News From Kenya: Raila Calls for Million Man Protest; Kibera Battleground

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Raila Calls for a Million Man Protest

The Nation (Nairobi)
31 December 2007
By Kenneth Ogosia
Nairobi

Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga has called for a
million-man march on Thursday to protest what they called a "civilian
coup".

Leading the party's 100 MPs-elect, Mr Odinga said the Electoral
Commission had presided over a civilian coup by declaring President Mwai
Kibaki the Head of State.

They have decided to put off a public rally earlier planned for today at
Nairobi's Uhuru Park, and instead vowed to use peaceful means to force
President Kibaki out of office. Today's rally was styled as a platform
for Mr Odinga to address the nation as the President-elect.

The party said they had already issued the requisite three-day notice to
the police about the Thursday march, expected to take place in all major
towns in the country. Party supporters will wear black bands, cloths and
carry twigs only.

"We are law abiding citizens of Kenya who do not want to give anybody an
opportunity to claim the laws were ignored. They are now informed that
Kenyans will demand back power the ECK had given Mr Kibaki in a civilian
coup," Mr Odinga said.

Addressing journalists at Orange House after an ODM National Executive
Committee and Parliamentary Group meeting, Mr Odinga accused the police
provoking and killing people in total disregard to the mandate they had
given him to be President.

He appealed for peace and calm saying hooliganism and criminal acts
would not provide the way forward to the impasse created by ECK chairman
Mr Samuel Kivuitu and asked the international community to intervene and
save Kenya from losing its glory as Africa's democratic state.

"We deliberated over weighty issues regarding the elections and rigging
that took place. We are pained and saddened that within 48 hours
democracy we fought so hard to bring is strangled and killed by a small
clique of people," he said.

He said the country was in a state of mourning and the funeral
atmosphere will engulf the peaceful demonstration on Thursday. He said
the ECK chairman had acted irresponsibly as though he doesn't live in
the country to provide its citizens with their legally elected "
President".

Mr Odinga accused Internal security minister Mr John Michuki of using
maximum force in the belief that if it sustained for two or three days
then Kenyans will give up.

"We will not recognise Kibaki as the President of Kenya and will fight
him out of office through peaceful and legal means," he said.

He however ruled out going to court about an obvious fact and wondered
whether the premise of the law had changed for him to prove that he was
the winner against the loser.

"If he is not guilty why does he seclude himself in State House at dusk
to be sworn in without the media, diplomats, observers and other Heads
of States," he added.


Scores dead in Kenya poll clashes

About 100 people have been killed across Kenya in violence blamed on the
disputed presidential election.

A BBC reporter at a mortuary in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu saw
about 40 bodies with gunshot wounds. A witness said police had opened
fire.

There were running battles in Nairobi slums, and violence was reported
in the coastal town of Mombasa.

Mwai Kibaki was officially re-elected president while Raila Odinga says
he was robbed of victory by voting fraud.

Mr Odinga has called for a million-strong rally by supporters in Nairobi
on Thursday.

Police banned his supporters from holding a mass alternative
inauguration ceremony in the centre of the capital on Monday, a day
after Mr Kibaki was sworn into office again.

In his New Year's message, the president urged reconciliation but warned
that his government would "deal decisively with those who breach the
peace".

On Sunday, Washington congratulated President Kibaki on his victory, but
a state department official declined on Monday to repeat these
congratulations when asked by reporters.

The US Ambassador to Nairobi, Michael Ranneberger, told the BBC there
had been serious problems in a minority of constituencies but he said
this did not necessarily mean the election had been rigged.

Live rounds

Shortly after first light, thousands of angry Odinga supporters started
setting fire to buildings in Nairobi's vast Kibera slum while gangs of
youths blockaded a nearby main road.

Police fired live rounds and used tear gas and water cannon as thousands
of protesters tried to move out towards the city, the BBC's Josphat
Makori said.

In the coastal town of Mombasa, angry crowds on the streets set fire to
cars and buildings and at one point hundreds of frightened tourists were
trapped at the airport, unable to leave by plane or road.

The situation there was going from "bad to worse" as hundreds of armed
police poured into the streets to tackle marauding youths and angry
demonstrators, the BBC's Odhiambo Joseph reported early on Monday
evening, local time.

Our reporter said he had the impression that the security forces had
actually been overwhelmed by the number of youths in the streets.

International news agencies have counted at least 100 deaths across
Kenya, either in clashes between protesters and security forces, or
ethnic violence.

An AFP news agency count puts the death toll in Kisumu at 53 and that in
Nairobi's slums at 48.

Seven people were killed in Nakuru, in the Rift Valley, and three in the
western city of Kakamega.

At least four people were killed in Mombasa.

At least two people were killed in the Nairobi slum of Korogocho.

'Peaceful mass action'

Mr Odinga said he and his colleagues would not be intimidated by
violence, and he urged people to join "peaceful mass action".
----------------------------------------
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Mwai Kibaki (pictured): 4,584,721 votes
Raila Odinga: 4,352,993
Kalonzo Musyoka: 879,903
------------------------------------------
He told the BBC that people had taken to the streets in protest because
their "democratic right had been usurped by a small clique".

Those killed in Kisumu include two women and three children, the BBC's
Noel Mwakugu reports.

Police fired indiscriminately, even after the protesters started running
away in the Kisumu suburbs of Manyatta and Nyamasira, an eye-witness
told him.

Local police chief Grace Kahindi said she had no knowledge of any
deaths.

A daytime curfew (0600-1800 local time, 0300-1500 GMT) was imposed in
the town.

Some of the violence took an ethnic dimension with the Luo community
seen as pro-Odinga and the Kikuyus viewed as Kibaki supporters.

Results changed

European Union monitors were barred from counting centres in the Central
Province, chief EU election observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff told the
BBC.

Results declared by the electoral commission in Nairobi from one
constituency differed from those announced locally, he said.

He reported seeing altered voting forms where "all the changes favoured
the same candidate".

Anomalies amounted to 20,000-25,000 votes in one constituency alone, he
continued.

Mr Kibaki's national margin of victory was 230,000 votes.

Elections chief Samuel Kivuitu has admitted some problems, including a
reported voter turnout of 115% in one constituency, the Associated Press
reports.

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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/7165602.stm
Published: 2007/12/31 17:29:15 GMT


Bodies laid out on mortuary floor

By Noel Mwakugu
BBC News, Kisumu

Outside the mortuary in the Nyanza Provincial Hospital, to the west of
the city of Kisumu, a small angry crowd had gathered on Monday morning.

They had come after hearing that dozens of bodies had been taken there
by police overnight and in the early morning.

Inside the main room in the mortuary, I counted 43 bodies - mostly young
men, two women and three children.

They had been brought in after a night of violence, blamed on the
disputed presidential election.

Mortuary attendants were quietly moving among the bodies, which had been
laid on the floor in a single row.

None of them had been covered - some of the men were topless, others
were naked.

Bullet wounds

One man said that police had fired indiscriminately, even after
protesters had started running away.

All of the bodies had sustained at least one gunshot wound, in the legs,
chest, stomach and back. One man had been hit by a bullet in the head.

A woman had been laid next to a child, presumably her daughter.

Outside, I spoke to one man who had witnessed their deaths. He said that
police had fired indiscriminately, even after protesters had started
running away. The woman and her daughter were both hit by the bullets.

Police chief Grace Kahindi said she had no knowledge of any deaths.

Almost deserted

There are fears that news of all of the shootings might spark more anger
in the city and its suburbs.

The streets of Kisumu - Kenya's third largest city and a stronghold of
opposition leader Raila Odinga - are almost deserted. Police in full
riot gear are patrolling in their vehicles.

Shops and business remain closed and the water supply to the city has
been cut. Many people have moved out to the suburbs.

Following last night's sporadic shooting, barricades built from
boulders, trees and tyres have been built across the roads leading to
the suburbs.

Small groups of young men are keeping watch for the riot police.

The mood is sombre, mixed with anger.

One man told me that people wanted to know why the government was
killing them for demanding their rights.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/7165666.stm
Published: 2007/12/31 11:08:59 GMT


Defiance under fire in Kibera

By Josphat Makori
BBC News, Kibera slum, Nairobi

Kibera, Kenya's largest slum, has been turned into one large
battlefield.

The sound of gunshots rent the air for most of a night and day of
terror.

From early morning thousands of residents engaged police in running
battles as they tried to make their way to the city centre, where Orange
Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga had called for a public rally.

Thousands of residents carrying tree branches and chanting
anti-government slogans defied the police.

There were met with hundreds of heavily armed anti-riot police who had
been deployed on all roads leading out of the slum.

For the better part of the day it was a contest of might against
numbers.

Police used tear gas canisters, water cannon and live bullets in an
attempt to disperse the crowd that was protesting at the declaration of
President Mwai Kibaki as the winner of the presidential election just
concluded.

Deafening noise

The crowds grew bigger and bigger as the day progressed, prompting the
police to form a human wall to confront the crowds.

Marching and singing defiantly, the crowds at one point dared the police
to shoot them as they started marching right into the contingent of
policemen mounted in trucks or on foot.

Arranging themselves in battle formation, the police cocked their guns
and pointed water cannon at the crowd.

Still the youths surged forward, this time chanting even louder: "No
Raila, no peace!"

Then the police started shooting jets of water and live bullets into the
air.

For a while dozens of policemen were firing simultaneously, the
deafening noise finally sending the crowd scampering for safety.

But a few minutes later the crowd regrouped vowing to fight on, no
matter what it took.

"We are now marching to town, we know that change never comes on a
silver platter," one young man told me.

"There must be sacrifice and this is the cause we have taken up."

"We are ready to die if that is what it takes," another young man said.

Looting and burning

Walking around Kibera, the picture was one of destruction and death.

The air was still filled with smoke from the smouldering houses, cars
and car tyres that were burnt overnight by the protesting youths.

One of the largest markets in the slum was burnt down, while property of
an unknown value has been looted.

At least three people were confirmed dead last night even though
residents claim the death toll is higher.

Police say they will intensify security to ensure peace is restored.

In statement to the press, Police Commissioner Maj Gen Hussein Ali said
the force would deal firmly with anyone who engaged in lawlessness.

Meanwhile Mr Odinga blamed the violence on the government and electoral
commission for what he claims is a trampling on the rights of people and
a denial of their right to choose.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ca/7166349.stm
Published: 2007/12/31 19:12:48 GMT


Q&A: Kenya poll violence

Scores of people have been killed in violent clashes across Kenya,
following disputed presidential elections.

The election commission says President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected but
his challenger Raila Odinga says he was cheated of victory.

How does this election compare with previous Kenyan polls?

Mwai Kibaki was elected in 2002, promising to clean up Kenya after 40
years of rule by two men from the same party, Kanu.

The 2002 election was widely praised after previous polls were marred by
allegations of irregularities and ethnic violence.

President Daniel arap Moi agreed to step down after 24 years in power
and his preferred candidate accepted defeat.

Now, it seems as though Kenya has taken a step backwards.

European Union election observers have criticised this poll - saying
some of the results read out in Nairobi were different from the figures
released at constituency level.

Voter turnout in one area has been recorded as 115%.

What role has ethnicity played?

Kenyan's politics has always been strongly affected by ethnicity.

Members of Mr Odinga's Luo community - in the west and Nairobi slums -
mostly favour "their" man, while the Kikuyus in central Kenya have
mostly backed Mr Kibaki.

With patronage and corruption still common, many Kenyans believe that if
one of their relatives is in power, they will benefit directly, for
example through a relative getting a civil service job.

In some areas, Luos have been clashing with Kikuyus and Kikuyu-owned
shops targeted in opposition areas.

In the 1990s, Kanu was accused of stirring up ethnic tensions in order
to be able to play off rival groups against each other and stay in
power.

What is life like in Kenya?

Kenya has East Africa's most developed economy.

It borders some of the world's worst places to live - like Somalia,
Sudan and Ethiopia.

Many foreigners will only know Kenya for its game reserves and Indian
Ocean beaches.

And under Mr Kibaki's presidency the economy has been growing steadily.

But most Kenyans have not yet felt the benefits of this.

In the overcrowded slums around Nairobi, residents have to cope with
violent gangs, no sewers (people use plastic bags as toilets and throw
them out of the window) and intermittent electricity.

These are some of the people who have been hoping for change under Mr
Odinga.

They say that Mr Kibaki has not kept his promises to tackle the
corruption which has long held Kenya back.

So what happens next?

Mr Odinga has called for a mass rally in Nairobi on Thursday, 3 January.

He and supporters of his Orange Democratic Movement will no doubt be
hoping for a second "Orange Revolution", sweeping him to power on the
back of mass street protests.

But the authorities will be aware of this and are likely to impose tight
security on the capital.

In this case, it would all depend on how many people turn out to support
Mr Odinga - and whether the police are prepared to continuing shooting
at them.

Mr Odinga also has the opportunity to lodge a legal appeal. But Mr
Kibaki was sworn in straight after the results were announced, so that
avenue appears to hold little hope for him.

What about the international community?

International pressure was key in getting former President Moi to step
down before the last election.

The IMF had cut off aid because of concerns over corruption.

The UK and EU have criticised the conduct of the poll but the US has
been less forceful.

The Kenyan government has occasionally helped the US in its fight
against Islamists in neighbouring Somalia.

International pressure would only work on Kenya if the major world
powers were united and determined to take action.

Earlier this year, there was widespread rigging and violence in
Nigeria's elections but after a few words of condemnation, the world
powers soon moved on.