Up to 1,000 killed in Kenyan crisis: Odinga

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Up to 1,000 people may have died in more than a week of riots and post-election violence in Kenya, opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Monday.

The head of the African Union (AU), Ghanaian President John Kufuor, is due to land in Nairobi on Tuesday. Odinga said Kufuor could begin chairing talks on Wednesday.

Odinga called off nationwide protests by supporters to create a "peaceful atmosphere" for the talks while his rival President Mwai Kibaki summoned parliament to meet on January 15.

The imminent arrival of the AU chief was a "major, major breakthrough" and "very significant move," Odinga told Reuters.

Odinga rejected an official government


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080107/wl_nm/kenya_violence_dc

[High Plains]

1. Who cares? They're just Africans.

(My response to the deafening silence.)

[redqueen]

2. Thanks for kicking it up, so that I saw it.

No thanks for accusing DUers of not caring about Africans.

[redqueen]

3. Anyone else suspect the election was stolen? (nt)

[maddezmom]

5. US Envoy: Kenya Presidential Elections Were Rigged

US Envoy: Kenya Presidential Elections Were Rigged
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ― The vote count from Kenya's election was rigged, but both parties could have been involved, the chief U.S. envoy for Africa said Monday, declining to blame either President Mwai Kibaki or the opposition leader who ran against him.

The opposition leader, Raila Odinga, canceled nationwide protests on Monday, saying he wanted to avoid new violence and give mediation a chance to resolve the election standoff that has killed nearly 500 people in political and ethnic bloodletting.

"Yes, there was rigging," the U.S. envoy, Jendayi Frazer, told The Associated Press. "I mean there were problems with the vote counting process ... both the parties could have rigged."

She said both rival parties could have been involved and that she did not want to blame either Kibaki or Odinga.

more:http://wcco.com/national/Kenya.protests.canceled.2.624424.html

[redqueen]

7. Makes me wonder who's behind these statements, if they're partisan or not.

"LSK should not be partisan and should exercise responsibility by refraining from making claims based on events where they were not present, have no idea of what occurred and at what time," Mutua said.


The government said it was investigating claims by some victims of the clashes that they were warned beforehand that if they supported Kibaki "they would pay for it."

"If this is shown to be what occurred, it amounts to pre-meditated murder," the government said in a statement.

[maddezmom]

4. Rival Kenyan leaders agree to meet as death toll climbs

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Kenya's president and opposition leader will meet to address vote-counting irregularities and the ensuing violence in which nearly 500 people have been killed, U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer said on Monday.


African Union chairman John Kufuor will try to mediate between Kenya's warring factions.

Frazer, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, told CNN that she was able to get President Mwai Kibaki and bitter rival Raila Odinga to agree to talk under the mediation of the African Union's chairman by relaying the concerns of the Kenyan people.

Ghanaian President John Kufuor is expected to arrive in Kenya on Tuesday evening to mediate talks between the two, Frazer said, which has led Odinga's party to cancel a planned rally earlier that day.

"I was simply able to echo that voice with the leaders," Frazer said.

"They both have to acknowledge certain key issues -- for instance that there were irregularities in the counting of the vote and that violence is not the answer to these problems.

more:http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/01/07/kenya.main/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[redqueen]

6. deleted - wrong place

[uppityperson]

8. k&r for Kenyans and getting the news out.

Was going to check in with DU and go to news to see what's happening. Thanks for posting this.

[redqueen]

9. Kick for visibility. (nt)

[ovidsen]

10. IMO, ,,This is an important story!

Yet another example of clan and tribal loyalties trumping civil order in what was regarded as a civilized corner of the third world. Kenya was once a place where refugees from neighboring countries wracked by tribal violence (like Somalia) ran TO...

Call me naive. I asked for it. But I simply do not understand behavior like this. I'm not condoning election rigging, not by any means. But charges of chicanery in balloting do not warrant random roadside death sentences carried out against people who probably had absolutely nothing to do with any wrongdoing. They're hacking Olympic runners to death in Kenya... just for beloning to the "wrong" tribal faction!!!

What a world.... what a world...

k & r.

[superconnected]

11. The Kenyans I know here in Seattle are really peaceful people

I think there's going to be this murderous human nature in a percentage of all humans though, regardless of race.

I feel so sad for Kenya.