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Associated Press
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Jan 24, 08 9:29 PM CST
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Some of the world's best runners have been receiving death threats as conflict continues in their native Kenya, where rumors circulate that the athletes were involved in stirring up ethnic killings. Top Kenyan runners are meeting in the town of Eldoret to discuss their response, the AP reports. "I am scared. We are scared," says a Kenyan athletics official.
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Reuters
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Jan 22, 08 2:57 AM CST
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Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan will fly to Kenya today to try to mediate the nation's political crisis and stop the violence. He faces a difficult task. Members of President Mwai Kibaki's cabinet are hostile to mediation, and opposition leader Raila Odinga is in no mood to back down. "I'm the rightful elected president. Kibaki stole his way into power," he told Reuters.
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New York Times
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Jan 21, 08 5:38 AM CST
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As the death toll in Kenya's ongoing ethnic violence continued to mount yesterday, evidence indicates that some of the horrific bloodshed was carefully planned, the New York Times reports. Flyers warned of ethnic killings—now responsible for at least 650 deaths in the past month—even before December's controversial presidential election. Young men were armed by elders, politicians inflamed tensions in speeches, and tribal leaders report holding meetings to plot attacks.
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BBC
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Jan 17, 08 8:39 AM CST
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Kenyan police clashed with protesters in the streets of Nairobi today; opposition leader Raila Odinga claims seven were killed as police fired on angry crowds protesting president Mwai Kibaki’s disputed reelection. One witness said police fired live rounds “indiscriminately,” despite assurances that only batons and teargas were authorized. The BBC confirms at least two deaths in the second of three days of planned protests; four were killed yesterday.
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Reuters
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Jan 16, 08 11:24 AM CST
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Tensions are rising in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi as angry opposition supporters prepare for three days of protests over the re-election of President Mwai Kibaki in an allegedly rigged ballot. Opposition protests have been banned by the Kibaki regime, triggering concerns that rallies could spark major clashes. Some 600 people have already been killed since the Dec. 27 vote.
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McClatchy Newspapers
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Jan 14, 08 2:10 PM CST
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A US-backed exit poll of voters in last month's Kenyan presidential elections found that incumbent Mwai Kibaki lost resoundingly to challenger Raila Odinga. The poll hasn’t been publicly released yet for unknown reasons, but sources say Odinga came out 8 percentage points ahead—well above the margin of error—throwing further doubt on Kibaki’s already suspicious victory, McClatchy reports.
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Reuters
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Jan 10, 08 4:48 PM CST
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An attempt to broker an end to the Kenyan crisis failed today when an African Union mission couldn't get opposing sides to agree on how to end the violence, Reuters reports. AU head John Kufuor pressed opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki to settle; after talks disintegrated into finger-pointing, the rivals agreed to work with a panel headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
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Newsweek
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Jan 10, 08 1:37 PM CST
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The ethnic violence that has ripped through Kenya since December's disputed election is particularly gruesome between gangs in the slums of Nairobi, Newsweek reports. On one side is the self-proclaimed “Taliban,” a group dedicated to protecting their Luo tribe, and imposing order and justice much like their Afghan namesake. Their enemies are the Mungiki, a Kikuyu gang rumored to drink blood during ritualized killings.
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Associated Press
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Jan 8, 08 11:54 AM CST
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Barack Obama called Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga in an effort to help defuse the bloody post-election standoff in the African nation. "He called to express grave concern over the election outcome," Odinga's spokesman told the AP. Obama's father was from Kenya, where 500 people have died in brutal ethnic-cleansing-style violence since the disputed December 27 election.
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Guardian (UK)
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Jan 7, 08 12:20 PM CST
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Kenyan opposition leader Rail Odinga called off his protest rallies today, trying to calm the nation as busloads of ethnic Kikuyu fled the western part of the country. So far at least 255,000 have been displaced, and 600 have been killed in ethnic-cleansing-style violence. Odinga today agreed to try quelling the bloodshed by negotiating a power-sharing deal with President Kibaki, the Guardian reports.
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Associated Press
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Jan 6, 08 8:32 AM CST
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Opposition leader Raila Odinga today rejected President Mwai Kibaki's offer of a unity government and demanded an international mediator, AP reports. "We want a properly negotiated settlement, not a coalition government," Odinga said, warning that his party would stage more rallies, threatening a new burst of violence after this weekend’s relative peace. Aid officials, meanwhile, warned that the continuing chaos threatens a national health crisis.
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BBC
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Jan 5, 08 6:08 AM CST
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Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki today pledged to form a unity government, after talks with the top US diplomat for Africa aimed at solving the country's violent post-election crisis, the BBC reports. Jendayi Frazer met first with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has said he will not negotiate unless Kibaki steps down. Another meeting is planned.
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Reuters
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Jan 4, 08 8:35 AM CST
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Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has said he is open to the possibility of a coalition government—if the opposition consents to his terms, Reuters reports. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu said after a meeting with Kibaki that "there is a great deal of hope" in ongoing talks and that both sides appear willing to negotiate.
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Reuters
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Jan 3, 08 2:48 PM CST
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Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said today he's ready for talks with political opponents "once the nation is calm," Reuters reports. After three days of rioting and burning slums, in the wake of a hotly contested election, opposition leader Raila Odinga postponed until tomorrow a rally scheduled for a Nairobi park today. Odinga remained combative, accusing Kibaki allies of "genocide."
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Christian Science Monitor
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Jan 3, 08 11:29 AM CST
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Post-election violence in Kenya has taken on a nasty ethnic edge, as tribes across the country, particularly the Luo of opposition leader Raila Odinga, take their political frustrations out on sort-of President Mwai Kibaki’s powerful Kikuyu. But this isn’t quite Rwanda, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The 1994 genocide there was organized, whereas this smaller, spontaneous violence could be stopped by Kibaki and Odinga.
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Times (UK)
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Jan 3, 08 6:17 AM CST
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Kenyan riot police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on protesters attempting to gather in a Nairobi park for a rally for Raila Odinga, the Kenyan presidential candidate who disputes his narrow defeat in last week's election. The Times of London reports that Odinga called off his "people's rally" and told supporters to disperse after paramilitary police sealed off the park and blocked protesters from the city's main slum.
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Time
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Jan 2, 08 9:58 PM CST
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The tribal violence gripping Kenya could reach a bloody climax tomorrow, Time reports, when an opposition leader has urged supporters to converge on a park in Nairobi to protest the results of last month's general election. Raila Odinga blames a rigged vote-count for re-electing President Mwai Kibaki, igniting disarray that has left more than 300 dead in four days.
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BBC
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Jan 2, 08 5:26 AM CST
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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.
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Associated Press
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Jan 1, 08 12:08 PM CST
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A mob set fire to a church filled with people in Kenya today, killing at least 50, according to the Red Cross, most of them members of Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe. Chaos has reigned in the country since Kibaki’s disputed election victory, which EU inspectors say lacks credibility. At least 270 have been killed in increasingly ethnic violence, the AP reports.
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