Kenya death toll rises despite peace roadmap

The death toll from ethnic fighting and a police crackdown in western Kenya rose to 37 Saturday. AFP reports that the news came a day after the feuding political sides agreed to a framework to try to end weeks of violence. Kenya death toll rises despite peace roadmap Twenty-seven people have died in fresh clashes, police said Saturday, after the toll more than doubled in western Nyanza province from fighting with poisoned arrows and machetes. Meanwhile, the toll rose to 10, including a policeman, after fighting in Ainamoi, the home village of a slain opposition MP, also in western Kenya, where thousands went on the rampage Friday. The deaths came after former UN chief Kofi Annan oversaw the signing of a first joint document between representatives of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga since last month's disputed election set off the bloodshed. The deal marked out a joint roadmap to end within two weeks unrest that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives since the widely-contested December 27 presidential elections. The crisis has severely shaken the formerly stable east African nation, a refuge for many people displaced by neighboring conflicts. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his weight to the diplomatic push to stop the killing during a one-day visit to Kenya Friday. "You have lost already too much in terms of national image, in terms of economic interests," said Ban, who held talks with the feuding leaders. "What I'd like to ask you is to look beyond these individual interests, look beyond the party lines." The new roadmap said both sides would address the growing humanitarian crisis caused by the unrest, which has displaced up to 300,000 people. It also pledged to resolve the political crisis created after Odinga accused Kibaki of having rigged the election to rob him of the presidency. But it was unclear how political issues would be addressed, saying only that "its resolution may require adjustments to the current constitutional, legal and institutional frameworks". "We are going to push as hard as we can to get results," said former UN chief Kofi Annan, who has been in Kenya for more than a week. The opposition cautiously welcomed the deal. "Given the very wide differences between the sides, this is a very important breakthrough. But it is not an agreement that will end the crisis," Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) spokesman Salim Lone told AFP. Both sides faced the challenge of extinguishing a growing flare-up of latent ethnic clashes, economic and land disputes. They have traded accusations of using armed gangs to provoke further tensions. Police said Saturday that 27 people had died in fresh violence in western Kenya, bringing the toll in the past 24 hours to 37. "Eight people were killed in Nyamira," a police commander in western Nyanza province told AFP, adding to eight others hacked to death or shot with poisoned arrows during fighting on Friday. "Six others were killed in (nearby) Chepilat - two shot by police and four hacked to death. Three others were hacked to death in Manga (also close by)," he said. Meanwhile, local police commander Japheth Daido said two people had died overnight in Ainamoi, the home village of a slain opposition MP where a crowd of thousands went on the rampage Friday. He said eight others, including a policeman, had also died Friday. "Eight were killed in Ainamoi yesterday and two were killed overnight," Daido told AFP. Villagers armed with bows and arrows, spears and machetes went on the rampage to avenge the killing of David Kimutai Too in Eldoret on Thursday, police said. Police also shot dead a demonstrator in the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu on Friday. Odinga said the lawmaker's murder, and that of opposition MP Melitus Mugabe Were on Tuesday in Nairobi, were "part of a plot" to reduce his Orange Democratic Movement's (ODM) majority in parliament. The World Health Organization warned Friday that hundreds of thousands of Kenyans forced from their homes by political violence lack proper health care and face a growing risk of disease and sexual violence. Scenes of violence in Kenya (FoNet)

Kenya death toll rises despite peace roadmap

Twenty-seven people have died in fresh clashes, police said Saturday, after the toll more than doubled in western Nyanza province from fighting with poisoned arrows and machetes.

Meanwhile, the toll rose to 10, including a policeman, after fighting in Ainamoi, the home village of a slain opposition MP, also in western Kenya, where thousands went on the rampage Friday.

The deaths came after former UN chief Kofi Annan oversaw the signing of a first joint document between representatives of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga since last month's disputed election set off the bloodshed.

The deal marked out a joint roadmap to end within two weeks unrest that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives since the widely-contested December 27 presidential elections.

The crisis has severely shaken the formerly stable east African nation, a refuge for many people displaced by neighboring conflicts.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his weight to the diplomatic push to stop the killing during a one-day visit to Kenya Friday.

"You have lost already too much in terms of national image, in terms of economic interests," said Ban, who held talks with the feuding leaders.

"What I'd like to ask you is to look beyond these individual interests, look beyond the party lines."

The new roadmap said both sides would address the growing humanitarian crisis caused by the unrest, which has displaced up to 300,000 people.

It also pledged to resolve the political crisis created after Odinga accused Kibaki of having rigged the election to rob him of the presidency.

But it was unclear how political issues would be addressed, saying only that "its resolution may require adjustments to the current constitutional, legal and institutional frameworks".

"We are going to push as hard as we can to get results," said former UN chief Kofi Annan, who has been in Kenya for more than a week.

The opposition cautiously welcomed the deal.

"Given the very wide differences between the sides, this is a very important breakthrough. But it is not an agreement that will end the crisis," Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) spokesman Salim Lone told AFP.

Both sides faced the challenge of extinguishing a growing flare-up of latent ethnic clashes, economic and land disputes.

They have traded accusations of using armed gangs to provoke further tensions.

Police said Saturday that 27 people had died in fresh violence in western Kenya, bringing the toll in the past 24 hours to 37.

"Eight people were killed in Nyamira," a police commander in western Nyanza province told AFP, adding to eight others hacked to death or shot with poisoned arrows during fighting on Friday.

"Six others were killed in (nearby) Chepilat - two shot by police and four hacked to death. Three others were hacked to death in Manga (also close by)," he said.

Meanwhile, local police commander Japheth Daido said two people had died overnight in Ainamoi, the home village of a slain opposition MP where a crowd of thousands went on the rampage Friday. He said eight others, including a policeman, had also died Friday.

"Eight were killed in Ainamoi yesterday and two were killed overnight," Daido told AFP.

Villagers armed with bows and arrows, spears and machetes went on the rampage to avenge the killing of David Kimutai Too in Eldoret on Thursday, police said.

Police also shot dead a demonstrator in the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu on Friday.

Odinga said the lawmaker's murder, and that of opposition MP Melitus Mugabe Were on Tuesday in Nairobi, were "part of a plot" to reduce his Orange Democratic Movement's (ODM) majority in parliament.

The World Health Organization warned Friday that hundreds of thousands of Kenyans forced from their homes by political violence lack proper health care and face a growing risk of disease and sexual violence.