Kenya talks resume amid violence
Kibaki and Odinga meet as deadly clashes erupt in Nairobi and the Rift Valley.
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Both Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s president and Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, said they were committed to reconciliation and called for calm.
The UN special adviser on preventing genocide and mass atrocities has warned that leaders responsible for the post-election violence could be held to account for violations of international law.
However, Francis Deng said he was not saying that anything that had happened so far in Kenya amounted to genocide.
“We’re not talking the g-word at this point, but the kind of atrocities we’re seeing could easily escalate to dangerous levels,” he said.
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“This election has been traumatic for Kenya. The major tribes in the country will have to overcome the feelings of fear and domination” |
The helicopter attack drove the crowd back as police prepared to evacuate about 300 Luo refugees.
Many from the region’s Luo and Luhya communities have fled from gangs of ethnic Kikuyu, Kibaki’s tribe, who had vowed revenge for the killings of members of their community in other parts of the country.
Crowds set fire to homes and thousands of looters smashed shop windows in the town before the helicopter attack on Tuesday.
Politician’s killing
“We suspect a foul hand of our adversaries in this,” Raila Odinga, the ODM leader, said.
Annan hopes the immediate political issues can be resolved in the next few weeks [AFP] |
“Of course there are lots of rumours going around. We hope and expect that investigations are going to be carried out by the law-enforcement agencies, but as you can see, the country is drifting into a state of anarchy.”
“We have launched investigations,” Julius Ndegwa, the Nairobi area police chief, said.
“The two criminals who shot him did not steal the car or anything else.”
“As a consequence of this there has been some fighting taking place in Kibera – one of the biggest slums in Africa and an opposition stronghold – where people on the ground have reported seeing at least two bodies,” Nedege said.