Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I send our best wishes to the people of Kenya as you celebrate 53 years of independence on December 12. As you mark the establishment of Kenya as a Republic, let us also celebrate the strong partnership between our two nations.

"The United States will continue to support Kenya’s ongoing effort to build a prosperous and democratic society that allows all of Kenya’s people to flourish. Congratulations on this special day, and best wishes for a year filled with peace and prosperity."</s>Pressure is piling on Kenya to rescind its decision to withdraw from the South Sudan peace process as the United Nations and regional leaders reach out to other countries to contribute to regional protection force.

The heads of state from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) met on December 9 in Addis Ababa to identify the source of the 4,000 regional protection force that had been approved by the UN in August.

Kenya was one of the three countries that had earlier volunteered to contribute troops besides Ethiopia and Rwanda, but President Uhuru Kenyatta early last month pulled out 1,165 troops within the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) protesting the sacking of force commander Lt-Gen Mogoa Kimani Ondieki.

President Kenyatta said Kenya would stay out of the entire South Sudan peace process, despite the country being the rapporteur of the August 2015 South Sudan peace agreement. The Kenyan troops in Unmiss have since been replaced by 850 troops from Bangladesh.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The EastAfrican that Nairobi had accepted to play other roles in the South Sudan peace process in the future following appeals from the region, but remained adamant that it would not contribute troops for a protection force under UN command.

Algeria, which is a member of the Igad-Plus representing North Africa, is considered as the likely replacement for Kenya. Other Igad Plus members are Nigeria, Chad and South Africa.

Kenya is maintaining a delicate balance between staying away from the South Sudan process and at the same time seeking the support of the region to back Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed for the post of African Union Commission chairperson.

According to the South Sudan Permanent Repetitive to the AU James Morgan, Kenya’s pulling out of the regional and international stage does not help because the country cannot run away from the issues affecting its backyard.

“South Sudan in looking at Kenya as its big brother and it is our hope that Kenya will reconsider its position. Kenya cannot runway from its own shadow,” said Mr Morgan.

During attack in July, Lt-Gen Ondieki, who had not been inducted into the mission, is said to have asked an incident commander “to react,” as is the norm within the UN peacekeeping structure.</s>NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - A fireball from an oil lorry engulfed vehicles on one of Kenya’s main highways, killing at least 42 people late on Saturday, a rescue worker at the scene said.

The tanker lorry rammed into vehicles north of the central town of Naivasha then exploded, an official with the National Disaster Management Authority said.

“More bodies are still trapped inside the burned vehicles,” Red Cross volunteer Moha Maris told Reuters.

The government gave a lower death toll. “The information that we have is that 13 vehicles were involved and so far we have retrieved 33 bodies,” Irungu Nyakera, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, told a news conference.

An official in Naivasha said 50 people were being treated in several hospitals for burns, eight of them in a serious condition.

In 2009, more than 100 people burned to death near the central town of Molo after a lorry carrying petrol caught fire.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Cars on fire after Kenyan oil tanker explosion

A fuel tanker has exploded on a road in Kenya, killing at least 39 people.

The tanker, heading to Uganda, appeared to lose control as it headed downhill before crashing into other vehicles in Naivasha, north-west of the capital Nairobi, said Mwachi Pius Masai, of the National Disaster Management Unit.

Among the dead are 11 General Service Unit officers, a paramilitary police force which provides VIP protection, including to the president.

Another 10 people were injured.

"This is a serious chemical incident. Police and other rescuers are still on the scene... clearing debris," Mr Masai told the Associated Press news agency on Sunday.

Eyewitness Moses Nandalwe told the BBC a huge fireball had quickly engulfed other vehicles on the busy road.

He feared that many people who had gathered at the scene of the crash were also caught in the inferno.

Image copyright AFP Image caption At least 11 vehicles were caught up in the blaze

Another eyewitness, Peter Kimani, told the Associated Press the lorry was going at "high speed and lost control after hitting speed bumps".

Among the 11 burnt vehicles was a matatu minibus with 14 passengers. All of them died.

Correspondents say the accident has happened at a time when doctors are on strike, severely limiting services in government hospitals.

According to local newspaper the Daily Nation, union officials had been calling those on strike to urge them to go into work and help with the disaster.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta released a statement on Sunday morning calling the incident "a grizzly and unnecessary accident. The tanker responsible for the deaths should not have been on that particular road at that hour".

Mr Kenyatta added an investigation has already begun.

Kenya is struggling to reduce the number of deaths on its roads. According to figures released by Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority, 1,574 people died in road accidents during the first half of 2016.</s>It encapsulates our independence as a country, our sovereignty as a nation and a people and our ability to determine our affairs. This year is no different.

In the run-up to today’s celebrations I attended discussions organised by Uraia Trust, which focuses on civic education in Kenya. The theme of the discussions was nationhood. The discussions dovetailed with the celebrations we have every Jamhuri Day.

Next August’s General Election has occupied our minds as citizens this year. This is because of the place it plays in our governance.

As a consequence, a stranger coming to Kenya would at first sight think that all our problems start and end with elections. This should not be the case.

While elections are an important part of our democratic process, building a nation and exercising our sovereignty cannot be reduced to elections only.

Secondly, during the debate at the Uraia forum there was a conversation about our elected leaders. The concern was that leaders are subverting the cause of nationhood.

Those who took this position argued that resolving our challenges requires us to fix the leadership challenges. While true, this argument is only half the picture.

The 2010 Constitution is hailed as a transformative. Indeed, it is. However, Kenyans are still unhappy with the pace at which transformation is taking place. This is where the debate about leadership is normally situated.

In truth, though, nationhood is much more than what those elected to lead the country do. It is much more about what citizens do.

At the height for the struggle for a new constitution, the term ‘‘Wanjiku’’ was coined to depict the ordinary Kenyan. The essence was more than just a participatory concern. It was the recognition that at the heart of creating a different and better Kenya, was the place of the citizenry.

Mahmood Mamdani, in a book titled ‘‘Citizens and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism’’, speaks to the question of meaning and content of being a citizen.

It is important to realise that to create a nation requires active and engaged citizens. Leaders and institutions alone cannot create a transformed nation.

Over the last one week the Education secretary has received wide acclaim for the manner in which he handled this year’s primary and high school national examinations.

I asked a group of religious leaders what he had changed. It was neither laws nor institutions. All he brought was a commitment and dedication to do the right thing.</s>Vehicles damaged in an oil tanker explosion are seen outside the town of Naivasha, Kenya, on December 11, 2016 (AFP Photo/Simon MAINA)

Nairobi (AFP) - More than 30 people died when a tanker carrying inflammable materials crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha in Kenya late on Saturday night, officials said.

"At 5am the death toll was 33 but the search is still on," said Pius Masai of Kenya's National Disaster Unit. He added that rescuers were continuing to comb the area for bodies. Masai said the accident involved "over 11 vehicles burnt" when the tanker rammed into others on the road and caught fire.

Kenya's Red Cross said the driver had lost control of the tanker which then crashed into other vehicles and "burst into flames".

A passenger minibus and a police truck were among the vehicles gutted by the ferocious flames.

The accident occurred at Karai at the bottom of a long downward hill on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway, the main cross-country road leading from Kenya's capital to the west of the country and on to Uganda.

Police and witnesses said the truck with Ugandan registration plates was travelling fast when it hit a speed bump and then lost control ramming into others.

At least 50 people injured in the accident have been received at a private hospital in Naivasha.

Witnesses described a fireball engulfing the vehicles with passengers inside. After fire fighters put out the flames rescue workers collected bodies from among the wreckage of charred cars strewn across the highway.

"It's a terrible incident, people are burnt, some in their cars and others as they tried to escape," said a police officer on the scene.

George Rono was driving on the highway when he saw the tanker crash into other vehicles.

"We survived by luck because we saw it happen," Rono said. "We heard vehicles hooting simultaneously then a loud burst that was followed by fire, that's when I swerved my car and jumped out, when fire started spreading, but luckily it didn't get to where we were."

Rono's passenger, who did not want to be named, described the intensity of the blaze.

"The fire was so huge you couldn't move closer until the fire brigade came and helped put it out. All the vehicles around here were burning," he said.

Some survivors were treated on the scene by civilians and the Red Cross while others were taken to hospital. Corpses were put in body bags and loaded into pick-up trucks.

"It is like a horror movie," said Jane Muthoni, a shopkeeper who works close to the scene of the accident and rushed there soon after it happened to try to help people escape their cars.

"It will haunt me for a long time, imagining that huge fire where people were burning, and now I have seen some seated in their vehicles dead," she said.

The busy highway is notorious for deadly accidents. In 2009 over 100 people were killed and 200 injured elsewhere on the same road after a petrol tanker overturned and local people had gathered to collect the leaking fuel when a fire ignited.

Given the scale of Saturday's disaster it is expected that the death toll may rise. The accident comes as Kenya is in the throes of a nationwide doctors' strike.</s>Around 11:30 p.m. local time, a truck driver heading from Nairobi, Kenya's capital and largest city, to Naivasha lost control going downhill, officials said.

The tanker rammed into nearly a dozen vehicles, according to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, and exploded. KBC reported that the tanker carried "highly flammable chemicals."

"This is a serious chemical incident," said Mwachi Pius Masai, deputy director and spokesman with the National Disaster Management Unit. "The NDMU have joined search and rescue operations."

Mwachi added that authorities have extended search and rescue operations to the surrounding area to make sure no one wandered off into the nearby bushes during the evacuation.</s>Nairobi. More than 30 people died when a tanker carrying inflammable materials crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha in Kenya late on Saturday night, officials said.

“At 5am the death toll was 33 but the search is still on,” said Pius Masai of Kenya’s National Disaster Unit. He added that rescuers were continuing to comb the area for bodies. Masai said the accident involved “over 11 vehicles burnt” when the tanker rammed into others on the road and caught fire.

Kenya’s Red Cross said the driver had lost control of the tanker which then crashed into other vehicles and “burst into flames”.

The accident occurred at Karai at the bottom of a long downward hill on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway, the main cross-country road leading from Kenya’s capital to the west of the country and on to Uganda.

Police and witnesses said the truck with Ugandan registration plates was travelling fast when it hit a speed bump and then lost control ramming into others.

At least 50 people injured in the accident have been received at a private hospital in Naivasha.

Witnesses described a fireball engulfing the vehicles with passengers inside. After fire fighters put out the flames rescue workers collected bodies from among the wreckage of charred cars strewn across the highway.

“It’s a terrible incident, people are burnt, some in their cars and others as they tried to escape,” said a police officer on the scene.

George Rono was driving on the highway when he saw the tanker crash into other vehicles. “We survived by luck because we saw it happen,” Rono said. “We heard vehicles hooting simultaneously then a loud burst that was followed by fire, that’s when I swerved my car and jumped out, when fire started spreading, but luckily it didn’t get to where we were.”

Rono’s passenger, who did not want to be named, described the intensity of the blaze.

“The fire was so huge you couldn’t move closer until the fire brigade came and helped put it out. All the vehicles around here were burning,” he said.</s>NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - A fireball from an oil tanker on one of Kenya's main highways has engulfed several vehicles and killed at least 25 people, a Red Cross official said on Sunday.

"We have so far collected 25 bodies from the scene of the accident after a lorry heading to Uganda lost control and rammed into several vehicles," said Red Cross official Felister Kioko at the scene.

The accident happened late on Saturday night 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the central town of Naivasha.

In 2009, more than 100 people burned to death near the central town of Molo after a lorry carrying petrol caught fire.</s>A man looks at the wreckage of a passenger minibus following an accident near Naivasha, Kenya Sunday, Dec. 11, 2017. A tanker carrying chemical gas slammed into other vehicles and burst into flames on a major road in Kenya, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A tanker carrying chemical gas slammed into other vehicles and burst into flames on a major road in Kenya, killing more than 30 people and injuring 10, officials said Sunday.

The vehicle lost control while going downhill on the road from the capital of Nairobi to Naivasha late Saturday, said Mwachi Pius Mwachi, the deputy director and communications officer for the National Disaster Management Unit.

"This is a serious chemical incident," Mwachi said. "Police and other rescuers are still on the scene ... clearing debris."

Felestus Kioko, the Red Cross coordinator of the region, said more than 30 bodies had been recovered. Police said that 10 people were injured. Eleven vehicles were burnt in the accident.

"The lorry was in high speed and lost control after hitting speed bumps an ended up ramming into oncoming cars," said witness Peter Kimani.

Kenya has struggled to reduce the rising number of road accidents as more people acquire vehicles in the country's growing middle class.

In 2013, the government re-introduced breathalyzers to limit accidents blamed on drunk drivers.

According to the National Transport and Safety Authority 1,574 died in road accidents in the first half of this year, 86 more deaths than in the same period last year.
An oil tanker explodes on a main highway near Naivasha, Kenya, killing at least 42 people, according to the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre.