganyikan refugees were placed in a series of camps along the southern Kenyan border, though Maasai refugees were largely expelled after their failed revolt in 1993. The continual refugee crises exacerbated ethnic tensions in Kenya and would lead to political unrest later on.

Political Reforms
In the years after Doomsday, Kenya was able to remain relatively stable despite the chaos reigning in most of their neighbors. While most of Kenya's tribes remained largely loyal and greatly aided the Kenyan government in maintaining stability, droughts, refugees, and economic difficulties tested their loyalty repeated. On top of this, the growing authoritarianism of the Kenyan government angered much of the population. In 1988, the mlolongo (queuing) system was implemented, which abolished the secret ballot. In addition, multiparty politics were officially ended as KANU became the only legal political party. After years of internal disputes, the one-party constitutional provision was finally repealed in 1993. However, the new multiparty democracy brought new conflicts as KANU, led by President Moi, sought to link parties to ethnic tension and exploit that tension in order to remain in power. Fierce political disputes and minor violence broke out between Kalenjin, Maasai, and Kikuyu tribes. As new political reforms throughout the late 1990s enabled greater political participation, the violence continually increased. Small militias were attacking tribes in order to incite violence and Moi Administration used repression in order to ensure its victory. However, despite the occasional violence, Kenya remained fairly stable and the democratic process was able to continue. However, discontent continued to grow and agitation for future political change remained.

A New East Africa
During the 1990s, East African nations, primarily the Tanganyikan nations and Kenya, were slowly growing closer together. Kenya had cooperated closely with Tanganyika in an attempt to help maintain their stability, with limited success. Nonetheless, their relationship continued and grew after the Maasai Uprising in Kenya when Tanganyika forced Maasailand to acquiese on threat of invasion. Kenya also established relations with the other Tanganyikan states after the Republic formally renounced their claim to them. It established strong trading relations with Unyamwezi and became the main military supplier to Kagera. Through these growing relations, Kenya was slowly convinced by Tanganyika to join their efforts to reestablish the. Thanks to Kenyan support, the other Tanganyikan states agreed to join and the East African Community was reestablished on July 7, 2001.

End of Moi
By 2002, the conversation had changed from intertribal conflict to generational politics. After several parliamentary defeats, the KANU, and Moi with it, finally lost the 2007 election, which also led to the party's collapse. While the 2007 election was somewhat less violent and generally more open than previous elections, the country still had major political hurdles to overcome.