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Scramble for Peace After Kenya Carnage

African Union boss in talks today in bid to control spiraling violence

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 2, 2008 5:26 AM CST
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(Newser) – Political leaders scrambled yesterday to contain violence in Kenya as rioting and retaliation over an election dispute appeared to leave the nation teetering on the edge of bloody chaos, the BBC reports. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes. At least 300 people have been killed, including 30 burned alive as they sought refuge in a church. The president of the African Union is due in Kenya today for talks.

A spokesman for President Mwai Kibaki accused supporters of Raila Odinga, the loser in a hotly disputed election, of ethnic cleansing. Leaders from both sides have called for an end to the killing. The Kenyan Red Cross estimates that 70,000 people have been displaced in the country's Rift Valley, and Uganda says hundreds of Kenyans have fled across the border.

Kenyans travel by foot as transportation remains limited in the city, following days of rioting, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in Nairobi, Kenya. The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275,...
Kenyans travel by foot as transportation remains limited in the city, following days of rioting, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in Nairobi, Kenya. The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city...   (Associated Press)
A doctor tends a man after he was admitted with serious burns at the Coast General Hospital, in Mombasa, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008. Youths protesting against the outcome of the Dec. 27, 2007 presidential elections set him on fire. Kenyans ventured warily out in search of food on Tuesday...
A doctor tends a man after he was admitted with serious burns at the Coast General Hospital, in Mombasa, Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008. Youths protesting against the outcome of the Dec. 27, 2007 presidential...   (Associated Press)
Building burn in the the Kenyan town of Eldoret in this image taken from TV supplied by the International Committee of the Red Cross Tuesday Jan. 1, 2008. A mob torched a church in Eldoret sheltering hundreds of people fleeing post-election violence Tuesday, killing up to 50 people including many...
Building burn in the the Kenyan town of Eldoret in this image taken from TV supplied by the International Committee of the Red Cross Tuesday Jan. 1, 2008. A mob torched a church in Eldoret sheltering...   (Associated Press)
Riot police patrol through the streets Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in Nairobi. Kenya. The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret on Tuesday brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275, raising fears of further unrest in what...
Riot police patrol through the streets Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, in Nairobi. Kenya. The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret on Tuesday brought the death toll from four...   (Associated Press)
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Africa • Kenya • Mwai Kibaki • Uganda • Raila Odinga

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