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Five refugees die in Kenya
attack
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Five people have died in western Kenya, in apparent ethnic
violence linked to opposition protests against the outcome of last
month's presidential election.
The deaths
occurred when a group of youths attacked a refugee camp in
Rift Valley Province, police said.
It came as the opposition ODM announced that it would resume
protest rallies on Thursday.
It had originally called off protests in favour of a boycott
of companies that back President Mwai Kibaki.
"We are resuming our peaceful public rallies on Thursday," the
chairman of the Orange Democratic Movement, Henry Kosgey, told
reporters.
"We will use all available means to bring down the Kibaki
regime."
But EU development commissioner Louis Michel, who is in
Nairobi for talks with both sides, said such meetings were
dangerous and that Kenya needed a "ceasefire" and "active
silence".
Post-election violence has left more than 600 people dead,
including at least 28 in the last four days. |
Nairobi is relatively calm,
with large numbers of riot police
Hundreds of thousands have
been displaced by the violence
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Weeks of violence
Police said a group of armed ethnic Kalenjins, who generally
support the opposition, attacked displaced people from the Kikuyu
tribe, which backs Mr Kibaki, in the Rift Valley village of
Kipkeleon.
Hundreds of people have gathered in the camp, 180km (112 miles)
north-west of Nairobi, after three weeks of violence in the Rift
Valley.
Meanwhile correspondents say most of the main trouble spots were
calm on Saturday, as international mediation efforts continued.
ODM leader Raila Odinga has demanded a re-run of the election,
which he says was rigged by the government.
And on Friday Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights cast
doubt on the vote, listing a catalogue of irregularities.
Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to
lead mediation efforts when he arrives on Tuesday.
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