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Protests
erupt as Kenyan leader wins vote |
Sun 30 Dec
2007
(Updates throughout)
By Daniel Wallis and Wangui Kanina
NAIROBI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Kenya's
President Mwai Kibaki won a second five-year
term on Sunday in a disputed election
victory that triggered deadly riots by tens
of thousands of opposition supporters.
Pushing the stakes still higher, his
opposition rival Raila Odinga rejected the
results as rigged and announced an
alternative inauguration for Monday in a
Nairobi park.
To curb spreading chaos in a nation usually
known as a haven of stability in volatile
east Africa, the government sent trucks of
police onto the streets and banned live TV
transmissions.
As smoke billowed from protests in Nairobi
slums, Kibaki was sworn in on the lawn of
State House just an hour after the final
vote tally was announced, his hand on a
Bible.
The 76-year-old urged Kenyans to put aside
election "passions" and promised a
corruption-free government to forge unity in
the ethnically polarised nation of 36
million, the region's biggest economy.
"I thank all of you for the trust you have
bestowed upon me," he said. "I urge all or
us to set aside the passions that were
excited by the election process and work
together."
At opposition headquarters, the Orange
Democratic Movement (ODM) invited supporters
to an alternative inauguration ceremony for
the "people's president" Odinga on Monday
afternoon.
"There is a clique of people around Kibaki
trying to rob Kenyans of the election," he
said, wiping away tears. "The train of
democracy in Kenya is unstoppable like the
flow of the Nile."
As he spoke, the government suspended all
live TV broadcasts -- and transmission of
his news conference was cut. "People who
want to commit a crime do so in darkness,"
Odinga said.
Word of Kibaki's victory sent some of his
supporters onto the streets in celebration.
But they were fast outnumbered by furious
opposition supporters.
Local TV said 10 people were killed in Kisii,
an ethnically-mixed town in Nyanza, Odinga's
ethnic Luo homeland.
Police shot into a crowd in Kisumu, killing
another three people, residents and
witnesses said. A Reuters reporter was
attacked in Kisumu. Some Nairobi shanty-town
dwellers called wealthier friends begging
for refuge in their homes.
Opposition allegations of rigging had
already fuelled two days of ethnic riots.
Kibaki's camp said ODM also rigged votes.
In Kibera, Nairobi's biggest shantytown,
witnesses said protesters burned shacks as
they chanted pro-Odinga slogans.
"There's a lot of heat over here. People are
out in their thousands," Kibera resident
Joshua Odutu said against a backdrop of
gunshots, whistles and shouting.
"DOUBT REMAINS"
Kenya's electoral commission (ECK) head,
Samuel Kivuitu, declared Kibaki winner amid
chaotic scenes at the vote tallying centre.
He was then escorted to safety by
paramilitary police.
Chief European Union observer Alexander Graf
Lambsdorff said doubt remained over the
accuracy of the count and the ECK had not
established the credibility of the tallying
process.
"We regret that it has not been possible to
address irregularities about which both the
EU and the ECK have evidence ... some doubt
remains as to the accuracy of the result of
the presidential election as announced
today," he said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
said Kenya's former colonial ruler had "real
concerns" at reported irregularities.
After earlier clashes and rumours of a
possible declaration of a state of
emergency, which last happened after a 1982
coup Odinga says he helped plan, Kenyans
mostly stayed at home.
The few supermarkets and food shops that
opened were packed with nervous customers
earlier on Sunday. Shelves of meat, milk,
beer, bottled water and other provisions
emptied fast.
"This is the saddest day in the history of
democracy in this country," said local
analyst Koki Muli. "It is a coup d'etat."
Robert Shaw, a Kenya-based economic analyst,
said all the evidence showed the poll was
flawed and there was "no real confirmation"
Kibaki won. He forecast trying times ahead:
"We are in for a period of violence and
turbulence, without doubt."
Business leaders said this weekend's tribal
clashes were costing more than $30 million a
day in lost taxes -- not to mention looting
damage -- and threatened investment in
Kenya.
One election observer who asked not to be
named said they were "in very little doubt"
there had been rigging. (Additional
reporting by Guled Mohamed in Kisumu, Katie
Nguyen, Nicolo Gnecchi, Helen
Nyambura-Mwaura, Duncan Miriri, Bryson Hull,
Andrew Cawthorne, George Obulutsa and Tim
Cocks; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved |
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