As Kenya Political Stalemate Drags On, U.S. Becomes a Target<br />16, 2018<br />NAIROBI — Supporters of Kenya’s main opposition leader burned an American flag near the United States Embassy<br />and marched to the building’s gate on Friday, two days after youth leaders threatened the American ambassador.<br />At a news conference on Wednesday by the opposition’s youth wing, one leader, Damon Osawa, threatened to occupy Mr. Godec’s residence<br />and promised him "a serious fight." "I’m telling you, it is not going to be a normal day for you," said Mr. Osawa, who also goes by the name Jonah and is the youth leader of Mr. Odinga’s political party.<br />The opposition’s frustration with United States policy has been building for weeks, even as its coalition has begun to crumble amid disagreements surrounding Mr. Odinga’s self-styled inauguration as "the people’s president."<br />That move provoked a state crackdown on dissent, with the government shutting independent television stations for more than a week, arresting opposition politicians, defying court orders to restore TV broadcasts and deporting an opposition lawyer.<br />They say the American government has unfairly criticized the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, and they are impatient with American demands<br />that Mr. Odinga accept the results of last year’s presidential election, which handed his longtime rival, Uhuru Kenyatta, a second term.<br />About a dozen supporters of Mr. Odinga carried signs<br />that said, among other things, "Godec must go" — referring to the United States ambassador, Robert F. Godec — and marched less than half a mile to the embassy.<br />Senior opposition officials have distanced the coalition from the threatening language used at the news conference,<br />and Mr. Lone said youth members were not official spokespeople of the coalition.
