UN's Ban throws weight behind Kenya peace drive

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew into Kenya today. He has come to provide heavyweight diplomatic clout for efforts to end a month of post-election turmoil in which more than 850 people have been killed. UN's Ban throws weight behind Kenya peace drive Ban went straight to see negotiating teams for President Mwai Kibaki and his rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga. "Look beyond the individual interest. Look beyond the party lines. Look towards the future, the brighter future of your country," the UN boss urged them. African leaders at a summit in neighboring Ethiopia are demanding urgent action to stop the bloodletting, which has turned one of the continent's more stable nations and strongest economies into its most pressing crisis. Ban came from Ethiopia in the morning for a one-day visit intended to bolster mediation led by his predecessor Kofi Annan. Ban told the 53-nation African Union summit on Thursday the violence threatened to "escalate to catastrophic levels". Kenya descended into political and ethnic killing after Kibaki's disputed re-election on December 27. More than 300,000 Kenyans are living as refugees. Odinga says Kibaki stole the vote, while Kibaki says he is the legitimately-elected leader. International observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell who won. Media and civil society groups urged leaders to bury their differences for the sake of national peace. Even so, "there's no way we can buy back the lives of the dead," wrote columnist Lucy Oriang' in the Daily Nation. "Forces of death" The unrest has taken the lid off decades-old divisions between tribal groupings over land, wealth and power, dating from British colonial rule and stoked by Kenyan politicians during 44 years of independence. "The country has been battered and traumatized so much," wrote the Nation in an editorial. "The malevolent forces of death must be stopped in their tracks." The United States and European countries have pledged their support for Annan's mediation efforts. Donors have said aid programs to Kenya are under review. A group of mostly European donors has suspended future payments on a good governance and law enforcement program in light of the current crisis, Denmark's ambassador said. Many in the country fear what will happen if Annan fails to clinch some sort of power-sharing deal. But lead negotiators for both Kibaki and Odinga's teams pledged their commitment to dialogue at their meeting with Ban. "We are committed to ensure that we find a resolution to the issues that are facing us," Kibaki's Justice Minister Martha Karua told him. Fresh protests, in which witnesses said at least two people were killed, broke out on Thursday after a police officer in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret shot dead an opposition legislator. He was the second killed in a week. The officer was being arraigned in court on Friday. Police have said they are treating the killing as a "crime of passion" rather than a political act, but Odinga again called it a politically-motivated assassination when he visited the MP's body at a Nairobi mortuary on Friday. Soldiers fired into the air to disperse angry mobs in Eldoret after the MP's killing. Hospital sources said at least 20 people were wounded in the fighting. Lying in a hospital bed with a bullet still lodged in his back, mason James Musire said he was walking back from a school meeting when security forces shot him. "I tried to put up my hands in surrender, but they just shot," he said. Protests also erupted in the pro-opposition western town of Kisumu. Youths burned tires and blocked roads with rocks.

UN's Ban throws weight behind Kenya peace drive

Ban went straight to see negotiating teams for President Mwai Kibaki and his rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga.

"Look beyond the individual interest. Look beyond the party lines. Look towards the future, the brighter future of your country," the UN boss urged them.

African leaders at a summit in neighboring Ethiopia are demanding urgent action to stop the bloodletting, which has turned one of the continent's more stable nations and strongest economies into its most pressing crisis.

Ban came from Ethiopia in the morning for a one-day visit intended to bolster mediation led by his predecessor Kofi Annan.

Ban told the 53-nation African Union summit on Thursday the violence threatened to "escalate to catastrophic levels".

Kenya descended into political and ethnic killing after Kibaki's disputed re-election on December 27.

More than 300,000 Kenyans are living as refugees.

Odinga says Kibaki stole the vote, while Kibaki says he is the legitimately-elected leader. International observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell who won.

Media and civil society groups urged leaders to bury their differences for the sake of national peace.

Even so, "there's no way we can buy back the lives of the dead," wrote columnist Lucy Oriang' in the Daily Nation.

"Forces of death"

The unrest has taken the lid off decades-old divisions between tribal groupings over land, wealth and power, dating from British colonial rule and stoked by Kenyan politicians during 44 years of independence.

"The country has been battered and traumatized so much," wrote the Nation in an editorial. "The malevolent forces of death must be stopped in their tracks."

The United States and European countries have pledged their support for Annan's mediation efforts. Donors have said aid programs to Kenya are under review.

A group of mostly European donors has suspended future payments on a good governance and law enforcement program in light of the current crisis, Denmark's ambassador said.

Many in the country fear what will happen if Annan fails to clinch some sort of power-sharing deal.

But lead negotiators for both Kibaki and Odinga's teams pledged their commitment to dialogue at their meeting with Ban.

"We are committed to ensure that we find a resolution to the issues that are facing us," Kibaki's Justice Minister Martha Karua told him.

Fresh protests, in which witnesses said at least two people were killed, broke out on Thursday after a police officer in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret shot dead an opposition legislator.

He was the second killed in a week.

The officer was being arraigned in court on Friday.

Police have said they are treating the killing as a "crime of passion" rather than a political act, but Odinga again called it a politically-motivated assassination when he visited the MP's body at a Nairobi mortuary on Friday.

Soldiers fired into the air to disperse angry mobs in Eldoret after the MP's killing. Hospital sources said at least 20 people were wounded in the fighting.

Lying in a hospital bed with a bullet still lodged in his back, mason James Musire said he was walking back from a school meeting when security forces shot him. "I tried to put up my hands in surrender, but they just shot," he said.

Protests also erupted in the pro-opposition western town of Kisumu. Youths burned tires and blocked roads with rocks.