What happens in Africa...

While we focus on our economic woes and presidential candidate pony shows... Kenya, which used to be considered a very stable African nation, is in the midst of severe ethnic conflict. Another Kenyan opposition leader was killed. The government says it was an illicit love triangle, the opposition that it was an assasination. At this point, I'm not sure it matters who is telling the truth... perception is that this is quickly denegrating into severe civil unrest.

The top American diplomat for Africa said Wednesday that some of the violence that has swept across Kenya in the past month has been ethnic cleansing intended to drive people from their homes, but that it should not be considered genocide.

Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, is the top American diplomat illuded to above. I feel compelled to ask the question as to what is the difference between "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide?" I know the semantics of the argument would be something along the lines of ethnic cleansing has a goal of displacing one group from a definied geographic area while genocide has the goal of erradication of existence... but come on, how far apart are the two? We didn't do anything in Rwanda, we haven't done nearly enough in Sudan, is Kenya the next to get overlooked by American Foreign Policy?