Kenya deaths fuel fears of bloody election campaign Wangui
Kanina | Nairobi, Kenya 05 December 2007 03:24
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Land clashes in Kenya's fertile Rift Valley highlands have killed 16 people,
uprooted hundreds and fuelled fears of a bloody campaign ahead of a December 27
election, police said on Wednesday.
About 14-million Kenyans are eligible to vote in presidential and parliamentary
elections in East Africa's biggest economy but many are braced for violent
skirmishes in a race shaping up to be Kenya's closest ever.
"In Kuresoi, Molo area, police records indicate that 16 persons have been
killed, 67 houses have been burnt and about 287 families have been displaced,"
police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe told reporters.
Police have arrested 102 suspects, of which 60 have been charged and the others
questioned and released, he said.
Kenya President Mwai Kibaki is seeking a second five-year term in office and
recent opinion polls have him running neck and neck with his main challenger,
Raila Odinga.
With less then four weeks to go, campaigns have reached fever pitch and party
primaries last month were marred by fighting as crowds set ballot boxes on fire
and stoned party officials.
Previous campaigns in Kenya have been plagued by violence between rival
supporters. Last month, weapons including clubs, machetes and bows and arrows
were found in a government vehicle belonging to an assistant minister.
"Generally the law-and-order situation in the country has been comparatively
calm. Although a few incidents have been reported, the electioneering process
has taken off well," he said.
He warned politicians against fanning tribal animosities.
"If you as a politician have been aiding or abetting these clashes in any way,
we are certainly going to catch up with you. We are not going to spare
anybody," he said.
Kiraithe said police were investigating the murder of a parliamentary aspirant
from western Kenya, who was shot and killed in the capital, Nairobi, on Sunday.
He said they were treating the incident as murder, but warned against
speculation that it was politically motivated.
"The Kenya police are taking every measure to protect every aspirant or
politician who feels they are threatened in any way," he said.
In the Mount Elgon region where hundreds of people have died in fighting over
land, Kiraithe said police were recruiting locals to serve as reserve officers
to stop militia attacks. -- Reuters
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