Kenya on Brink of Civil War

[tekisui]

Kenya on Brink of Civil War

The road from Nairobi to Kisumu, normally a busy artery ferrying goods to Uganda and tourists to the Rift Valley's­flamingo-lined lakes, became an avenue of terror as tribe turned on tribe and neighbour on neighbour.

Brandishing bows and arrows, their heads draped in the traditional leaves of war, fighters from the Kalenjin tribe marauded through a Kikuyu village, razing homes and erecting road blocks.

Despite sporadic flare-ups over the years, Kenya is unused to violence on this scale

"No to peace," chanted the tribesmen, who support Raila Odinga, the presidential challenger.

"We are a country at war," one said as he twirled an axe in his hand. "We will not stop fighting until Raila is declared president."

The victims of Kenya's anger towards President Mwai Kibaki, once regarded as one of Africa's few genuine democrats, now seen as its newest autocrat, were everywhere to see.

In a nearby village, the charred corpse of George Mwaura, a Kikuyu farmer, lay on the floor of his gutted home.

more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/31/wkenya831.xml

Kenya police say opposition rally banned

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Police said on Tuesday they would not allow a planned mass opposition rally on Thursday in Nairobi to protest at polls that returned President Mwai Kibaki to power and triggered violence killing at least 150 people.

"When people are daring enough to commit crimes against other people's lives and property, it is not likely the police can also have the capacity to organise security properly," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told a news conference.

"The ban on political rallies is not without reason."

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN146604.html

Death toll 251 after clashes with police

KISUMU, Kenya: At least 66 bodies have been discovered in Kenya after another night of police raids and tribal killings, bringing the toll for five days of post-election bloodshed to 251.

Forty-eight bodies, 44 of them with fresh bullet wounds, had been taken to the morgue in Kisumu, western Kenya, a mortuary attendant said yesterday.

"In total, since yesterday, we have 101 bodies lying in the mortuary," the attendant said.

In Kisumu's Kondele slum, three uncollected bodies were lying on the ground, said a local resident, John Otieno. "Police went on a killing spree overnight," he said. "They have been shooting indiscriminately at people."

The US and Britain are pressing Kenya to investigate suspected voting irregularities in the election, which returned Mwai Kibaki for a second five-year term as president.

Enraged supporters of the opposition challenger, Raila Odinga, have clashed with police and looted shops owned by Kenyans belonging to Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, paralysing East Africa's biggest economy.

Heavily armed police patrolled the streets of Nairobi yesterday under orders from Mr Kibaki to "deal with troublemakers".

Most deaths so far have come from police firing at protesters, witnesses say, prompting accusations that what is traditionally the region's most stable nation had become a police state.

more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/death-toll-251-after-clashes-with-police/2008/01/01/1198949818297.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. At least 30 people burned to death in church

At least 30 people have been burned to death in a church in western Kenya, after seeking refuge from the mounting violence over last week's elections.

A mob attacked and set fire to the church in the town of Eldoret where hundreds of people were hiding, say police and eyewitness reports.

Dozens more are reported to have been taken to hospital with severe burns.
...
A pastor in Eldoret, Boaz Mutekwa, told the BBC that there were about 400 people taking refuge in the church, which belonged to the Kenya Assemblies of God.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7166932.stm