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Annan meets Odinga as fresh
Kenya clashes erupt
Sun Jan 27, 2008
By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - More ethnic clashes erupted in Kenya's Rift
Valley on Sunday as former U.N. chief Kofi Annan met opposition
leader Raila Odinga to try to mediate an end to a month-long
crisis that has killed 750.
A Reuters reporter in Naivasha saw one man dragged from a minibus
and beaten to death by a mob as members of President Mwai Kibaki's
Kikuyu tribe fought running battles with Luos and Kalenjins who
backed his rival Raila Odinga.
Thick smoke poured from torched homes and burnt vehicles blocked a
main road through the town.
The tribal violence threatens to undermine a mediation mission by
Annan, who was holding talks with Odinga in Nairobi.
The former U.N. chief visited other areas in the Rift Valley on
Saturday that have been hit by clashes and warned that turmoil
over Kibaki's disputed re-election had now evolved into something
worse with "gross and systematic" rights abuses.
"Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral
problem. It's much broader and much deeper," he said.
"We have to tackle the fundamental issues that underlie what we
are witnessing today. If we do not do that, three, five years from
now we may be back at this."
The sudden slide of Naivasha and another previously quiet tourist
town, Nakuru, into pitched tribal battles has deepened growing
anxiety since December 27 polls cast the country into chaos.
Hundreds have died in the turmoil and quarter of a million more
have been forced from their homes. Meanwhile, the unrest has
shattered the east African nation's image of stability and damaged
one of the continent's most promising economies.
"SIMMERING HATE"
Many Kenyans say leaders on both sides of the political divide
show few signs of addressing deep seated tribal rivalries over
land, business and power -- many of them born more than 45 years
ago under British colonial rule.
"The elections were just a veneer for hate that has simmered for
years," wrote columnist Gitau Warigi in the Sunday Nation.
A survey of more than 2,000 respondents in the same newspaper
showed only a narrow majority, 51.6 percent, of Kenyans believed
Annan would be able to resolve the crisis.
Nakuru and Naivasha had been spared the riots and ethnic attacks
that have convulsed parts of Kenya since the election, which
Odinga accuses Kibaki of rigging.
On Thursday, Annan brokered the first talks between the two men
since the troubles began, raising hopes. But the discussions
prompted fresh verbal attacks by both camps, and that night Nakuru,
the Rift's provincial capital, descended into chaos.
At least 27 people were killed in Nakuru as rival tribal gangs
clashed with machetes, spears and bows and arrows. Local media
said the three-day death toll there could top 50.
The unrest has inflamed long-held rivalries between Kikuyus and
the Kalenjins, Luos and Luhyas who supported Odinga.
In the ethnically-mixed Rift Valley, old scores are being settled
and angry youths on both sides talk of revenge.
Cosmas Monyao, a Nakuru trader whose livelihood selling hats to
tourists has collapsed, was furious with his leaders.
"Me, I don't care what tribe you're from, you're spoiling my
business," he said.
"If Kibaki and Raila want to fight, why don't they just have a
fight man to man? They shouldn't involve the people."
(Additional reporting by Antony Gitonga in Naivasha, Tim Cocks
in Nakuru and Joseph Sudah in Nairobi; Editing by Richard
Balmforth)
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