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Kenyan death toll reaches 800
Press Association
27.01.2008
Ethnic clashes have convulsed western Kenya as gangs fought with
crude weapons and set homes ablaze, pushing the death toll from a
month of violence over the country's flawed presidential election
to nearly 800.
The bloodshed, exactly one month since the December 27 vote, has
transformed this once-stable African country, pitting long-time
neighbours against each other and turning towns where tourists
used to gather for luxury holidays into no-go zones.
It also complicated the task of former UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, the latest international mediator trying to bring together
President Mwai Kibaki and his chief rival.
While ethnic clashes have accompanied past Kenyan elections, the
scale of the violence this year has been far worse. It has mainly
pitted other ethnic groups, which support the opposition because
they feel marginalised, against Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu people.
Kikuyus were the main victims in the initial eruption of violence,
with hundreds killed and more than half of those driven from their
homes belonging to Mr Kibaki's tribe. Now, however, it appears the
Kikuyus are looking for revenge.
Some 55 bodies were counted at the morgue in Nakuru, the
provincial capital of Kenya's fertile Rift Valley, where ethnic
clashes erupted late on Thursday, said a morgue attendant.
The fighting has spread to Naivasha, 55 miles north-west of
Nairobi, a previously quiet tourist town with a stunning
freshwater lake. At least nine people were killed here by gangs
with machetes and clubs, according to the count of a local
reporter. Five others burned to death in their homes, said Willy
Lugusa, a police official.
The latest deaths bring the toll to nearly 800 killed in ethnic
violence and clashes with police since Mr Kibaki was sworn in for
a second five-year term. About 255,000 people have been forced
from their homes. International and local observers say the vote
tally was rigged.
Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga remain far apart on how to resolve the
crisis, the worst the country has suffered since it gained
independence from Britain in 1963.
Mr Kibaki has said he is open to direct talks with Mr Odinga, but
that his position as president is not negotiable. Mr Odinga says
Mr Kibaki must step down and new elections are the only way
forward.
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