More than 80 people are still encamped in the grounds of the Cathedral of the Holy Ghost in Mombasa after their homes on the coast were burned down in August.
Their makeshift tents are dwarfed by the concrete and glass high-rise buildings of the city centre. It is an unusual sight for Africa, where most refugee and displaced persons' camps are found on hillsides or strewn across open countryside.
"We've been told to go back to Likoni by the authorities," says Ruth Adhiambo (32), an upcountry fish seller who settled at Likoni on the Kenyan coast with her husband and children four years ago.
"But we're afraid because of the elections. We'd prefer to stay in town until they're over."
The August attacks, in which gangs shot and hacked to death at least 100 people, are widely believed to have been politically motivated. Now, with general elections due on December 29th, many people fear that violence could erupt again.
People like Mrs Adhiambo are resented for two reasons. Firstly they are outsiders who have managed to establish small but successful businesses on the coast. Secondly, they are from ethnic groups known for their opposition to the ruling Kanu party of President Daniel arap Moi; Mrs Adhiambo, for example, is a Luo whose sympathies lie with the Luo-dominated National Democratic Party.
In Kenya's first multi-party elections in 1992, Kanu swept the boards in Coast Province - or rather it won everywhere in the province apart from Mombasa, where it secured only one constituency. Up-country people are held responsible by Kanu hardliners for the government's defeat in Likoni and two other neighbouring constituencies.
"There's no doubt it was local Kanu MPs who incited the violence here in August," says Father Ernest Mutua, Vicar General of the Catholic diocese of Mombasa.
"It was well organised and the attackers had been trained. There will almost definitely be more fighting in coming weeks."
The trouble-makers partially achieved their ends. Though many of those displaced by the violence have returned to the coastal townships, countless thousands who were registered to vote on the coast have returned to their homelands in the interior.
Mrs Adhiambo's brother and nephew, both of whom sustained machete wounds in the August attacks, have gone back to Nyanza in Western Province. They will be unable to cast their votes in the forthcoming poll unless they return to the coast where they are registered.
In other respects, however, the attacks on the coast backfired. The raids were followed by a series of brutally repressive swoops by the security forces. In these operations, locals and upcountry people suffered alike.
"There's no doubt Kanu will lose votes because of the abuses by the security forces," says Father Mutua, who is distributing leaflets exhorting his congregation not to resort to violence in the election run-up.
The violence had another serious impact clearly unforeseen by those who orchestrated it. It devastated the tourist industry on which the local economy depends. Hotel bookings have plummeted and thousands of jobs have been lost. This should be the high season with hotel occupancy running at about 90 per cent. Instead, there is only 40 per cent occupancy and that is at budget rates.
"The fall in tourism is a direct result of the violence and the way it was covered in the media," says Mr Jim Flannery, an Irish adviser to the Kenya Tourist Board.
"We've recently been to Europe talking to tour operators and now we need to get some positive stories out about Kenya."
Although no tourists were targeted in the August violence, disturbances broke out close to a number of popular resorts. Not surprisingly, few visitors want to risk the safety of their families in a picture-postcard paradise where thugs wield their machetes with impunity.