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Kenya Death Toll Surpasses 1,000
By Jeffrey Gettleman
The New York Times
Tuesday 05 February 2008
Nairobi, Kenya - The death toll in Kenya surpassed 1,000 people on Tuesday
as negotiations to end the country's violent political crisis entered
a critical stage.
According to the Red Cross, most of the killings have been in the turbulent
Rift Valley, where gangs from opposing ethnic groups have fought fiercely in
the past few days.
"It's a very volatile situation out there," said Anthony
Mwangi, a spokesman for the Kenya Red Cross.
Mr. Mwangi said that more than 300,000 people had been driven from their homes
and the continuing insecurity, especially in the countryside, was slowing down
the delivery of food, water and tents.
On Tuesday, officials from the government and Kenya's top opposition
party began specific discussions about how to address the political crisis.
Both sides have so far refused to budge, claiming they won the election in December.
Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, is mediating the talks.
Solutions could include a power-sharing arrangement between the government and
the opposition; a transitional government to serve until a new election is held;
or an audit of the election results.
Mr. Annan is also pushing for a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation
commission to investigate the explosion of violence that has convulsed Kenya,
which up until recently was viewed as one of the most stable and promising countries
on the African continent.
On Tuesday, Mr. Annan met with Kenya's top business leaders who pleaded
with him to speed up the negotiations because the country's economy has
been devastated by the violence.
As the violence has intensified, roadblocks manned by young men armed with
machetes and bows and arrows have popped up across the country. In many places,
the rowdy youth act like toll booths, extracting payment before lifting barriers
to allow vehicles to pass.
Kenya descended into turmoil after the deeply flawed election in December.
The country's electoral commission declared that the incumbent president,
Mwai Kibaki, had narrowly beaten the top opposition leader, Raila Odinga, but
election observers have said there was widespread evidence of vote rigging.
The dispute uncorked decades of frustration about political, economic and land
issues, pitting opposition supporters against members of the president's
ethnic group and against other groups perceived to support the government. Much
of the violence has taken on an ethnic flavor, though many participants insist
their motives are political.
Kenya's billion-dollar-a-year tourism industry has been brought to its
knees, with game parks and beach hotels deserted. Agriculture has also been
hard hit because the insecurity in the Rift Valley has blocked the flow of produce
and commodities like tea and office. The stock market is down roughly 25 percent
in dollar terms and business leaders estimate the economy has already lost several
billion dollars.
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