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Machete-wielding youths hunt Kikuyus in Kenya
Thousands of machete-wielding youths set buses and homes ablaze and blocked roads with burning tires Monday as they hunted down members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. One driver was burned alive in his minibus because he was Kikuyu. The death toll from Kenya's disputed presidential election soared over 800. "The road is covered in blood. It's chaos," said Baraka Karama, a journalist for independent Kenya Television in Kisumu. A month of ethnic bloodletting triggered by rigged presidential elections gathered frightening momentum in Kenya, spreading from town to town in the western Rift Valley, scene of the worst clashes. There was no sign of relief from international mediators trying to persuade politicians to resolve the crisis that has erupted over Kibaki's re-election in Dec. 27 balloting that international and local observers say was marred by a rigged vote tally. Columns of smoke rose from burning homes in Kisumu. "We wish to find one, a Kikuyu .... We will butcher them like a cow," said David Babgy, 24, a casual worker among 50 young men stopping buses at a roadblock of burned cars and uprooted lamp posts. The only deaths reported there Monday, apart from the burned bus driver, were people shot by police whom human rights groups accuse of using excessive force.
Posted by: Fred 2008-01-30 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=222342 |