KENYA: Dead bodies found in Mathare slums during post election violence

Record ID: 360732

  • Title: KENYA: Dead bodies found in Mathare slums during post election violence
  • Date: 3rd January 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) NAIROBI, KENYA (JANUARY 3, 2008) (REUTERS) (GRAPHIC MATERIAL) BURNING BARRICADE ON ROAD/ PEOPLE HECKLING MEN CARRYING STONES AND SHOUTING 'NO RAILA NO PEACE' PROTESTERS TRYING TO PULL DOWN BILLBOARD OF PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI AID WORKERS AND MATHARE RESIDENTS LOOKING ON LEGS/ DEAD BODY PEOPLE CRYING AND SCREAMING (SOUNDBITE) (Swahili) ALBERT SHEM, MATHARE RESIDENT, S
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAECCWBYWWY25GOITXOJJ62UG2R
  • Story Text: Post election violence death toll feared to rise as bodies found after riots in Nairobi slums.
    Shots ricocheted around Nairobi streets and smoke billowed over slums as Kenyan police battled thousands of anti-government protesters trying to march to a banned rally on Thursday.
    Dead bodies could be seen on the roadside in Mathare slum on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi. One man was electrocuted when police shot at a power line that fell on him. Emotions were high as aid workers came in to carry away the bodies and to help the wounded.

    ""They started saying that I am a Kikuyu and wanted to kill me, they said 'we have to kill him, he is PNU'. It was good the police were there, they helped me and I managed to run away. They fired tear gas, so those men scattered," Mathare resident Albert Shem, who broke his leg while running away from his attackers, said.
    After hours of skirmishes all round the city, the opposition called off the rally against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki, saying it wanted to save lives. But, it scheduled another public meeting for next Tuesday (January 8).
    Kikuyus, long dominant in politics and business, were targeted in initial clashes but revenge killings -- including some by the Kikuyu militant gang Mungiki -- are on the rise.
    Pro-Kibaki legislators called for opposition leader Raila Odinga and others to be charged by the International Criminal Court for "ethnic cleansing and genocide".
    The opposition has said that a police order to shoot during protests by its supporters was "bordering on genocide".
    Millions of shillings worth of property was destroyed in Thursday's riots with protesters torching businesses and homes in a scorched earth campaign.
    There have been international calls for reconciliation in a nation that had become known as a vibrant democracy and peacemaker in Africa, rather than a trouble spot.
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