Kenyan poll violence hits Naivasha
Jan 27, 2008
NAIROBI - Ethnic clashes yesterday killed at least 10 people in Naivasha, another town in the Rift Valley, as former UN chief Kofi Annan met opposition leader Raila Odinga to try to resolve a month-long crisis that has claimed 750 lives.
NAIROBI - Ethnic clashes yesterday killed at least 10 people in Naivasha, another town in the Rift Valley, as former UN chief Kofi Annan met opposition leader Raila Odinga to try to resolve a month-long crisis that has claimed 750 lives.
A Reuters reporter in Naivasha counted 10 bodies, six burnt and four hacked to death as members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe fought running battles with Luos and Kalenjins, who back his rival Odinga.
Odinga put the death toll higher, saying 30 people had been burned to death and blaming the government for trying to divert attention from the electoral dispute.
“What is now emerging is that criminal gangs, on a killing spree, working under police protection, are part of a well orchestrated plan of terror to spread and escalate the levels of violence,†Odinga said in a statement.
Two truckloads of soldiers were deployed as sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke poured from torched homes and vehicles. Barricades blocked Kenya’s main western highway outside the town and police turned back cars heading towards the area.
Shooting continued late into the day.
“It is as if every tribe is against us, and no one is protecting us,†said Dominic Karanja, a Kikuyu watching troops dismantle roadblocks that he had helped build.
Several shops, including a nearby Internet café, were looted and smashed and burnt computers littered the street outside.
The violence threatened to undermine mediation by Annan, who called on both feuding parties to name four officials for further talks after he held discussions with Odinga.
The former UN chief visited parts of the Rift Valley on Saturday and warned that turmoil triggered by 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.
Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union Commission, said the whole continent should act fast to end Kenya’s crisis.
“We in Africa cannot turn a blind eye when a tragedy is unfolding around us,†he told African foreign ministers gathered in Ethiopia ahead of an AU summit this week.
But leaders on both sides show few signs of addressing deep seated tribal rivalries over land, business and power.
“The elections were just a veneer for hate that has simmered for years,†wrote columnist Gitau Warigi in the Sunday Nation.
Nakuru and Naivasha had previously been spared the violence that has convulsed parts of Kenya.
Police said 31 people had been killed in the Nakuru area as tribal gangs clashed with machetes, spears and bows and arrows. Local media said the three-day death toll could top 50.
A Reuters reporter in Naivasha counted 10 bodies, six burnt and four hacked to death as members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe fought running battles with Luos and Kalenjins, who back his rival Odinga.
Odinga put the death toll higher, saying 30 people had been burned to death and blaming the government for trying to divert attention from the electoral dispute.
“What is now emerging is that criminal gangs, on a killing spree, working under police protection, are part of a well orchestrated plan of terror to spread and escalate the levels of violence,†Odinga said in a statement.
Two truckloads of soldiers were deployed as sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke poured from torched homes and vehicles. Barricades blocked Kenya’s main western highway outside the town and police turned back cars heading towards the area.
Shooting continued late into the day.
“It is as if every tribe is against us, and no one is protecting us,†said Dominic Karanja, a Kikuyu watching troops dismantle roadblocks that he had helped build.
Several shops, including a nearby Internet café, were looted and smashed and burnt computers littered the street outside.
The violence threatened to undermine mediation by Annan, who called on both feuding parties to name four officials for further talks after he held discussions with Odinga.
The former UN chief visited parts of the Rift Valley on Saturday and warned that turmoil triggered by 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.
Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union Commission, said the whole continent should act fast to end Kenya’s crisis.
“We in Africa cannot turn a blind eye when a tragedy is unfolding around us,†he told African foreign ministers gathered in Ethiopia ahead of an AU summit this week.
But leaders on both sides show few signs of addressing deep seated tribal rivalries over land, business and power.
“The elections were just a veneer for hate that has simmered for years,†wrote columnist Gitau Warigi in the Sunday Nation.
Nakuru and Naivasha had previously been spared the violence that has convulsed parts of Kenya.
Police said 31 people had been killed in the Nakuru area as tribal gangs clashed with machetes, spears and bows and arrows. Local media said the three-day death toll could top 50.