Kenya: Ominous Oaths

When a black Kenyan these days says, "I'm going to Gatundu for a cup of tea," his friends know that it may be a cover-up for something else. Gatundu is the residence of Kenya's President Jomo Kenyatta, and "tea drinking" is really oath swearing. Unlike the tribesmen who swore secret oaths to join the Mau Mau rebellion against foreigners in the 1950s, Kikuyu by the thousands are swearing oaths against fellow Kenyans in the President's backyard.

This ominous new outbreak of tribal tension was set off by last month's assassination of Tom Mboya, who was the Minister of Economic...