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Fresh unrest mars Kenya peace
deal
Al Jezeera
02.Feb.2008
Sporadic violence has been reported across Kenya despite political
leaders agreeing to take action to end the unrest that has pitted
ethnic tribes against each other since last month's disputed
elections.
At least 37 people have been killed in clashes in western Kenya in
the past 24 hours, police officials said on Saturday.
In Eldoret, a mob burned down a church where two displaced people
were sheltering. A witness said those inside managed to escape
unharmed.
"I don't know who it was, but they broke the gate and came in,"
Peter Kaguru, a witness, told the Reuters news agency.
"The pastor's a Kikuyu, the plot belongs to a Kikuyu. Maybe that
has something to do with it."
The violence following the December 27 presidential election has
seen the Kikuyu of Mwai Kibaki, the president, clashing with the
Luo tribe of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader.
Rift Valley clashes
Clashes between gangs representing the Kisii and Kalenjin tribes
broke out on the road between the Rift Valley towns of Kisii and
Kericho, witnesses said.
The violence was said to be in response to the shooting dead of
David Kimutai Too, an opposition politician and member of the
Kalenjin tribe.
Police said Too's killing appeared to be a "crime of passion," but
the opposition say his death, and that of Melitus Mugabe Were,
another MP, were political assassinations.
"The situation down there is extremely tense. Clashes were
reported yesterday. There are two communities fighting each other,"
Anthony Mwangi, Red Cross spokesman, said.
Victims were either hacked to death or shot with poisoned arrows,
witnesses said.
Police stations were targeted in three western towns, and in Too's
home village a policeman was killed among a mob of about 3,000 men
armed with bows and arrows, spears, clubs and machetes.
On Friday, Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general who is
leading the mediation efforts, said a four-point peace plan had
been agreed that would first "take immediate action to stop the
violence and restore fundamental rights and liberties".
'Doom' predicted
Kenya's newspapers on Saturday warned of grave consequences if the
peace process did not bring a quick end to the fighting.
"If Annan's talks fail, we shall be doomed," the Standard
newspaper said in an editorial.
"The ongoing talks remain the only hope of ending the bloodletting."
However, Yvonne Ndege in Nairobi said that Kenyans were breathing
a sigh of relief after the apparent progress.
"The former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan appears to be making
some headway with representatives of the government and the
opposition Orange Democratic Movement," she said.
The Saturday Nation said the African Union, currently holding a
summit in Addis Ababa, was duty-bound the save country which it
described as "on a verge of a civil war".
"The union, which is long accused of being a toothless bulldog, is
confronted with two options: To engage in usual monologue as Kenya
burns or take decisive steps to prevent it from sliding into the
abyss," it said.
The chaos in Kenya has loomed large over the three-day summit and
fuelled concerns of unrest spreading in eastern Africa.
Jean Ping, chairman-elect of the AU commission, the body's main
executive arm, said: "We want to act, that's for sure. In Kenya,
there is already Kofi Annan for a mediation chosen by [outgoing AU
chairman John] Kufuor. This mediation is at work."
About 1,000 people have been killed in the violence and hundreds
of thousands have been displaced.
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