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Tribal hatred fuels more Kenya
violence
CNN - 27.01.2008
- Tribal fighting kills 47 people since Thursday in western Kenya
- opposition
- Violence follows meeting between President Kibaki and opposition
leader
- More than 500 people have been killed in violence that followed
the election
NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Tribal fighting has killed at least 47
people since Thursday in Nakuru, a city in western Kenya's Rift
Valley where former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan just visited,
according to an opposition party member.
Rev. Mike Brawan, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement, said
members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe "are flushing out
the non-Kikuyus from their houses."
Annan told reporters Saturday that he saw "systematic human rights
abuses" in his visit to villages in the Rift Valley and he called
on the government to provide better security.
Rev. Brawan said the violence in Nakuru was a surprise since it
followed a meeting Thursday in which Annan brought President
Kibaki together with opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Fighting, centered in western Kenya, broke out between tribes
loyal to Kibaki and Odinga after Kibaki was declared the winner of
recent elections.
Bawan said he saw homes burned and people hacked to death in the
tribal violence.
"They just die with a lot of pain," he said.
In the town of Naivasha, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast
of Nakuru, CNN producer Stephanie Halasz witnessed heavy boulders
piled on to the road to block the way. She said the atmosphere in
the town center was tense as Kikuyus checked cars to identify
rival tribes.
It is estimated -- depending on the source -- that between 500 and
1,000 people have been killed in the violence that followed the
election in which Kibaki, a member of the Kikuyu tribe, kept his
post.
Odinga, the Orange Democratic Movement candidate for president and
a member of the Luo tribe, and his supporters claim the election
was rigged. International observers noted some irregularities in
the voting.
Nakuru sits on the edge of Lake Nakuru National Park in western
Kenya and has a population of about 300,000.
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