Kenya braces for more protests
2008-01-16 08:29
Nairobi - Kenyan opposition supporters were set on Wednesday to defy a police ban and start nationwide demonstrations over the disputed presidential election, raising fears of another wave of violence that had already killed hundreds.
Bouyed by his party clinching the post of parliamentary speaker on Tuesday, dealing the government a major setback, opposition chief Raila Odinga had ignored pleas to call off the three-day protests set to start at 10:00.
Previous protests, sparked by last month's election, quickly descended into tribal violence, mainly in ethnically tense western Kenya and Nairobi's slums, claiming at least 700 lives and displacing about 260 000 people in the east African nation.
Villagers had fled homes in western Kenya's lolling hills and agricultural ranges regarded as the country's breadbasket fearing a fresh eruption of violence.
Kenyans 'must go on with their business'
Tension and security remained high in major cities, with traders fortifying their shops with metal sheets in fear of looting.
Police destroyed makeshift illegal roadblocks in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu on Wednesday.
"The ban is still in force and enough security has been deployed to enforce it. Kenyans are encouraged to go on with their business," said police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe.
Attempts to defuse the political tension and broker talks between Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki failed to make much progress last week, prompting the opposition to call three days of demonstrations beginning on Wednesday despite the risk of more violence.
Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), who insisted that Kibaki stole his way to re-election in the December 27 vote, had demanded he concede defeat to pave the way for talks.
Political deadlock
While consolidating his hold on power, Kibaki had called for dialogue, but ruled out foreign mediation, while his hardline henchmen had told the ODM to shut up or take their complaints to court.
"The proper institution to adjudicate on any electoral dispute, imaginary or real is the court of law," Justice Minister Martha Karua told the parliament on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a further blow to efforts to end the political deadlock, former United Nations chief Kofi Annan postponed a mission to mediate the crisis "for a few days" after having taken ill with severe flu, the UN said in Geneva on Tuesday.
The government had refused any foreign mediation, saying there was no crisis, while the opposition insisted it would consider talks if there was an international middleman.
Analysts had begun to warn that continued political stalemate and violence could turn the country of 37 million people, once regarded as a bastion of stability in a region gripped by conflicts, into a new Somalia.