Election violence in Kenya - Lillian's story

A disputed election on 27 December 2007 - which returned President Mwai Kibaki to power - sparked widespread violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 300,000 people. Save the Children estimates that more than half of those displaced are children.

The violence stirred up ethnic grievances over land and poverty that have troubled Kenya since independence in 1963. There are 42 ethnic groups in the country: 22% of the population is Kikuyu, 14% Luhya, 13% Luo and 12% Kalenjin.

Forced from her home in Baringo, northern Rift Valley, Lillian now lives in a tent in Eldoret's Ask Showground together with an estimated 13,700 men, women and children. All have been displaced by the post-election violence.

"The Nandi [another ethnic group] chased us from our homes. They arrived on 30 December in trucks. They came at night, about 150 men. We heard them coming - we heard screaming and shouting. I didn't know them.

"They fired bows with poisoned arrows. They threw petrol bombs. They burned the houses of our neighbours. They burned our crops and our harvest.

"We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs. I wanted to stay with Abraham, but he told me to run. He didn't think he could protect me so I ran - leaving him there in the flames and the fighting. We spent that night hiding in the forest - me and my mother, my two brothers and our nine-month-old son Shadrack.

"I don't care what tribe people come from. I just want us to be together. We are very much in love. We are a family now.

"Abraham wants to come here and live with me in the showground, but he is afraid that the Kukuyu majority here will beat him in retaliation for what his tribe has done to other Kukuyu. I want to go home, but the men told us they didn't want other tribes living there. They told us they would kill us if we came back.

"We will be together - but not here. It is not safe here and we can't go back to our village. We need to find a new place - a new home."

On 28 February 2008, President Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement to set up a coalition government. The deal, which will see the creation of a prime minister post for Mr Odinga, follows month-long negotiations.

"This political settlement must move quickly to address the issue of people displaced by violence," says David Wightwick, Save the Children's Kenya emergencies adviser. "As a start, the government must move to protect all those at risk from violence, focusing on those who chose to return home and those who are left in camps."

Save the Children's main priority is making sure that children displaced by the violence are protected from harm and have access to educational and recreational activities.

Find out more information about our work in emergencies.