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2nd Opposition Lawmaker Shot Dead in Kenya
Politician's killing threatens peace talks
By Jason Farago
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Posted Jan 31, 08 5:37 AM CST
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(Newser)
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A second Kenyan opposition politician has been killed in the country's troubled Rift Valley, only two days after the murder of one of his colleagues. The lawmaker, who won a seat in parliament on the ticket of Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement in December's contested elections, was fatally shot by a traffic cop at a roadblock. The police claimed the killing was part of a lovers' quarrel, but the party says it was a political assassination.
The party's secretary-general called the murders of two opposition lawmakers "part of an evil scheme" to cow the opposition. As the news spread, party supporters in Eldoret began marching to the police station, but dispersed when paramilitary officers fired shots in the air. The killing threatens to disrupt the second day of negotiations between the government and the opposition.