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| Africa Horn |
| 10 killed in continued Kenya violence |
| 2008-01-26 |
| Ethnic fighting killed at least 10 people in Kenya’s Rift Valley and forced thousands from their homes on Friday, undermining hopes of ending weeks of unrest. The violence, and a denial by opposition leader Raila Odinga that he would agree to serve as prime minister under President Mwai Kibaki, followed the first meeting between the two rivals since a disputed Dec. 27 election triggered a political crisis. “Nakuru town has been shut down ... My staff have carried three dead bodies and hundreds are injured in hospital,” Kenya Red Cross head Abbas Gullet said. Paramilitary police were deployed on the outskirts of Nakuru, in Kenya’s fertile Rift Valley, where houses burned and the sound of gunshots filled the air. Aerial pictures of surrounding villages showed smoke rising from a number of torched homesteads. About 700 people have died in violence since Kibaki was re-elected after polls observers said were flawed and Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) say were rigged. Hopes for a solution had grown on Thursday after former UN boss Kofi Annan brought Odinga and Kibaki together for their first discussions on how to end the standoff. But their smiles and handshake were quickly followed by new accusations, with the opposition angered by Kibaki’s reference to himself as the country’s “duly-elected” leader. |
| Posted by:Fred |