- Title: KENYA: Semblance of normality ahead of planned opposition rally
- Date: 4th January 2008
- Summary: VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES READING: 'KIBAKI'S PEACE PLAN', 'A SLOW START TO PEACE' AND 'MOVE TO COURT'
- Embargoed: 19th January 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9TT6RMBKNW7A4PSN6O1Y40HSX
- Story Text: Semblance of normality in Nairobi on Friday ahead of a planned opposition rally for a second day running that has been banned by the government.
Nairobi's city centre slowly seemed to be coming back to life even after Kenya's opposition vowed to defy police for a second day running on Friday and try to hold a mass rally.
From dawn riot police ringed Nairobi's Uhuru (Freedom) Park, where the protest was called to start at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).
But the police presence was smaller than on Thursday when opposition efforts to stage the rally were met by police firing tear gas, water cannon and warning shots as thousands of youths poured out of slums. Half a dozen people died in the chaos.
Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga were enraged by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election from a December 27 vote in Kenya, East Africa's biggest economy.
Some Kenyan's seemed to be tiring of the violence that has rocked the country for the last five days.
"It is the common man who is suffering, there is no point in us making ourselves suffer as the leaders just get fat wherever they are,"
said Joseph Lusweti, a resident of Nairobi.
A week of ethnic violence and riots since the vote has shocked the world and threatened to shatter Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most promising democracies.
More than 300 people have died in clashes -- some between police and protesters, others pitting Luo tribe backers of Odinga against Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced by the violence, some fleeing across the border to Uganda.
As international pressure for mediation failed to bring Kibaki and Odinga together, there was increasing impatience among Kenyans over the political standoff.
"I am urging every person in this country, of all ages to be peaceful and love one another. It is a new year, time has already past, now we have four years and 11 months or so, whatever is happening now will come to pass and we can vote someone else," said Tobias Ongari, another resident in Nairobi.
There were growing calls for some sort of power-sharing government -- including from U.S. President George W. Bush -- as the only way forward.
But neither Kibaki nor Odinga appeared ready for that, the latter saying he was voted the legitimate president but then robbed by fraud.
Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako said on Thursday both sides should agree on an independent person or body to carry out "a proper tally"
of the votes cast. Kenya was degenerating into "a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions", he said.
Many Kenyans were sceptical a recount would work.
A top U.S. diplomat for Africa is flying in to Kenya to mediate amid turmoil in which more than 300 people have been killed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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