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Kenyans venture into tense streets for food

NAIROBI: Kenyans ventured warily out in search of food on Tuesday after the post election violence that had convulsed the country for four days generally calmed, but many shops remained shuttered and sporadic tribal violence continued.

In Nairobi’s Mathare slum, supporters of fiery opposition leader Raila Odinga, shouting “No Raila, no peace,” torched a minibus and attacked travellers who belonged to President Mwai Kibaki’s tribe.

“The car had fourteen people in it but they only slashed Kikuyus,” said witness Boniface Mwangi, referring to Kenya’s largest ethnic group. Five of the passengers were attacked by the machete-wielding gang but the others were simply robbed, he said.

Many of the 145 people killed since Friday have died in ethnic clashes. Several of Kenya’s 42 tribes, including MR. Odinga’s Luo group, accuse Mr. Kibaki’s Kikuyu group of dominating politics and business at the expense of other tribes.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said that so far 145 persons have been killed, 33,500 Kenyans have been forced to leave their homes and 208 properties have been destroyed. Also on Tuesday, four top officials of the government-funded electoral body called for an independent inquiry into the country’s disputed election results.

Minutes after the result was announced on Sunday, Mr. Kibaki was sworn in for another five year term, despite opposition accusations of fraud and expressions of “grave concern” over the legitimacy of the result from international observers.

In the capital, Nairobi, mothers and fathers who had remained inside during the riots set out to seek food for their children, picking their way past the blackened remains of burnt tyre barricades, and tearful families arrived to claim bodies from the morgue.

Riot police remained on duty in most city centres and many stores asked customers to queue outside to prevent looting.

Many families have been unable to find food after looting caused shops to close and many markets were burnt.

Four of the country’s 22 top electoral commissioners called for an independent inquiry into whether the national Electoral Commission, or ECK, altered the results of the election.

Jack Tumwa said that he and three colleagues felt, “there are weighty issues raised ... about the conduct of the ECK during the tallying of results.”

“The commission cannot investigate itself,” he said.

On Monday, the President promised to crack down on rioters. Mr. Odinga vowed to hold a “million-man march” in Nairobi on Thursday and called for “mass action.”

But Mr. Kiraithe said any such demonstration would be banned.

The Kikuyu are Kenya’s largest tribe, and the riots saw many Kikuyu homes and businesses torched and looted and several ethnically motivated killings in western Kenya, the coastal resorts and the Rift Valley, where some Kikuyu families took refuge in police stations. — AP

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