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Associated Press
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Jan 31, 08 5:37 AM CST
(Newser) -
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.
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New York Times
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Jan 30, 08 11:25 AM CST
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The Kenyan opposition lawmaker who was dragged from his car yesterday and shot to death could have been key to ending the ethnically charged turmoil, reports the New York Times, but his assassination instead further plunged the country into violent chaos. Melitus Mugabe Were had been working toward peace, able to bridge ethnic divides because of his Kikuyu wife. “Whoever did this has killed the dreams of many,” one friend said.
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Associated Press
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Jan 30, 08 8:19 AM CST
(Newser) -
The top US envoy to Africa today accused supporters of Kenya's opposition of "clear ethnic cleansing" after violence in the Rift Valley killed hundreds of Kikuyus, who support embattled president Mwai Kibaki. "The aim originally was not to kill, it was to cleanse, it was to push them out" of the valley, Jendayi Frazer told reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia. Now, "killing may be the object," she added.
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BBC
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Jan 29, 08 3:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
Army helicopters fired on crowds to protect Kenyans fleeing bloodshed and mobs torched homes and people as violence escalated today in the wake of the killing of an opposition politician, the BBC reports. At least four people were killed in a Nairobi slum after a member of opposition leader Raila Odinga's party was apparently killed in his home nearby in the ethnic violence ripping apart the nation.
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BBC
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Jan 27, 08 10:06 PM CST
(Newser) -
Ethnic violence and revenge killing continued unchecked in western Kenya today, with at least 17 more people beaten, hacked, or burned to death by mobs engaged in what the BBC correspondent calls "sickening brutality" since last month’s contested presidential election. The death toll is nearing 750, the BBC reports, as former UN chief Kofi Annan spent a sixth day in the conflict-ravaged country trying to negotiate a peace deal.
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Associated Press
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Jan 27, 08 7:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
Kenyans were burned alive and hacked to death with machetes as raging ethnic violence in western Kenya claimed another 69 lives in the latest bloodshed since last month's controversial presidential election. Houses were in flames in the tourist getaway of Naivasha today and bodies were stacked up in the morgue in Nakuru, the provincial capital where clashes erupted Thursday and continued through the weekend.
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BBC
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Jan 26, 08 11:25 AM CST
(Newser) -
Kofi Annan, in Kenya to mediate a settlement to the brutal conflict rocking the country, condemned the "gross and systematic abuses of human rights" he had seen on a tour of the country's worst flashpoints, the BBC reports. Dozens more gruesome deaths were reported today. Annan spoke of displaced families and called on Kenyans to break the cycle of revenge.
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Associated Press
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Jan 24, 08 9:29 PM CST
(Newser) -
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
(Newser) -
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
(Newser) -
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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Reuters
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Jan 20, 08 9:40 AM CST
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At least three people were hacked to death with machetes and homes were set ablaze in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence in Kenya today between President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuya group and opposition backers of Raila Odinga, Reuters reports. The deaths bring to 31 those killed since Odinga's supporters began three days of anti-government rallies last week.
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Reuters
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Jan 18, 08 11:35 AM CST
(Newser) -
At least 13 people were killed today in Kenya as police fired into crowds of protesters and rival tribes attacked one another in a continued response to the disputed presidential election, Reuters reports. Today marked the third and final day of oppositional political protests, which were met with lethal force. Police deny they have shot unarmed protesters.
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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.