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Kenya death toll put at 1,000 as protests halted

Written by Alistair Thomson and Daniel Wallis

Tuesday, 08 January 2008

RIOTS and violence following Kenya's election may have killed up to 1,000 people, the opposition said yesterday as it halted protests and Mwai Kibaki, the president, invited his main rival to talks.

he country has been hit by a wave of protests and tribal clashes since Mr Kibaki's disputed win over Raila Odinga in the election on 27 December.

The government yesterday raised its estimate of the death toll to nearly 500 and said 255,000 people had been displaced. But Mr Odinga said that "closer to a thousand" people might have died.

Aid workers say the toll could rise after one of Kenya's worst crises since independence from Britain in 1963.

Mr Kibaki's office said he had invited Mr Odinga and several religious leaders to talks on how to stop the violenc
e and forge reconciliation.

The head of the African Union, John Kufuor, was due to arrive in Nairobi today, and Mr Odinga said the Ghanaian president could begin chairing talks as early as tomorrow.

Mr Odinga is under international pressure to avoid provoking more violence, but he also wants to maintain momentum to oust Mr Kibaki.

The Kibaki government accuses Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement of stoking the unrest.

Adding to the chaos, the main Kenyan lawyers' organisation accused electoral officials of "dishonesty and ineptitude", called Mr Kibaki's swearing-in "null and void", and urged a fresh vote.

"Kibaki lacks legitimacy to govern and this is the cause of the problems that we are facing as a country," it said.

But Mr Odinga wants Mr Kibaki to step down and hold talks to agree on a "transitional arrangement" before a new vote in three to six months.