- Title: KENYA: At least 13 killed in day of Kenya protests
- Date: 19th January 2008
- Summary: (BN10) MATHARE, NAIROBI, KENYA (JANUARY 18, 2008) (REUTERS) VIEW OF MATHARE SLUM POLICE PATROL ALLEYS DEAD BODY ON THE GROUND/ POLICE STANDING NEXT TO POLICE TRUCK
- Embargoed: 3rd February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA7SQTHSLB5KI6KABEFF1YREOWA
- Story Text: At least 13 people are reported killed as Kenyan police clash with protesters for a third day of opposition mass action against the controversial re-election of President Mwai Kibaki. Two German men and a Dutch woman who entered Kenya as journalists have been arrested for "suspicious behaviour".
At least 13 people were killed in Kenya on Friday (January 18) when police opened fire in Nairobi's Kibera slum and ethnic groups clashed during protests against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
The worst bloodshed was in the huge Kibera slum, an opposition stronghold, where at least seven people were killed and a dozen wounded by police automatic gunfire.
Police also opened fire and lobbed tear gas in the port of Mombasa, where one person was killed in protests after Friday Muslim prayers, and the southern town of Narok.
Friday's deaths were the worst toll from three days of protests called by opposition leader Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) against Kibaki's re-election.
Protesters vandalized a major railway line in Kibera slum. The crowd of youths chanted pro-opposition slogans as they pulled at the railway tracks which were later left lying on the side, crippling a major East African transport line that runs from the port of Mombasa to neighbouring Uganda.
Protesters built a burning barricade in the slum. Boys fired stones from slingshots played a cat-and-mouse game with police.
Police fired tear gas at around 100 protesters outside Nairobi's central mosque.
In southwest Kenya, officials said five people were killed on Friday in clashes between Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Maasai anti-government protesters in Narok town, gateway to the Maasai Mara game reserve. They were killed with arrows and machetes.
Protests also resumed on Friday in the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, where more than 300 youths set fire to a fuel tanker to block the road.
At the mortuary in the main Nyanza Provincial General hospital in Kisumu families gathered to collect bodies of their loved ones for burial.
At least 21 people have been killed in the demonstrations, which were due to end on Friday. About 650 people have been killed since the disputed December 27 election.
The opposition and human rights groups accuse the police of using excessive force and firing indiscriminately at unarmed protesters. Police say they only shoot at rioters and looters.
Kenya's state-funded National Commission on Human Rights has said it is 'impossible to know' the winner of the disputed December 27 polls that gave Kibaki a second term in office.
The commission's chairman Maina Kiai, accompanied by several human rights activists said on Friday that the observers who have called the elections flawed could not all be wrong.
"It is impossible to know who won this election, we are not saying who won, but we are saying that the evidence that has been put out says it is impossible to know," said Kiai.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga again blamed Kibaki for the violence.
"Mr. Mwai Kibaki is solely responsible for the mess that this country finds itself in," Odinga said.
Kenya's swift slide into crisis has dented its democratic credentials, horrified world powers, scared off tourists and hurt one of Africa's most promising economies.
Two German men and a Dutch woman who entered Kenya as journalists have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism after they were found with photos of "vital installations", police said on Friday.
Kenya police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said two Germans -- Gerd Uwe and Andrej Hermlin -- and Fleur Van Dissel, a Dutch national, were arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport n Thursday (January 17) after they raised suspicions after they changed vehicles four times during the trip from central Nairobi to the airport.
Hundreds of foreign reporters descended on Nairobi for the polls and many more arrived after Kibaki's re-election triggered political and ethnic violence. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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