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Weekend violence claims 90 lives
Published on January 28, 2008, 12:00 am
By Standard Team
Thirty more people were feared dead, bringing the toll of the
weekend bloodletting to almost 90 as the epicentre of the violence
shifted to Naivasha, 70km from the capital, Nairobi.
And in a chilling episode, at least 16 people — most of them women
and children — were burnt to death in a house torched by attackers
in Naivasha.
Meanwhile, the Kofi Annan-led team intensified efforts to find a
solution to the crisis that is dangerously pushing the country
towards civil war.
Last night, the mediation team was expected to release the terms
of engagement for the talks. After meeting with the team of
African Union eminent persons yesterday, ODM said it was hopeful
of progress.
On Sunday evening, Annan met President Kibaki and briefed him on
his visit to the violence-hit areas.
The President repeated that he was committed to dialogue, and
urged all leaders to give the Annan initiative a chance.
In a statement by the Presidential Press Service, Kibaki said he
was encouraged by Annan team’s efforts that led to a meeting with
ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga.
After yesterday’s hour-long meeting with Annan, ODM deputy leader,
Mr Musalia Mudavadi, said: "We believe some measure of progress is
imminent. We want a lasting solution."
If the terms of engagement are agreeable to both sides, ODM and
President Kibaki’s side will then proceed to appoint a team of
three negotiators each and one additional member, who will act as
the liaison between the warring parties.
In yesterday’s incident only comparable to that visited on victims
sheltering at an Eldoret Church early this month, charred remains
of the 16 victims were crammed in a small, two-room house, where —
according to witnesses — they had locked themselves up to escape
the wrath of bloodthirsty youths.
"When the attacks started, youths burnt the house, trapping them
inside," a resident said.
Another four were hacked to death as they fled from the marauding
gangs targeting members of one community.
Others were killed and lynched after being fished out of public
service vehicles on account of their tribe.
Policemen watched the unfolding chaos helplessly as Nairobi was
temporarily cut-off from western Kenya.
Independent reports put the death toll in Naivasha at more than
20, but police confirmed only 10. The number could be higher as
several people were reported missing.
In Nakuru, the death toll hit 60, with the number expected to rise
as rival groups continued to clash. Witnesses said some of the
attackers, believed to be members of the proscribed Mungiki sect,
were armed with guns and wore police uniforms.
Fifty-five bodies are lying at the Nakuru Municipal Mortuary with
five more yet to be collected from the town’s estates. The
mortuary, with a capacity of 42, was stretched to the limit as
bodies streamed in.
The number of those injured continued to rise and by yesterday
evening, more than 100 victims were admitted to the Rift Valley
Provincial General Hospital nursing arrow, cuts and bullet wounds.
Burning of houses continued in various estates as hundreds
continued to flee their homes. Police and military officers
patrolled the town and suburbs as the violence entered its third
day yesterday.
Unconfirmed reports said a military chopper patrolling the town
fired gunshots at Kwa Rhonda and Ng’ambo estates to scare away
marauding youths torching houses.
However, Nakuru deputy OCPD, Mr Mathew Gwiyo, said military
officers fired shots in Bahati of Nakuru North District to
disperse youths armed with pangas, bows and arrows who were
torching houses.
"The military choppers are assisting police with aerial
surveillance and intervened when the situation got out of hand,"
he said.
At Sewage Estate, police had a hard time controlling two armed
groups from rival communities and had to fire several times in the
air to disperse them.
Armed with pangas and other weapons, they mounted death traps at
illegal roadblocks on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, where they
flushed out passengers from communities other than their own and
lynched them.
During the skirmishes, a prison warder accidentally shot his
colleague, part of a team sent to quell the violence. Houses were
torched and property worth millions of shillings looted during the
chaos that turned Naivasha town into a no-go zone.
The 16 people were burnt inside a two-room house at a residential
plot in Kabati Estate, about 100 metres from the main highway, at
about 1pm.
When The Standard team visited the scene, the house was still
smouldering, with twisted metal bearing witness to the ferocity of
the fire.
At least four bodies were strewn in open fields. A man was hacked
to death at a cemetery. Another was stoned to death a stone throw
away from the burnt house.
Two other bodies lay in shrubs where they were accosted as they
fled. The main Nairobi-Nakuru highway was sealed off as passengers
from targeted communities were flushed out of vehicles and
attacked.
One man was plucked out of a matatu and beaten to death near the
Heritage Hotel.
However, his colleague escaped with serious injuries and was later
rescued by the police and rushed to a local hospital.
Kenya Army officers were called in to help restore calm and clear
barricades on the road branching from the highway leading to
Naivasha town.
Police provided armed transport to fleeing victims, now camped at
the Naivasha Police Station. On the highway, they flagged down
buses headed for Nairobi for people desperate to leave.
Western Kenya-bound passenger vehicles had to change route to
reach their destinations.
Officials at bus companies Akamba and Easy Coach said they avoided
the Nakuru route and their Nyanza and Western-bound buses took the
Nairobi-Narok route.
One Easy Coach bus was intercepted at Naivasha and some passengers
attacked.
Last night, tension was still high as some of the displaced people
escaped to hills near the Naivasha Maximum Prison. There were also
fears that workers from neighbouring flower plantations could be
attacked when returning home.
Local MP, Mr John Mututho, attempted to calm down the youths, but
his pleas fell on deaf ears. The Nakuru Catholic Bishop, Peter
Kairo, was caught up in the chaos as he headed to a local church.
He was forced to disembark from his car and prayed for peace
before he was allowed to proceed.
The irate youths then started destroying property, before
proceeding to the main highway where they stopped vehicles and
demanded to know the identity of motorists.
For hours, the highway was a no-gone zone as the youths searched
car after another. After the chaos, the group then marched to
Kabati Estate — as police watched from a distance — and moved from
house to house flushing out men and women and hacking them to
death.
Others took advantage of the situation to loot and torch the
houses as war cries rent the air. On the highway, more cars were
torched before the Kenya Army personnel intervened.
Later in the afternoon, an uneasy calm returned to the town with
the Army and the police manning the streets as gun shots continued
to be heard.
"Police should not take sides in this matter. Why are people being
killed and robbed on the highways on their way to Western Kenya
and yet the police are patrolling the roads?" Raila told The
Standard by telephone.
"As a party, we are concerned about the state of insecurity," said
Mudavadi, adding: "Deployment of the military is not a good sign...
Police and security agents should take the lead in quelling the
unrests and not the military."
The party also took issue with the cancellation of a prayer
meeting that was scheduled for Eldoret yesterday. Mudavadi said: "There
are belligerent entities in Government who do not want us to hold
peaceful meetings."
Eldoret North MP, Mr William Ruto, said: "Politics should not be
turned into an ethnic contest. Politics is about policies,
development and manifestos. We should create harmony and coexist."
He added: "Many of the people who have been killed and admitted to
hospitals have bullet wounds. The security forces should discharge
their mandate professionally."
The MP said political leaders must have the courage to make hard
decisions, but also show humility and be able to listen and the
wisdom to put all that together.
On their part, MPs from central Kenya told President Kibaki to
take charge of and restore peace and order in clash-torn areas.
Tigania East MP, Mr Peter Munya, who led the MPs in making the
call, said: "President Kibaki must take charge now and stop the
killings of innocent people in Rift Valley. We demand that
perpetrators be brought to book."
They said the Government had not done enough to protect lives and
property being destroyed by gangs.
Renowned scholar, Prof Ali Mazrui, said the international
community should not relent and called on the African Union and
the Commonwealth to suspend Kenya from their ranks.
"The AU has been more of an apologist for President Mugabe of
Zimbabwe than a correction officer," Mazrui, who is also the
Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and
Technology, said.
Mazrui said Kenya’s reputation internationally has been tarnished
and its stability compromised.
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