25 dead in Kenya opposition protests

NAIROBI, Saturday (AFP) - The death toll for three days of opposition rallies against Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's re-election soared to 25 yesterday when police killed five protestors and found several bodies across the country. The fresh wave of violence following last month's disputed presidential poll came as former UN chief Kofi Annan announced he would fly in Tuesday to broker a deal and the opposition said it would halt its demonstrations.

Four people were shot dead in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, and another shortly after Friday prayers in Mombasa, Kenya's second city, police said, bringing to 25 the number of people killed since rallies kicked off Wednesday.“The demonstrators (in Kibera) were charging at the officers with stones and that is when police fired at them. Four of them have been killed,” a police commander told AFP.

At least 20 other Kenyans have been killed over the past two days, including five in overnight clashes in the Narok area, northwest of the capital. Police found the bodies of five members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe with arrow or machete wounds. They were killed by Maasai youths who supported opposition leader Raila Odinga in last month's disputed presidential poll.

Demonstrations were also held in the western towns of Kisumu and Eldoret, the worst-hit by the wave of violence that shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of stability in the restive region. Nine Western governments, including Australia, Britain and Canada, issued a statement Friday urging Kenya to stop killing unarmed civilians.

Amnesty International condemned “excessive use of force” by the police.“We recognise that the Kenyan police are trying to contain what in some cases have been violent protests in Kenya,” said Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty's Africa Programme.

“However, by firing live ammunition into crowds the police have far exceeded what is acceptable use of force. The firing of live ammunition into crowds cannot be justified.”Amnesty said it was also concerned at reports that journalists covering the protests and the police response had been harassed, and that human rights defenders protesting the use of excessive force by Kenyan security forces had been arrested.

Opposition leader Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said it was ending the protests because civilians were paying too heavy a price.“Today is the last day of demonstrations. We have seen a lot of suffering caused by reckless police action against peaceful protestors,” ODM spokesman Salim Lone told AFP.

Many protestors nevertheless vowed to return to the streets.“We're very angry about this, and we will continue until Raila's in power,”said Paul Oteyo, a 20-year-old from Kibera, as slum dwellers carried away the bodies of a man and a woman shot dead by police.

Odinga says he was robbed of the presidency in December polls, accusing Kibaki of rigging his re-election. His party described the 76-year-old president as “an eminent thief”.