'We have lost money, we will earn it back'

"We expect the Indian government to reach out to us. We are tense and waiting for a solution to Kenya's political problems. But in case of any eventuality if we need to return to India, the government must help us," Kenyan-born Indian Dinesh Dhanani, 64, president of the Visha Oswal community, told rediff.com from his residence in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

The Oswals are sub-caste of Gujarati-speaking people who migrated to Kenya in the end of 19 century from villages around Jamnagar. A large number of properties belonging to the Oswals and Kutchi Gujaratis have been looted in the recent ethnic unrest in Kenya. 

The damage to Gujarati-owned property has forced Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He requested [] the prime minister to take up the issue with the Kenyan government and ensure safety of the Gujarati community there.

Kenya is witnessing bloody riots since last week in which more than 300 people have been killed and more than a lakh people have been evacuated from their homes. Property losses are estimated to be in the millions of dollars.

"More than 75 percent people of Indian-origin living in Kisumu (a port city in western Kenya) have suffered losses," Paresh Shah, owner of a textile shop, told rediff.com from his home in that city. He said more than 3,000 people of India origin live there but most female members have been shifted to safer places. Kisumu has witnessed the maximum violence.

Shah said he was anxious and feeling unsafe. "The rioters came to my shop also but they could not break open the locks. Most of the shops belonging to Asians have been looted. We are living in uncertainty. My mother and wife have left in a chartered flight to Nairobi."

On Wednesday, the Gujarati community of Kisumu organised chartered flights to shift their womenfolk as regular commercial flights have stopped.

"The huge shopping complexes and retail shops owned by Gujaratis have been looted," Shah said. "Most supermarkets have been gutted including big names like Tesco, which are managed by Gujaratis."

On new year's eve, Kisumu was a ghost town. According to the manager of a huge textile firm, "The Kenyan authorities said that anyone attempting to join the demonstrations would face arrest and in the slums the police implemented a shoot-on-sight policy.  There is absolutely no food on store shelves in Kisumu."

People told rediff.com that many Indian shops have been looted and Indians have been beaten and threatened in their homes.

No trucks are allowed into Kisumu, no flights are available and there is no fuel.

The situation is improving in the last 48 hours in Kisumu but the villages are still unsafe for Indians, sources said.

Violence erupted when the opposition party claimed vote rigging in the December 27 presidential election. The political tussle turned into the ethnic unrest. The violence erupted on December 29 and the police and even the army were hardly prepared for it.

Indians, particularly Gujaratis, were the target of angry mobs since they have enviable control over the economy of the country.

In recent past, scandals involving two Gujaratis have affected the community's reputation.

"Gujaratis have a glorious history of migration into the African continent. They have been largely hard-working and honest. But the financial scandals involving businessmen Ketan Somiaya and Kamlesh Pattani have hurt that reputation," says C B Patel, editor-publisher of the London-based community paper Gujarat Samachar. Patel is also an immigrant from Africa and his paper also caters to people in Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya.

Patel added, "Somiaya's company Dolphin indulged in large-scale illegalities and he was declared bankrupt recently. While Pattani's scandalous fake exports of gold jewelry has been investigated," he said. 

The Pattani-owned Goldenberg scandal was also a political scandal involving even former president Daniel Arap Moi and the current government of Mwai Kibaki against whom the current rebellion is aimed at.

It was alleged that Pattani bribed people in the government to siphon off money that could have amounted to nearly 10 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

The financial loss to around 35,000 Gujaratis (living in the country) have been so enormous that they have tried to bring political balance immediately. Many Indians, who have high stakes in economy of Kenya, have already declared their support to the opposition Orange Democratic Movement led by Raila Odinga.

The ODM is up in arms against President Kibaki's disputed re-election. Kibaki's supporters are Kenya's predominant Kikuyu tribe while Odinga is backed by the Luo tribe. Both have accused each other of ethnic cleansing in the post-poll unrest while Indians have been caught in the crossfire.

C B Patel said, "The confrontation among the Kenyan tribes is the legacy of the colonial past. Britishers divide them to rule."

Whoever is seen to be siding with the 'corrupt' ruling political class is targeted by the mobs.

A respected leader of the Oswal community in Mumbai is trying to help his community men in Kenya. When he asked a relative in Kisumu to return to India, he refused.

He said from his home in Kisumu, "We are alive. We have lost money only. We will earn it again."

Reflecting the irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit of the community, he told his uncle, "Kaka, anhiyan paisa che! (Uncle, the money is right here)."