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New Kenya unrest toll hits 14
10/03/2008 14:57 - (SA)
Nakuru - The death toll from fighting between two Kenyan tribes had risen to 14 since last week, police said on Monday, after fresh attacks erupted in the area in the country's Rift Valley region.
The violence, which started last Thursday around the town of Laikipia, northwest of Nairobi, appeared to be a cycle of revenge attacks after the killing of a woman.
Local police commander Olta Aliwa said four people were wounded in new attacks on Monday and that police reinforcements had been sent to quell the fighting, which involved mainly the Kikuyu and Turkana tribes.
"I can confirm that arsonists struck from this morning, about 15 houses have been burnt and people are fleeing the area," said Aliwa.
The east African country was reeling from one of its worst crises since independence in 1963 after disputed December elections that sparked widespread violence, killing some 1 500 people.
On February 28, opposition leader Raila Odinga - who accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the elections - signed a power-sharing deal with his rival to end the violence.
The crisis tapped into simmering resentment over land, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence.
- AFP
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