Dear Friend,

      As political turmoil and bloodshed continue in Kenya in the wake of December 2007's disputed general elections, members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Kenya, who number over 133,000, have united with a message of peace and a set of appeals and recommendations to Kenyan leaders, their fellow Kenyans, and Christians and other religious groups. Friends Journal, the monthly magazine of Quaker thought and life, today published a series of reports from Kenya on its website, friendsjournal.org, and in the March 2008 issue of Friends Journal. The reports can be found at: friendsjournal.org/reports-epistles-situation-in-kenya.

      "The Friends Church in Kenya and Friends around the world are concerned with what has befallen Kenya," reads the open letter from the Kenyan National Quaker Peace Conference. "As a peace church, we are horrified by the continued wanton destruction of human life and property."

      Midikira Churchill Kibisu, the Presiding Clerk of Friends Church in Kenya, writes on behalf of the Church: "Refusal to fight with weapons is not surrender. We are not passive when threatened by the greedy, the cruel, the tyrant, and the unjust. We will struggle to remove the causes of impasse and confrontation by every means of nonviolent resistance available. We must start with our own hearts and minds."

       "The terrible violence in Kenya poses a grave threat to one of Africa's most stable nations. We feel it is our obligation as publishers of Quaker thought to help our Kenyan brothers and sisters spread the Quaker message of understanding and peaceful resolution of conflict," Susan Corson-Finnerty, Publisher and Executive Editor of Friends Journal, said.