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U.S. shies away from 'ethnic cleansing' label

WASHINGTON - The State Department backed away Wednesday from its top African envoy's description of postelection violence in Kenya as "ethnic cleansing," saying it was too early to characterize the situation in such terms.

In comments aimed at easing emotional reactions to the phrase and potential comparisons to Rwanda's genocide and the ongoing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, department spokesman Sean McCormack indicated that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer had been speaking for herself when she used the term "ethnic cleansing."

"She made some comments based on her firsthand assessment from a trip several weeks ago," McCormack told reporters, refusing to repeat the words, which refer to targeted attacks on and forcible displacements of specific ethnicities by people from other ethnic groups.

"Ethnic cleansing," a phrase that first gained wide usage during the Balkans wars after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, is not a legal term but is regarded by many as a step below or precursor to "genocide," and as such carries significant symbolic weight.

Frazer's comments came amid thus far unsuccessful international efforts led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to press Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, a member of the Kikuyu tribe, and his top political rival Raila Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, to end three weeks of increasingly bloody violence that has shattered the country's image as an oasis of stability in volatile East Africa.

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 01:55:09]