Kenyan attacks 'well planned'

2008-01-08 15:20

Eldoret - A Catholic bishop of one of the towns worst hit by the ethnic clashes sparked by Kenya's political crisis charged on Tuesday that the attacks against President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu people appeared well planned and organised.

Bishop Cornelius Korir spoke in western Eldoret, scene of a fiery massacre of Kikuyu that was part of violence that erupted after Kibaki was announced the winner of December 27 elections. Eldoret and surrounding areas had seen an exodus of Kikuyus since. The violence across the country had killed at least 500 people.

"The way the attacks were managed seems to me very organised," Korir said as United States envoy Jendayi Frazer toured the region on Tuesday. "No, it did not seem spontaneous to me ... It seems it was well planned."

He did not elaborate. Kibaki's government also had charged that the attacks were orchestrated, and both sides had traded accusations that the violence amounted to genocide or ethnic cleansing.

Odinga 'willing to drop demands'

On Monday, Frazer rejected that, saying: "We would not agree that what has happened - even the worst of what has happened - has been a genocide."

Earlier this week, Frazer had won an offer from Kibaki to form a unity government, and his rival Raila Odinga then said he was willing to drop demands that Kibaki resign and was willing to discuss sharing power.

On Monday, Kibaki invited Odinga to his official residence for a meeting on Friday.

Diplomatic attempts to keep the momentum going intensified on Tuesday, with the chairperson of the African Union due to arrive and US presidential candidate Barack Obama - who was of Kenyan descent - called Odinga late on Monday or early on Tuesday, said Odinga's spokesperson, Salim Lone.

Lone said: "He called to express grave concern over the election outcome. He also said he was going to call Mr. Kibaki." Three former African heads of state arrived on Tuesday, saying they would tour troubled slum areas.

"It's like seeing a neighbour's house on fire," says Mozambique's Joachim Chissano, leader of the presidential delegation. "We are shocked by the events."

'I don't want to blame Kibaki or Odinga'

Frazer, the top American envoy to Africa, said the vote count at the heart of the dispute was tampered with and both sides could have been involved.

"Yes, there was rigging," Frazer told The Associated Press in an interview on Monday in Nairobi.

She added: "I mean there were problems with the vote counting process. Both the parties could have rigged." She said she did not want to blame either Kibaki or Odinga.

Kenya's electoral commission chairperson Samuel Kivuiti had himself said he was not sure Kibaki won, though the chairperson officially declared Kibaki the winner in the closest presidential election in Kenya's history.

The US intervention appeared to be having an effect on the crisis. Kenya was crucial to the US war on terrorism.

Kenya had turned over dozens of people to the US and Ethiopia as suspected terrorists, allowed American forces to operate from Kenyan bases and conducts joint exercises with American troops in the region.

- AP