KENYA: Opposition rally called off as Attorney General calls for independent enquiry into vote count

Record ID: 361045

  • Title: KENYA: Opposition rally called off as Attorney General calls for independent enquiry into vote count
  • Date: 3rd January 2008
  • Summary: (W3) NAIROBI, KENYA (JANUARY 3, 2008) (REUTERS) *QUALITY AS INCOMING* OPPOSITION LEADER RAILA ODINGA, ODM OFFICIALS AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU ODINGA HANDING A COPY OF A REPORT TO TUTU WHICH HE SAYS IS ABOUT HIS PARTY'S POSITION ON THE SITUATION IN KENYA AT THE MOMENT TUTU TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE, DESMOND TUTU, SAYING;
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1YTX0ZR8CBPXY784PU1OD5SOM
  • Story Text: Opposition supporters clash with Kenya police as they head to a banned anti-government rally which was later cancelled by organisers. Tutu arrives to help mediation process over alleged rigged presidential vote count.
    Protesters engaged police in running battles on Thursday (January 3) as they tried to make their way to a Nairobi park on a day when the opposition called for a million-strong rally in central Nairobi against President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.
    Kibaki's victory has sparked ethnic violence in opposition strongholds and has killed more than 300 people.
    Police used tear gas and water cannons against several hundred anti-government protesters, while some of the opposition supporters looted and burnt shops.
    Opposition party, Orange Democratic Movement, (ODM) has accused the government of acts "bordering on genocide" by ordering police to shoot protesters.
    ODM later called off the banned rally in an attempt to end running battles between police and protesters, but announced another gathering for Tuesday (January 8).
    There have been international calls for reconciliation in a nation that had become known as a vibrant democracy and peacemaker in East Africa, rather than a trouble-spot.
    Foreign observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards.
    ODM leader Raila Odinga has called Kibaki a "thief" who had carried out "a civilian coup", but said that he would, however accept international mediation and proposed setting up an interim power-sharing government to prepare for a re-run of the vote.
    Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu arrived in Nairobi late on Wednesday (January 2) to offer his assistance in mediation over the disputed poll results.
    The veteran anti-Apartheid campaigner met Odinga on Thursday to help bring an end to post-election violence. The violence, including ethnically-charged bloodletting in the normally peaceful country, has shocked the world.

    "We don't come as know-alls we are saying anyway we have been there and we know how our sisters and brothers are feeling," Tutu told a news conference.
    Tutu was the first foreign emissary to arrive. African Union Chairman, Ghana's President John Kufour, was due in Kenya in Wednesday, but did not turn up.
    Piling the pressure on Kibaki, Attorney General Amos Wako called on Thursday for an independent probe into Kenya's election.
    Warning Kenya was "quickly degenerating into a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions," Wako said both sides should agree on an independent person or body to carry out "a proper tally" of votes from the Dec. 27 poll.

    "And, taking into account that this crisis has arisen because of the perceptions that the presidential results were rigged, it is necessary, and here I agree with the Catholic bishops and others, that a proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately and on a priority basis by an agreed and independent person or body."
    But he added that while the tally should help political mediation, only a court could overturn Kibaki's win.
    Police estimate that roughly 75,000 Kenyans have fled their homes from the violence. Some have crossed into neighbouring states -- a reversal for a nation that for decades has accepted the victims of neighbouring conflicts like Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia.
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