Arrows fired at opposition
2007-09-22 14:13
Nairobi - Three Kenyan opposition politicians were injured by attackers hurling rocks and firing arrows when they arrived uninvited at a rural fundraiser organised by supporters of the president, local media said.
The three allies of Raila Odinga, the top challenger to President Mwai Kibaki at polls expected in December, suffered cuts, bruises and torn clothing after landing by helicopter.
The chaos brought back bitter memories of violence that has plagued previous elections in east Africa's biggest economy.
"This is not only Satanic but primitive for a government to watch as elected leaders are harrassed by armed youths," one of the politicians, William Ruto, told Saturday Standard newspaper.
Like the country's other main paper, the Nation, it splashed pictures of Friday's incident on its front page.
In the images, young men in purple tunics wielding clubs and bows and arrows are seen charging at the officials from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) as they arrived at the event.
Ruto and his colleagues, who included the member of parliament for the area in western Kisii District, said they were entitled to attend the gathering, which had been called by Kibaki's supporters to raise money for local youths.
"We did not invite them to the meeting and we are not to blame for what befell them," Roads Minister Simeon Nyachae, chief guest at the fundraiser, was quoted telling the Standard.
The president is well ahead in opinion polls, and a week ago he launched the Party of National Unity coalition to campaign for a second term.
Kibaki, 75, has united several parties in his new coalition, including the Kenya African National Union that ruled for 24 years under Daniel arap Moi, until Kibaki defeated him in 2002.