Kibaki facing genocide claims

2008-01-28 18:02

Nairobi - Kenya's opposition on Monday charged that the government was abetting acts of genocide by imposing a curfew that left civilians exposed to rampaging tribal gangs in the town of Nakuru.

"The dusk-to-dawn curfew has been used as a way to keep some groups indoors to be killed," said Henry Kosgei, the chairperson of opposition leader Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

"This is genocide sponsored by government agencies. President (Mwai) Kibaki must take full responsibility for these killings and resign," he said.

The police on Friday imposed a night-time curfew on Nakuru, a town northwest of Nairobi where rival tribal gangs have hacked and burned each other to death since last week.

Most of those killed in the latest wave of ethnic strife spurred by last month's disputed presidential elections were from slums and settlements on the outskirts of Nakuru, Molo and Naivasha.

Odinga, from the Luo tribe, claims that Kibaki, from the Kikuyu tribe, rigged his way to re-election in the December 27 polls, touching off some of the worst civil strife the country has seen in decades.

Around 900 people have died nationwide in riots, police raids, protests and ethnically-driven violence since election.

With no political solution in sight, both sides have traded accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

- AFP