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Fri January 18, 2008 * Story Highlights
* NEW: Rival tribes battle with machetes, bows and arrows
* More than 600 people dead in violence since disputed election on
December 27
* NEW: Opposition leader also looking at strike action to continue
protests
* NEW: United States says both sides cheated in the election NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Clashes between rival tribes armed with machetes
and bows and arrows on Friday marked the third successive day of
opposition protests over Kenya's disputed presidential election.
Soldiers and protesters clash in Mombasa. With more than 20 people killed since Wednesday, the opposition
announced a new strategy of economic boycotts and strikes to ratchet up
pressure. The U.S. ambassador, citing "many factors and underlying grievances,"
compared Kenya's violence to the 1968 race riots in the United States. At a town hall meeting for Americans in Nairobi, Ambassador Michael
Ranneberger said there was "a lot of cheating on both sides" in the
December 27 elections that pitted President Mwai Kibaki against
opposition leader Raila Odinga. Kibaki insists he won the election, but international and local
observers say the vote count was rigged. Kibaki's power has become more
entrenched and he appears unlikely to accede to demands he step down. The opposition's best hope may rest in wrangling a power-sharing
agreement that might make Odinga prime minister or vice president. The U.S. Embassy estimates that between 23,000 and 100,000 votes
separated the two candidates. "You can't have a recount and you can't
have a new election ... so the two sides need to sit (together) and work
things out," Ranneberger said, suggesting the best solution was for the
two to share power. Friday's deaths raised the toll to at least 22 people killed in three
days of protests called by the opposition -- all but five blamed on police. A few dozen miles from Kenya's famed Masai Mara game reserve in Narok,
Masai fighters and men from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe battled for hours with
machetes, clubs, swords and bows and arrows. Five people were killed and
25 wounded, police chief Patrick Wambani told The Associated Press.
Homes and shops were set ablaze. Elsewhere, police opened fire on protesters in Nairobi's Kibera slum,
killing six people and wounding at least 10. A blood-smeared pickup
truck carried the bodies of a 15-year-old girl and a young man killed
there, along with wailing relatives. "They killed my daughter. Kibaki must die," a woman screamed. She said
her daughter was washing utensils on her doorstep when police opened
fire and she was hit. Skirmishes between police and thousands of demonstrators left one person
dead in the coastal tourist town of Mombasa. Kenya Red Cross official
Abdallah Athman said the young man killed "was running away from the
police when he was shot in the back and the bullet went through his chest." Odinga, the opposition leader, visited the hospital to see those wounded
in the Kibera shootings and condemned the police, saying they "have
executed innocent Kenyans -- people who they vowed to serve and protect." "We are not going to confront the police with their bullets, no, we will
take people out of the streets ... We have other powers" to pressure the
government, he said. Overall, the rallies' strength had largely evaporated from the tens of
thousands who turned out immediately after the elections. More than 600 people have been killed in Kenya's election violence,
according to a government commission, the worst turmoil since a failed
1982 coup attempt in which Odinga participated. Kenyan police released their own figures Friday, saying 510 people had
died in the election violence, including 82 killed by police. Police,
who had earlier denied charges they had killed anyone since Kenya
descended into turmoil, have recently been more forthright, and critical
of protesters. The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in a statement that
police were behind dozens of killings and that they opened fire on both
looters and opposition protesters under an unofficial "shoot-to-kill"
policy. Friday's police statement said officers were dealing with "deception and
manipulation of jobless people by their leaders. Some have been coached
into committing crimes" by leaders "exploiting ethnicity, religion and
subjective politics." Seven European donor nations as well as Australia and Canada said Friday
they were "deeply worried by the deteriorating human rights situation.
"We have seen clear and disturbing footage of the use of lethal force on
unarmed demonstrators," the seven said. Opposition spokesman Salim Lone said Odinga would call for a "boycott of
companies owned by hard-liners who are around Mr. Kibaki," including one
of Kenya's biggest banks, a prominent bus company and a major dairy
producer. Lone also said they would work with unions "to organize
strikes in selected industries." He declined to give details. Later Friday, Odinga met with business leaders, but neither would speak
to reporters afterward. "We are completely ready to negotiate in good faith. We want peace in
the country," Lone said. "Our people are suffering." Kibaki's government has made similar statements, but both sides appear
recalcitrant and envoys from the U.S. and the African Union have failed
to even bring Odinga and Kibaki together for talks. A group of former African presidents trying to mediate -- Tanzania's
Benjamin Mkapa, Mozambique's Joachim Chissano and Botswana's Ketumile
Masire -- met with both Odinga and Kibaki, Odinga told reporters after
the meeting Friday. Kenya has the biggest economy in East Africa and its ports and roads
serve landlocked neighbors. The United States and other donors consider
Kenya a vital partner in the war on terrorism and a regional economic
and military powerhouse whose stability has stood in stark contrast to
war-ravaged neighbors such as Sudan and Somalia, where Islamic extremism
is rife.
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