'We don't give visas to criminals'

2008-02-07 10:17

Nairobi - The United States said on Thursday it had issued visa restrictions on 10 leading Kenyan politicians, including government party members and opposition leaders, because they had been involved in or incited violence since the disputed December 27 presidential election.

"We don't give visas to criminals," embassy spokesperson TJ Dowling said. "Inciting violence is a criminal act."

Dowling declined to give names, but said parliamentarians from President Mwai Kibaki's governing party and the main opposition Orange Democratic Movement, led by Raila Odinga, were informed in letters that they would not be allowed into the United States.

Party members could not immediately be reached for comment.

300 000 people homeless

The announcement came as pressure mounted on talks, mediated by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to break the political impasse and end post-election violence that had killed more than 1 000 people and made 300 000 homeless.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday deplored the violence and urged political leaders to resolve the crisis "through dialogue, negotiation and compromise".

The council statement issued in New York expressed concern at the "dire humanitarian situation" in the country and gave strong backing to the Annan-led talks that began on January 29.

A UN fact-finding mission arrived in Kenya on Wednesday to assess allegations of grave human rights violations during the fighting, which in many cases turned into ethnic clashes.

The three-week mission - sent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour - would gather information from the government and the opposition, along with victims and witnesses. The findings would be made public.

December election 'rigged'

Arbour said: "Truth and accountability are of critical importance in putting an end to the violence and preventing future human rights violations."

The December election, which foreign and local observers said was rigged, returned President Mwai Kibaki to power for a second five-year term after Odinga's lead evaporated overnight.

Violence had continued in western Kenya, scene of some of the worst post-election clashes.

Police said they fired to disperse hundreds of residents who had barricaded the gates of the police station in Litein, 235km west of Nairobi, on Tuesday. Two teachers were killed.

In a forest nearby, officers on Wednesday retrieved 18 bodies with gunshot and machete wounds. They had been killed in four days of clashes between rival gangs, which police stopped by throwing grenades.

The violence had been shockingly brutal in a country once considered among the most stable in Africa, with fighters using crude weapons such as machetes and bows and poisoned arrows.

- AP