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Tension in Kenya bloody violence
Punjab Newsline Network
Saturday, 19 January 2008
NAIROBI: Kenyan riot police patrolled the capital on Saturday and
rival tribes faced off in a southwest town, after 23 people were
killed in three days of protests called by the opposition over a
disputed election.
Tension stayed high despite opposition leader Raila Odinga's
statement on Friday that his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)
would take its fight off the streets and use other channels,
including talks with African leaders and economic boycotts.
About 650 people have been killed since President Mwai Kibaki won
a disputed Dec. 27 election, mostly in police action against
banned protests and attacks on tribes seen as backing him.
In Narok town, paramilitaries guarded empty streets while hundreds
of members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe armed with machetes faced
pro-opposition Maasais with bows and arrows, a Reuters reporter
said.
A total of six people died on Friday as the two sides fought, and
homes were torched in the town, gateway to the Maasai Mara game
park. Police had to retreat late on Friday when they ran out of
tear gas.
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