The Politics of Home: Displacement and Resettlement in Postcolonial Kenya

Abstract

This article examines Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Operation Return Home), the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) following Kenya's 2007/8 post-election violence. In spite of the humanitarian nature of the operation, human rights monitors documented egregious abuses, most notably the use of force to close down camps. To address why the government was so intent upon immediate closure of camps, I examine the design and implementation of the operation in its historical context: placing Rudi Nyumbani at the intersection of trends involving land, ethnicity and class. I argue that protection of inequitable, colonial institutions – particularly institutions of land ownership – motivated the government to implement Rudi Nyumbani in the manner and the timing that it did. Existing literature analyses the role of Kenya's governing-elite in instigating violence, but stops short of examining its role in the humanitarian response. I seek to bridge the literature on humanitarianism with that on Kenyan politics.