Fresh Violence Kills 7 People in Kenya

 Source: Alalam.ir, 23-1-2008
NAIROBI--Seven people were killed in western Kenya and Nairobi slums in overnight tribal clashes linked to the dispute over last month's disputed presidential election, police said Wednesday.
Six people were killed and dozens of houses torched in the western Rift Valley district of Nandi South late Tuesday while another Kenyan man was killed in Nairobi's Mathare slums.
"We had skirmishes in Nandi area where those deaths were reported," a police commander said.
Meanwhile tension remained high in most of western Kenya and Nairobi slums, where violence has raged since President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected last month amid allegations of mass fraud.
"We are asking Kenyans to be peaceful and observe law and order," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.
The new violence was reported as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan was to start mediation efforts aimed at brokering a deal between Kibaki and opposition chief Raila Odinga.
According to police figures, at least 780 people have been killed in riots, police raids, protests and tribal clashes across the country since the December 27 polls.
Annan will hold talks with Kenya's feuding parties on Wednesday in an effort to find a rapid solution to weeks of political crisis.
The 69-year old African statesman faces a tough challenge resolving a bitter standoff between Kibaki and Odinga over a disputed poll that plunged Kenya into chaos and ethnic bloodshed.
"We are determined to work with the parties to find a solution as quickly as possible," Annan told reporters after landing in Nairobi late on Tuesday.
"We want to determine by tomorrow how quickly the parties want to work with us," he said.
He flanked by fellow mediators Benjamin Mkapa, the former president of Tanzania, and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African leader Nelson Mandela during brokering mission.
Odinga says a Dec. 27 poll that returned Kibaki to power was fraudulent.
His supporters have taken to the streets and mobs mostly targeting Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and have hacked people to death and burnt homes. There have also been reprisal killings.
The opposition will hold a memorial gathering starting at a mortuary then proceeding to a big football field near Nairobi's Kibera slum on Wednesday for those who have died in the unrest.
Police have banned all rallies and have broken up previous gatherings of supporters from both sides but have said they will allow the memorial gathering to go ahead.
Odinga and Kibaki have so far refused to speak to each other despite pressure from Western powers like the United States, Britain and the European Union.