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Kenya opposition vows more
pressure
Associated Press
Friday, January 18th, 2008
By KATHARINE HOURELD -- Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Clashes between
rival tribes armed with machetes and bows and arrows on Friday
marked the third, the bloodiest and what the government hopes is
the last day of opposition protests over Kenya's disputed
presidential election.
With more than 20
people killed since Wednesday, the opposition announced a new
strategy of economic boycotts and strikes to ratchet up
pressure.
The U.S. ambassador, citing "many factors and underlying
grievances," compared Kenya's violence to the 1968 race riots
in the United States.
At a town hall meeting for Americans in Nairobi, Ambassador
Michael Ranneberger said there was "a lot of cheating on both
sides" in the Dec. 27 elections that pitted President Mwai
Kibaki against opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Kibaki insists he won the election, but international and
local observers say the vote count was rigged. Kibaki's power
has become more entrenched and he appears unlikely to accede
to demands he step down. The opposition's best hope may rest
in wrangling a power-sharing agreement that might make Odinga
prime minister or vice president.
The U.S. Embassy estimates that between 23,000 and 100,000
votes separated the two candidates. "You can't have a recount
and you can't have a new election ... so the two sides need to
sit (together) and work things out," Ranneberger said,
suggesting the best solution was for the two to share power.
Friday's deaths raised the toll to at least 22 people killed
in three days of protests called by the opposition - all but
five blamed on police.
A few dozen miles from Kenya's famed Masai Mara game reserve
in Narok, Masai fighters and men from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe
battled for hours with machetes, clubs, swords and bows and
arrows. Five people were killed and 25 wounded, police chief
Patrick Wambani told The Associated Press. Homes and shops
were set ablaze.
Elsewhere, police opened fire on protesters in Nairobi's
Kibera slum, killing six people and wounding at least 10. A
blood-smeared pickup truck carried the bodies of a 15-year-old
girl and a young man killed there, along with wailing
relatives.
"They killed my daughter. Kibaki must die," a woman screamed.
She said her daughter was washing utensils on her doorstep
when police opened fire and she was hit.
Skirmishes between police and
thousands of demonstrators left one person dead in the coastal
tourist town of Mombasa. Kenya Red Cross official Abdallah
Athman said the young man killed "was running away from the
police when he was shot in the back and the bullet went
through his chest."
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Nurses clean up the bullet wound of an unidentified man
moments after he died in hospital of injuries sustained
during clashes between police and demonstrators in the
Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008.
Machete-wielding young slum dwellers in Nairobi skirmished
with riot police on a second day of opposition protests
Thursday, but demonstrations across the edgy East African
nation appeared to be losing steam under a police crackdown.
At least three people were killed. Karel Prinsloo / AP Photo
Kenyan playwright Omtatah Okoiti, is arrested by police,
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, Nairobi, Kenya, after he chained
himself to the gate of the police headquarters, to protest
allegations that police have shot protesters in
demonstrations over the country's disputed presidential
election results. Sayyid Azim / AP Photo
Residents of Kibera slum are arrested during a police
raid in Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, Jan. 17,
2008. Machete-wielding young slum dwellers in Nairobi
skirmished with riot police on a second day of opposition
protests Thursday, but demonstrations across the edgy East
African nation appeared to be losing steam under a police
crackdown. At least five people were killed. Darko Bandic /
AP Photo
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Odinga, the opposition leader,
visited the hospital to see those wounded in the Kibera shootings
and condemned the police, saying they "have executed innocent
Kenyans - people who they vowed to serve and protect."
"We are not going to confront the police with their bullets, no,
we will take people out of the streets ... We have other powers"
to pressure the government, he said.
Overall, the rallies' strength had largely evaporated from the
tens of thousands who turned out immediately after the elections.
More than 600 people have been killed in Kenya's election violence,
according to a government commission, the worst turmoil since a
failed 1982 coup attempt in which Odinga participated.
Kenyan police released their own figures Friday, saying 510 people
had died in the election violence, including 82 killed by police.
Police, who had earlier denied charges they had killed anyone
since Kenya descended into turmoil, have recently been more
forthright, and critical of protesters.
The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in a statement
that police were behind dozens of killings and that they opened
fire on both looters and opposition protesters under an unofficial
"shoot-to-kill" policy.
Friday's police statement said officers were dealing with "deception
and manipulation of jobless people by their leaders. Some have
been coached into committing crimes" by leaders "exploiting
ethnicity, religion and subjective politics."
Seven European donor nations as well as Australia and Canada said
Friday they were "deeply worried by the deteriorating human rights
situation. "We have seen clear and disturbing footage of the use
of lethal force on unarmed demonstrators," the seven said.
Opposition spokesman Salim Lone said Odinga would call for a "boycott
of companies owned by hard-liners who are around Mr. Kibaki,"
including one of Kenya's biggest banks, a prominent bus company
and a major dairy producer. Lone also said they would work with
unions "to organize strikes in selected industries." He declined
to give details.
Later Friday, Odinga met with business leaders, but neither would
speak to reporters afterward.
"We are completely ready to negotiate in good faith. We want peace
in the country," Lone said. "Our people are suffering."
Kibaki's government has made similar statements, but both sides
appear recalcitrant and envoys from the U.S. and the African Union
have failed to even bring Odinga and Kibaki together for talks.
A group of former African presidents trying to mediate -
Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa, Mozambique's Joachim Chissano and
Botswana's Ketumile Masire - met with both Odinga and Kibaki,
Odinga told reporters after the meeting Friday.
Kenya has the biggest economy in East Africa and its ports and
roads serve landlocked neighbors. The United States and other
donors consider Kenya a vital partner in the war on terrorism and
a regional economic and military powerhouse whose stability has
stood in stark contrast to war-ravaged neighbors such as Sudan and
Somalia, where Islamic extremism is rife.
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