How the world changes in 24 hours. Voice of America reports:

“The United States Monday appealed for calm in riot-torn Kenya and urged the prompt resolution of irregularities from last Thursday’s presidential election. The State Department backed away from a statement Sunday congratulating incumbent President Mwaki Kibaki as the election winner.“

The New York Times, meanwhile, has shoved Kenya off its front page, and well down the international agenda. But at least it has moved away from its slightly patronising (and, I suspect, misleading) “tribal fighting” line of yesterday. It now acknowledges the rioting is along ethnic lines, but was sparked by the “knot of rage [that] seems to be moving across the country” about the electoral fraud. No excuse, of course, but nor is the violence random.

The paper appears not to be reporting the dramatic change in the State department’s view of the elections. I daresay we should be grateful they’ve changed their position at all, even if the shift is mostly unnoticed.

Some of you may be wondering why I’m so interested in Kenya – especially when, it seems, US media is already treating this as a story of distant fighting in a country not to be cared about. Well, we were there in the late summer of last year, and there’s nothing like seeing a country and meeting a few of its people (and seeing the desperate, grating poverty of much of the population, despite our cosseting as western tourists) to sharpen your views on a place. Even in August, they were excited about the elections. It appeared to be a country improving fast – albeit from a very low base. No more.

I’m happy to say that UK media is doing a better job of explaining why Kenya should really trouble us. This leader, from the Christmas (07) edition of The Economist, already looks absurdly optimistic, but shows you what has burned away.

“Kenya may not be as sexy as South Africa, but as a haven of stability and prosperity in eastern Africa the quality of its democracy matters… Whoever wins, what matters next is that the result should be accepted by the loser and Kenyans should be seen to endorse the principle of peaceful competition… if a country as complex and poor as Kenya can hold genuine elections without civil strife, then any country in Africa can. This is its chance to set an example.”

And, as it all goes to hell, this is why we should continue to pay attention.

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