MP's slaying sparks more chaos

2008-01-29 08:58

Nairobi - The slaying of a Kenyan opposition parliamentarian sparked mayhem on Tuesday across the country already reeling from spiralling violence set off by disputed elections a month ago.

Police fired teargas and hundreds took to the streets of opposition strongholds in western Kenya and Nairobi's slums to protest the murder of opposition MP Mugabe Were from Nairobi's Embakasai constituency.

Heavily-armed police patrolled two recent western Rift Valley flashpoints of violence, the lakeside towns of Nakuru and Naivasha, where scores had died in gruesome attacks in recent days, pushing the overall death toll since the December 27 election to more than 900.

Plumes of smoke rose from Naivasha's slums and machete-wielding youths burned houses and roamed the streets, said reports.

Odinga appeals for calm

Amid the chaos, a mediating team led by Kofi Annan, which had been in Kenya for a week, said it would launch formal dialogue between President Mwai Kibaki and his opposition rival Raila Odinga at 16:00 in Nairobi.

Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement appealed for calm and restraint after the death of their MP, which police said was probably linked to the dispute over Kibaki's reelection.

"This is a new kind of violence but let's call again on people to be peaceful and to only respond to this kind of violence by shunning violence," said Salim Lone, spokesperson for the ODM of Raila Odinga - who claimed he was robbed of the presidency.

"This is a very dark day for our country," he added after the first killing of a MP or government official since the clashes began.

Were "was shot outside his house" by gunmen, a police commander, who asked not to be named, said. He added: "It appears it is linked to post-election violence, but we are investigating."

'They are killing our leaders'

Police fired teargas and live rounds in Kisumu, Odinga's western stronghold, where hundreds gathered to vent their anger.

"First they started killing the ordinary people like us, now they are killing our leaders, we won't accept it," one demonstrator, Justus Othieno, said.

Hundreds also gathered to protest on the streets of Were's Embakasi constituency.

Thousands continued to flee their homes in western Kenya fearing ethnic reprisals, adding to more than a quarter of a million people already displaced in the first clashes set off by the widely-contested election.

Initial political protests had since been confused with latent ethnic, economic and land disputes, shattering the image and economy of the east African nation in some of the worst violence since independence in 1963.

Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe suffered heavily in the first wave of violence from members of Odinga's Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, but had since carried out numerous revenge attacks.

- AFP