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Kenya Post Westgate: Rebuilding Community & Building Peace Panel Discussion
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
12:00pm-2:00pm
Metropolitan Building 5145
Sixty-Seven people lost their lives and nearly 200 individuals were injured in the recent attacks at the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya. While the siege is now over, the task of recovering from the ordeal and rebuilding community in Kenya still remains. This is underscored by the recent events in the coastal city of Mombasa, which has witnessed a surge of violence since the events in Nairobi, with assassination of cleric Ibrahim "Rogo" Omar and three other people. A similar killing in 2012 sparked days of rioting in Mombasa. The United States, Great Britain and Israel are said to be providing support to Kenya’s government and troops in their attempts to “hunt down” the rebels. International media and pundits speculate the attacker’s motives and the path that the country, region and world should pursue to recover from and prevent future attacks. However, little has been heard from local peace activists on the ground in Kenya.
Communities Without Boundaries International, together with Search for Common Ground, will host a discussion on the where things stand today in the East African nation. The panel will include several prominent community activists and leaders working on peacebuilding and development in Kenya, providing a platform for local Kenyan voices regarding the crisis and the work that is being done by the peacebuilding community to find peaceful alternatives for resolution and reconciliation. Join us for this discussion live from Kenya.
Moderator:
Maneshka Eliatamby, PhD: Vice President, Communities Without Boundaries International & Adjunct Faculty, S-CAR
Panelists:
Johnny J. Mack: President, Communities Without Boundaries International, Inc.
Chris Owalla: President, Community Initiative Action Group, Kenya
David Osiany: Founder, Youth-Lead Africa
Ambassador Elkanah Odembo: Former Kenyan Ambassador to US
Country Director, Search for Common Ground-Kenya