The PNU party won according to the results, but the elections have been discredited due to fraud, according to British and American diplomats. Kibaki is their candidate and he is an incumbant. His tribe, the Kikayu, is the largest in Kenya, but they don’t even have 25% of the population. Odingo, is the candidate for the ODM party. He is part of the Luo tribe, which is only 13% of the population. Neither of the candidates are Muslim, nor is the majority of Kenyans. I believe that there are only about 10% Muslims in the country.
The violence originated in response to losing and the fraudulent election. It has since been retaliated by the
Kikayu.
This is the Muslim issue: Odinga signed a memorandum of understanding with Muslims in certain areas. He did not release the document, and then someone released a phony one, which claimed that Odingo would support Sharia law. This isn’t something that the Kenyan people want, and Odingo lost many points in the polls. He finally released the real memorandum of understanding and it only said that the Muslim community would support him, in return for his respect of their rights under the current constitution. It was similar to other MOUs that he had established with other minority groups in the country.
I don’t think this is a Muslim/Christian conflict. The Kenyan people have seen what has happened in Sudan and Nigeria with many states having Sharia. They do not want this. There are many issues here, and some are long standing. There are something like 40 tribes there, and many different religions as well.
My personal opinion is that outside Muslims may be encouraging the violence and dissent on both sides, in order to cause instability. Instability would provide an opportunity for the Muslims.
This is information that I got from a close friend whose family is still in Kenya. He returned in Mid-December from 6 week visit. He is Kikayu. I apologize for the long post.