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80 children massacred in Kenyan church


Kenya edged closer to tribal warfare last night after more than 100 people – at least 80 of them children – burned to death as the church they had fled to for refuge was set alight. More than 200 people, mainly Kikuyus, the same tribe as President Mwai Kibaki, were sheltering for safety in the Kenya Assemblies of God church five miles outside Eldoret in the Rift Valley. An armed gang of young men drawn from the Kalenjin, Luhya and Luo tribes – ethnic groups which backed the beaten presidential candidate Raila Odinga – stormed the church compound yesterday morning and set it alight.

Joseph Karanja, a volunteer for the Kenya Red Cross, who arrived at the scene in the afternoon, said he counted scores of bodies. "They were piled up, on top of each other". He said at least 80 of the dead were children. "You could see from the size of their heads and bodies they were kids.

"There were also adults but I couldn't recognise the men from the women – they were all burnt beyond recognition. There were old, old people and women who could not walk. They and the children all got burned. Altogether there were more than 100 bodies.

"Those were the ones I could see. There were also others who were covered by the building itself which was burning. The whole church was on fire. It had collapsed. Outside the gates there were six dead bodies. They were cut with pangas [machetes]. They had been running away, running for their lives."

The death toll at the Eldoret church was expected to rise further. As darkness fell the remains of the mud and wood structure continued to smoulder. Police had been unable to recover any of the bodies.

"I have cried, I have cried, I have cried," said Mr Karanja. "What I saw today should never be seen. I could not handle it myself."

Last night a further 42 people were in Eldoret's Moi referral hospital with serious burns, many in a critical condition. Kenya Red Cross officials said that number would also rise.

Bishop Korir, the bishop of Eldoret, said more than 15,000 people were sheltering inside church compounds in his diocese. "It is the only place where people felt safe, but now I don't know. This situation is so bad. We have 8,000 people in one compound. They have no food, no water and no security. The situation is so bad – there are dead bodies lying in the streets."

Ethnic violence has swept through Kenya since Mwai Kibaki was controversially announced as the winner of last Thursday's presidential election. Paramilitary police have fired on Mr Odinga's supporters in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, and in the slums of Nairobi.

Kikuyus, the largest of Kenya's 42 tribes, and the ethnic group of Mr Kibaki, have been fleeing their homes across the Rift Valley, seeking sanctuary in churches and police stations. Friends from other tribes have been hiding Kikuyus in their homes. Up to 50,000 Kikuyus across the country are believed to have left their homes.

Rhetoric was ratcheted up on all sides as the nationwide death toll from post-election riots rose above 200 in clashes which have become increasingly tribal. Mr Odinga said the government was guilty of "genocide", while government ministers in turn accused Mr Odinga of inciting ethnic violence.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe warned: "Our officers are exercising a lot of restraint in maintaining the law. This restraint will not last forever."

In a front-page editorial, Kenya's Daily Nation urged both Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to "stop the senseless slaughter". It accused both men and their acolytes of stirring up ethnic tensions. "How many more must die, how much more must be destroyed before you come to your senses?"

The security forces are becoming increasingly divided along ethnic lines. Kalenjin army officers were said to be taking to the streets of Eldoret joining in the attacks on Kikuyus.

Witnesses said most of the business properties owned by Kikuyus had been burnt down. The marauding gangs were now attacking residential areas. "They stormed our house at night and burnt everything," said Margaret Wanjiru, a Kikuyu. Her 90-year-old grandmother and 75-year-old mother were both too frail to run. They perished in the fire.

Many Kikuyus have looked on in horror as the violence has intensified. "Kibaki has put the whole tribe in danger," said Juliette Njeri, 28, from Nairobi. "This won't end soon."
Independent

'We only have fish and mangoes'

British environmental lawyer Dr Rosalind Reeve lives in Nairobi with her husband, twin sons aged 13, 16-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter.

The family have abandoned their home in Nairobi and are now staying in a village on the southern coast of the country, where food supplies are scarce.

Rioters
Widespread violence and looting erupted after the disputed elections

We were on holiday in the bush in Kibwezi for four days and we had to leave yesterday.

We had a choice of going back to our homes in Nairobi or coming down to the coast through Mombasa.

My husband works for the UN and the advice we were given is that if you are out of Nairobi, stay out.

Mombasa was pretty quiet yesterday but you could see the tail end of all the rioting in Likoni, which connects Mombassa with the coast.

You could see burning tyres on the roads and upturned burnt-out cars. Apart from a few public mini buses and a couple of tourist buses, our two vehicles were the only ones going south.

Everyone thought we were mad to go back but we had no choice because the holiday camp we were staying in was expecting visitors.

I was very nervous driving through Likoni but it was either go back to Nairobi or head for the coast where we knew it was quiet.

We followed a pick-up truck through Likoni, which was full of the maize meal, Ugali. Two men were on top, one had a machete and another had a bow and arrow.

It looked like they were protecting the food and they were shouting and waving their weapons at passers-by.

My son, who is 13, was very frightened, but he seems better now. His twin, who is blind and has cerebral palsy doesn't really know what's going on and it's hard to explain to him.


There were two men in the truck, one had a machete and another had a bow and arrow.

My older children are due to fly in from Germany on Saturday but we may have to wait until things have quietened down a bit.

Today, no shops have opened in Ukunda, our nearest small town. Ugali is being sold from the police station for protection. There are hour-long queues.

We have got some fish and mangoes but we hope the situation gets better soon.

My parents, who live in Hertfordshire, come to visit us every year but have had to cancel their trip.

We are just lying low and trying to do the best we can as we don't know what's going to happen next.

Friends of ours are stuck in Nairobi but they are OK and so far, we've been told our home is OK.

The violence seems to be targeted towards people from the Kikuyu tribe and it is contained in the slums.

Three of our staff are stranded in Western Province, scene of some of the worst violence.

Map of Kenya
Kenya's political leaders have been urged to compromise

They say that numbers killed are high, we were talking to someone in one of the Nairobi slums on Monday, who counted five bodies on his short walk to and from the food kiosk.

Shops owned by Kikuyus and Asians have been looted and credit for mobile phones is scarce.

We were hoping that the situation would calm down but with things descending into ethnic violence, it might get a lot worse.

The leaders have to get together and stop the ethnic violence. They need to put aside their differences about the election and stop this division immediately.

I have lived in Kenya for 14 years and everyone knows about the ethnic divisions.

It is Kenya's Achilles heel.

BBC

Mother of two hanged for murder as Iran executes 13 in crackdown on 'immoral behaviour' Mail

Kenya: gang rapes and 300 dead



With reports of gang rapes, tribal revenge and 300 dead, what can calm the troubled waters of this once great African hope?

A doctor at Nairobi's women's hospital says women and girls have been systematically gang raped in the post-election violence.

It's not clear which tribe was the perpetrator, and which the victim - just that women and girls have been systematically gang raped in the violence which has so far claimed around 300 lives.
Calls for negotiation

Amid international calls for negotiation, the opposition leader Raila Odinga shows little sign of compromise, yet he's pressing on with a rally tomorrow in defiance of a government ban.

Around 300 people have died in the bloodshed, including 35 people who were burned to death as they sheltered in a church.
Bloodshed

President Kibaki accused his rivals acts of ethnic cleansing while opposition leader Raila Odinga claimed the government was guilty of genocide.

The Red Cross said 70,000 people, mainly from the Kikuyu tribe, are now fleeing their homes.

Ch4

Iowa upsets deliver wins for Huckabee and Obama




Barack Obama swept away any sense of inevitability about Hillary Clinton's march to the White House last night, scoring an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses that dramatically alters the Democratic race.

Republican voters also rejected the established order, awarding a convincing victory to Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher who until two months ago was a virtual unknown outside his native Arkansas.

The results were especially cruel for Clinton who was relegated to third place behind John Edwards. It was a dramatic setback for a candidate once seen in control of a formidable political machine, and could damage her prospects in New Hampshire where the race has tightened in recent days.


In a jubilant victory party for supporters, Obama said he had demonstrated to cynics that there was a new way of doing politics. "We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and as Independents to stand up and say: we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come."

Huckabee also benefited from a new method of organisation. He relied on a network of evangelical Christian voters to power to his first place finish over Mitt Romney, who had outspent Huckabee in the state nearly 20 to one.

With all of the 1,781 precincts reporting, Obama had 37.6% of the vote, a clear lead over Edwards with 29.8% and Clinton on 29.5%. Bill Richardson came fourth, well behind the others, on 2.1%.

The excitement of the Democratic contest was reflected in the turnout figures with more than 230,000 participating in the caucuses, a huge increase on 2004 which saw 125,000 voters.

The Obama campaign was the most obvious beneficiary of the surge in turnout, attracting thousands of young and first-time caucus-goers. The Clinton campaign had also been counting on extra numbers of first time caucus goers among middle-aged women, but it did not materialise.

Rick Wade, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign who oversees African-American outreach, said the Iowa result would assuage blacks' fears that whites are unwilling to elect a black president.

"This answers the question whether white voters will support him," he said. "That is a concern among some African Americans."

On the Republican side, Huckabee had captured 34% of the vote. Mitt Romney, despite spending much of the year campaigning in Iowa, was on 25%.

A spokesman for the Romney campaign attributed the victory to Huckabee's appeal to evangelical Christians, who made the Baptist preacher their default candidate.

However, Romney said he expected to even the score in New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

"This is obviously a bit like a baseball game," he told reporters. "First inning in, well it's a 50-inning ballgame. I'm gonna keep on battling all the way and anticipate I get the nomination when it's all said and done, but, you know, congratulations for the first round to Mike, and we'll go on to New Hampshire."

Iowa's results confirmed the state's reputation for reducing the field of presidential candidates. Fred Thompson and John McCain were battling it out for third position, and both should go on to fight another day in New Hampshire. Ron Paul, the anti-war Republican, came in fifth. Rudy Giuliani, who did not compete in Iowa, was a very distant sixth.

However, senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd both announced their exits from the race.
guardian

Close ally of president calls for review of election result



Kenya's attorney general has called for an independent investigation into the results of the presidential election that has plunged the country into turmoil and seen more than 300 people killed.

Amos Wako - who is seen as a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki, the winner of the disputed poll on December 27 - warned in a televised statement that Kenya was "quickly degenerating into a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions".

"It is necessary ... that a proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately on a priority basis by an agreed and independent person or body," he said. Western diplomats have been pushing for an independent review of the vote, but there is concern that the official forms have been tampered with since the results were announced.

The review would serve as a mediation tool since only the constitutional court could unseat Kibaki, Wako said.

But there were few signs that the government would accept his recommendation. Kibaki gave a press conference last night in which he called for "dialogue with concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough", but made no mention of the vote review. Instead, he said that the election result was fair. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement, led by Raila Odinga, would have to go to court with its claims about vote rigging, he said.

Kibaki also accused the opposition of encouraging the chaos. "I am deeply disturbed by the senseless violence instigated by some leaders."

Odinga has refused to take his complaint to the courts, accusing them of being allied to the government. He repeated his call for mass action last night, after the rally he had planned for a park in central Nairobi yesterday was cancelled because of a police blockade of all roads into town.

"We will march again to Uhuru Park tomorrow, and every day until the president steps down," Odinga said.

In Kibera, Kenya's largest slum, police fired teargas and water cannons at protesters trying to make their way to town. A church was burned, and houses, shops and cars were also set on fire. Elsewhere, large groups of men, many clutching oranges, the opposition symbol, marched towards town, shouting "peace" and waving leaves and a few white flags. They attempted to burn down a petrol station before being dispersed by riot police.

In Mathare, another volatile slum in the capital, rival groups of youths stoned each other, and several people were reported to have died. There was violence in several other cities, including Mombasa, although not on the scale of previous days.

Uhuru Park was ringed by thousands of riot police from early morning. The few dozen opposition supporters who made it through gathered outside the luxury Serena hotel next to the park, occasionally shouting abuse at the police. When teargas canisters were fired, protesters and journalists escaped the smoke by pushing past security into the hotel.

Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town, was staying at the Serena after flying in to try to mediate in the crisis. "This is a country that has been held up as a model of stability," he told reporters. "This picture has been shattered."

But a government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said outside help was not necessary. "We are not in a civil war," he said.

Government ministers, however, have claimed that genocide is occurring against Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group. The finance minister, Amos Kimunya, described the opposition leaders and supporters as "warlords" and "fundamentalists". Mwalimu Mati, a Nairobi civil society leader, said: "The language of the government does not indicate the mindset of a negotiator. I don't see any way out of this soon."

Britain changed its travel advice yesterday. The Foreign Office had previously told British citizens to avoid certain parts of the country, but yesterday warned against all but essential travel to Kenya.

Hundreds of thousands of people have already been displaced, mostly in western Kenya, and thousands have crossed over the border to Uganda.

The turmoil in east Africa's biggest economy is being felt across the region. Landlocked Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi rely heavily on road freight from Mombasa. Since the election few trucks have made it across the country due to hundreds of checkpoints erected by opposition supporters, as well as the police blockades on the main road through Nairobi. Fuel rationing has already been introduced in Rwanda, while the World Food Programme warned that essential relief destined for Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan had been delayed.
guardian

Musharraf denies security agencies involved in Bhutto assassination



President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan yesterday batted away charges that his regime was complicit in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, but admitted he was dissatisfied with progress in the controversial investigation.

"No intelligence organisation of Pakistan is capable of indoctrinating a man to blow himself up," he told reporters in response to accusations against the Inter Services Intelligence agency. "Would I or the government gain from this?"

Instead Musharraf placed the blame on Islamist militants with al-Qaida links who are battling government forces in North-West Frontier Province.


Baitullah Masood, from Waziristan, and Maulana Fazlullah, of the Swat valley, were responsible for most of the 19 suicide attacks that have killed 400 people and injured 900 over the past three months, he said, and were also the main suspects in Bhutto's killing.

But Masood has denied any involvement in the attack and Musharraf is battling a perception that he is scapegoating the Islamists to avoid difficult questions. His officials have presented several different versions of how Bhutto died.

Musharraf said targeting Masood would involve a big military operation and, despite having wiretaps of his conversations, he was difficult to catch. "He shifts and moves every day and every night. It's not like you think."

He denied that al-Qaida had gained ground in Pakistan over the past year, contradicting most western intelligence estimates, and announced that security forces had arrested two suspects in the Punjabi cities of Mianwali and Sarghoda. Suicide belts were recovered in the operation, he said, but gave no further details.

Musharraf said he was "not fully satisfied" with the investigation, which saw valuable forensic evidence hosed away moments after the attack, and conceded that investigators should not have changed their story about the cause of death.

"One should not give a statement that's 100% final. That's the flaw that we suffer from," he said.

The British government is sending Scotland Yard detectives to help with the investigation. But they will not be allowed to interview the senior intelligence officials whom Bhutto accused of plotting against her, he said. "These are not realities, these are baseless accusations."

Pakistan faces elections on February 18, six weeks later than planned because of unrest after Bhutto's assassination.

But despite plunging popularity Musharraf was in jocular form, jesting with journalists and boasting of his achievements in bringing about a "democratic transition" in Pakistan.

After a 90-minute question-and-answer session on the television programme that provided the platform for the press conference, the presenter tried to end the show. But the president jovially beckoned journalists to ask more questions. "Go on, ask what you like," he said.

"I'm not a fraud and I'm not a liar," he said. "I speak the truth and unfortunately I've been accused ... of being too blunt, of annoying others."

Pakistan's nuclear weapons were in safe hands, he said. And he criticised western press coverage. "I don't believe most of what you write most of the time these days," he said, stabbing a finger towards the press corps.

But his face clouded over when asked if he had blood on his hands. "Frankly, I consider the question below my dignity to answer," he said. "I've been brought up in a very educated and civilised family which believes in values, principle and character. My family, by any imagination, is not one that believes in killing people, assassinations or intriguing. "
guardian

Five killed in Turkish car bomb attack



At least five people were killed and scores injured when a car bomb detonated yesterday outside a five-star hotel in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey.

In the country's deadliest bombing for months, the remote-controlled bomb went off just as a bus transporting troops was passing by. At least 30 soldiers were among the 68 people wounded, officials said.

Diyarbakir is home to large numbers of troops who are battling PKK Kurdish rebels both inside Turkey and in nearby northern Iraq. The blast will keep up pressure on Turkey to strike PKK positions in northern Iraq.


"Unfortunately, terrorism showed its bloody face once more in Diyarbakir," the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said.

"Such events will not disrupt our determination against terrorism. Our struggle both on international and national levels will continue with the same determination."

Several people could be seen lying unconscious amid burning cars, and a bus was engulfed in flames, reports said. Six cars were damaged in the explosion. Some students were injured by flying glass.

Authorities blamed the blast on Kurdish rebels. Police said two suspects reportedly escaped the scene. Authorities denied earlier news reports that the suspects had been captured.

The attack, which shattered the windows of surrounding buildings and could be heard two miles away, appeared to be retaliation for three air strikes by Turkish war planes against Kurdish rebel shelters in northern Iraq last month.

There have been two explosions in Turkey's commercial centre, Istanbul, over the past two weeks, killing one and injuring nine. No one has claimed responsibility.

"Today's bombing in Diyarbakir is a horrific example of the senseless tragedy that terrorism brings," the US embassy in Ankara said in a statement.

"We strongly condemn this violence and reiterate our determination to stand together with Turkey in combating terrorism in all its forms."
guardian

China switches to lethal injection


China's executioners are planning to increase the use of lethal injections in order to make executions "more humane", a senior court official told the state media yesterday.

Jiang Xingchang, vice-president of the supreme court, told the China Daily that lethal injections would eventually be used in all intermediate people's courts, instead of relying on firing squads. Lethal injections have already been used throughout China, particularly in high-profile cases such as the execution of gangsters and corrupt government officials.
Human Rights Watch in China said that there were 1,770 known executions carried out in China in 2005, more than 80% of the worldwide total of 2,148. A parliamentary delegate has said that the figure could be as high as 10,000.

Human rights groups claim China has executed minors, and local governments have been accused of harvesting organs of criminals.

China has made heavy use of the death penalty in a crackdown against separatists and has sought to make the ultimate example of corrupt senior government officials.

Last year, the director of the state food and drug administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death for "economic crimes". Many are speculating that the former party boss of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, now under investigation for embezzling billions from the city's social security funds, could be the next.
guardian

Kenya's leader hints at coalition deal
By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi


Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has signalled that he is prepared to enter into a coalition government with his rival, Raila Odinga.

Last night's move followed a meeting with the South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "There is a great deal of hope," Archbishop Tutu said.

Mr Kibaki's spokesman also signalled a willingness to agree to a re-run of the election, if the courts decide it is necessary. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement's secretary general, Anyang Nyongo, called for fresh polls within three months but the party is refusing to take the issue to court. Kenya's justice system is notoriously slow and corrupt. Mr Kibaki appointed six new judges two days before Christmas, a move that some Kenyan analysts believe was linked to a possible post-election court challenge. France's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, became the first foreign official to openly say that last week's presidential election was fixed. "Were the elections rigged or not? I think so, many think so, the Americans think so, the British think so, and they know the country well," he said.

Opposition plans for a rally in central Nairobi's Uhuru Park were abandoned as it became clear that its supporters' appetite for another confrontation with paramilitary police prepared to use teargas and water cannons was limited.

Opposition supporters streamed out of Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, yesterday morning – but they were not interested in demonstrating. Instead, they were looking for food. "We are tired and hungry," said Syrus Wanyama, a 26-year-old man with two children.

A semblance of normality appeared to return to much of Nairobi. But in the slums, home to around two-thirds of Nairobi's three million population, the constant unrest is beginning to take its toll. Armed gangs have been marauding Kibera at night. In his small, one-room mud hut, Mr Wanyama searched underneath the family's only mattress and pulled out a machete, a large glass bottle and an ornate wooden table leg studded with nails.

"When it comes to night these are my best friends," he said. Along with other young men along a stretch of rubbish-strewn dirt tracks, Mr Wanyama spends the night guarding his property. His wife, Josephine, their four-year-old daughter and six-month-old son, take refuge with hundreds of other women and children in a nearby primary school.

Politicians on both sides have spent the week spreading mixed messages. Despite calling for calm, leaders of both parties have accused the other of inciting violence. The word "genocide" has been thrown around with reckless abandon. "The rhetoric is crazy," said Maini Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission. "They've got to drop the genocide talk."

Elsewhere, police clashed with more than 1,000 protesters in Mombasa, one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. In western Kenya, the Red Cross said at least 100,000 were in need of basic food and medicine following attacks against members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

The medical aid agency Merlin warned of a medical emergency in the western town of Kisumu, where up to 100 people are believed to have died. "If peace isn't restored within the next few days, extreme hunger and severe dehydration are very real threats," said Merlin's Wubeshet Woldermariam.
Independent

Tribal strife leaves Kenya on the brink of humanitarian disaster
At least 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence that followed the presidential elections, and half a million are in desperate need of aid. Steve Bloomfield reports


A humanitarian crisis is building in Kenya in the aftermath of the violence that followed the country's elections. Aid agencies said the humanitarian crisis was getting worse, with at least 250,000 people displaced and more than 500,000 in need of emergency assistance. Kenyans, used to taking in refugees from other regional conflicts, are on the move themselves, with thousands fleeing into neighbouring Uganda.

As this worrying situation developed in what has been one of Africa's most stable states, there came a glimmer of hope. Kenya's two political leaders, President Mwai Kibaki and the man who also believes he won December's presidential election, Raila Odinga, yesterday edged closer to compromise following a visit by the top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer. After meeting Ms Frazer, Mr Kibaki's office issued a statement agreeing to the formation of a government of national unity. Mr Odinga said he was willing to discuss it only as part of internationally mediated talks.

Over the past week, Kenya's reputation as a country of peace and stability, where the press is free, democracy rules and Western tourists can enjoy superb safari and beach holidays, has been shattered. More than 300 people have been killed and a quarter of a million displaced as anger at Mr Kibaki's disputed re-election has exploded into violence and hatred of a kind not seen in Kenya since the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s.

Renewed fears of widespread violence meant that yesterday thousands of terrified refugees under armed escort fled western Kenya in buses that streamed down roads strewn with downed power lines, burnt-out vehicles and corpses.

At Cheptiret, bus after packed bus drove slowly past soldiers, loyal to the president, who stood guard at a roadblock. Hours earlier, a machete-wielding mob had controlled the roadblock.

Wide-eyed passengers pointed out of the windows, hands covering their mouths, as they looked at two bodies lying in the dirt on the roadside next to the charred hulk of a white minibus. The two men had been pelted with stones and then set ablaze, said a witness.

The numbers of deaths, though large, don't even begin to tell the full story. Kenya, a land of 42 tribes, has never experienced civil war. Neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia have smouldered with tribal tensions for decades, often exploding into ugly conflicts claiming hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of lives. Kenya has not been like that and isn't supposed to be like that. But in the past week I've lost count of the number of angry young men spitting out their hatred for members of another tribe.

In Eldoret, the scene of the church massacre, Kikuyus are running for their lives, their houses burned down by gangs of Kalenjins, Luhyas and Luos, as neighbour turns on neighbour. Families have split up – Kikuyu wives having to leave Kalenjin husbands for fear of what their neighbours would do. At roadblocks set up on every route out of town, gangs of up to 1,000 young Kalenjin men armed with machetes and bows and arrows demand to see identity cards. Those with Kikuyu names are dragged out of cars and trucks – some have been killed, others manage to flee. Less than 300 yards up the road, police, mainly drawn from the Kalenjin, sit idly by.

Human rights groups have accused the police of unjustified killings. The state-funded Kenyan National Commission of Human Rights, alongside 22 other civil organisations, complained yesterday that "one of the forms that violence has taken is in the extraordinary use of force by Kenya's police force... to the extent of extrajudicial executions".

Tens of thousands have sought refuge in churches and cathedrals, and many times that number have been trapped in their homes. Nisha Thakkar, 35, lives in Parklands, a district south of Nairobi's city centre. "We've been living off dried food all week, so I came out to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables, but the prices have gone up by 50 per cent. We can't afford it," she said. "Today is the first day I went outside since Sunday, and though a few buses have started again, the streets are still empty.

"Most of the rioting has been in the centre and slum areas, but we have all been scared. We have never experienced anything like this before. The Red Cross are asking for blankets and food donations. Many people living in the slums have lost everything; others don't know what they've lost because they're still too scared to go back to their houses and businesses."

It has been easy to describe the violence as tribal because much of it has been. But the trigger was political – the feeling, shared by foreign observers, diplomats, even influential members of the Kikuyu business community, that Mr Kibaki's people stole the election.

But separating tribe from politics in Kenya is not so simple. Politics here is unashamedly tribal. There is no left and right, no liberal and conservative. The manifestos of the two main leaders hardly differ: both would introduce free secondary education; both would seek to grow the economy through more private investment; both claim to want to end corruption.

The majority of Kenyans decide who they will vote for on the basis of their tribe. Raila Odinga proclaims as a badge of honour that 99 per cent of Luos voted for him; in Mr Kibaki's Central Province homeland he won 97 per cent of the vote. In the months running up to the election both candidates scrambled around for the support of tribal leaders, knowing that it would bring the backing of the majority of their people. Mr Odinga made Musalia Mudavadi his running mate, guaranteeing the backing of Luhyas in Western Province. Najib Balala provided support at the Coast. William Ruto brought in the Kalenjin vote in Rift Valley.

Kikuyus have dominated the economy and the political scene since Kenya won independence in 1963. Even during the time of Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin, Kikuyus still held many of the most influential posts. At the last election in 2002, the first truly democratic vote in Kenya, the two main candidates were both Kikuyus. This election was the first time the old Kikuyu political guard faced the very real threat of defeat; the first time Luos, one of Kenya's largest tribes but marginalised since independence, believed they could claim power.

In the months running up to the election, leaders on both sides raised ethnic tensions. In particular, Mr Raila's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) played on fears of Kikuyu dominance by championing "majimboism", a form of devolved government which, he promised, would bring economic development to the provinces. His supporters read this as a sign that Kikuyus, who live in every part of the country, would lose their grip on the economy.

Since the violence erupted, both sides have made mealy-mouthed calls for calm, while at the same time accusing the other side of "genocide", which has done little to quell the unrest. But amid the violence, there have been signs that Kenya has what it takes to stop the slide towards tribal divisions. As the week went on, the vast majority of Kenyans refused to turn on each other. Instead, they turned on their leaders. Kikuyus, Luos, Kalenjins and Luhyas have openly criticised their own leaders. "These politicians," said one Kikuyu man in Eldoret, "all drinking coffee in the InterContinental. They are not the ones fighting. It is the common man who is suffering." Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission, said none of Kenya's political leaders appeared to care much for their people. "There is a sense that we are just fodder for them," she said. One Nairobi radio station even announced it was banning politicians from its airwaves as they were inciting violence.

By the end of the week, a semblance of normality had returned to Nairobi, although the situation around the country was still tense. Shops reopened and office workers walked the streets. Street hawkers, selling everything from flags and plug adaptors to puppies, were out in force. At the Westlands roundabout, normally one of Nairobi's most traffic-clogged junctions, the jams had returned after days of empty roads.

Kenya has struggled with its national identity since 1963. Tribal divisions have been expertly exploited by a succession of leaders. Cornelius Korir, the Bishop of Eldoret, who is currently sheltering some 10,000 people in the grounds of his cathedral, said too many Kenyans identify themselves by their tribe first, their nation second. "We have not yet reached the stage where we are saying we are Kenyans," he said.

Not yet, maybe. But there are signs of hope. Among young urban Kenyans, the tribal identity is not so strong. "It has never been an issue for us," said David Okoth. "We went to school with people from different tribes. Now we are trying to build our businesses, forge our careers. Tribe doesn't come into it." Juliette Njeri, his girlfriend, added: "It is not a problem for us." David is a Luo, Juliette a Kikuyu. A week ago, this wouldn't have been worth mentioning. Now it's become something to cling to.

Indeoendent

The House of Bhutto: A family at war in a divided country
Just 10 days after Benazir's death, as Pakistan prepares for a bitter election campaign, it may be the younger members of her shattered dynasty who heal the rifts. By Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich in Islamabad


The dust has not settled. The shock to what passes for Pakistan's body politic has by no means worn off. And yet, in the House of Bhutto, a dynasty is regrouping and showing why it has been a force here for more than four decades. There has even been talk of a "royal" wedding to reconcile the oft-divided family.

Ten days after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as she left a campaign rally, Pakistan is readying itself for what could be an extraordinarily bitter and divisive election campaign. Tariq Fatemi, the country's former ambassador to both the US and the EU, said: "I have to say I see the coming weeks as a time of heightened tension and growing confrontation... There is a gulf between the people and the rulers... a dangerous divide."

That is nothing compared to the rifts that have sometimes been apparent in the rival branches of the Bhutto family, at odds since the fatal shooting in 1996 of Benazir's brother Murtaza in Karachi while she was Prime Minister. The main divisive figure in the family is Ms Bhutto's widowed husband, Asif Ali Zardari, nicknamed "Mr 10 Per Cent" for allegedly taking kickbacks as a government minister, and the target of accusations over Murtaza's death. Although Ms Bhutto's will named Mr Zardari her successor as chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, he deferred to their 19-year-old son, Bilawal, who has since taken the critical "Bhutto" as a middle name. Mr Zardari says he will run the party until his son finishes at Oxford University. His leadership could yet splinter the PPP.

Benazir's family is one branch of the Bhutto tribe, one of the largest in the southern province of Sindh. Its hundreds of thousands of members range from farmers to landowners. Benazir's uncle Mumtaz, 73, is the clan patriarch who presides like a feudal lord over serfs and servants in the ancestral town of Larkana. He said the renaming of Bilawal was a hollow ploy. "It is an attempt to overshadow the Bhutto family and also to continue to get benefit from the name of Bhutto by the Zardaris," he said at his palatial home. "But it will not work. People will not accept this." Still, Mumtaz Bhutto said he was seeking to unite the family after his niece's death. "It is only politics and Benazir's advent on the scene that split up the family, and now I am trying to mend the split," he said.

Fakhri Saboonchi, a cousin and close confidante of Benazir, expressed hope that Mr Zardari could become a unifying force in the clan and reach out to those still angry over Murtaza's death. "I'm sure he's changed, he will work hard for it because this is his wife's will," she said at her Karachi home, filled with photos of Ms Bhutto's wedding and of other relatives.

In one potential move to reconcile the family, Ms Bhutto's younger sister, Sanam, has proposed that Bilawal marry his cousin Fatima, 25, according to a person who heard the discussion and who spoke on condition of anonymity. But several relatives dismissed an arranged marriage between the first cousins as unlikely in these modern times – between two young people who are progressive in outlook.

Fatima's mother, Ghinwa, – who heads a dissident faction of the People's Party – said her daughter was like a big sister to her cousins and that such a marriage was out of the question. "Bhutto's legacy is not something which is somebody's property," she said. "Nobody can grab the Bhutto legacy by any attempt."

It may indeed be up to the children to bring the family together – something that appears already to be happening. In an article after Benazir's death, headlined "Young Bhuttos proving wiser than their elders", Pakistan's The News wrote that the Bhutto offspring drew closer through their shared mourning in Larkana, where Benazir was laid to rest beside her slain father.

"It seems that the shocking death of Benazir Bhutto has produced a great healing effect on the otherwise warring families," it said.

And, in the aftermath of Benazir's death, Fatima Bhutto – the daughter of Benazir's late brother Murtaza, and a poet and politician who became a harsh critic of her aunt – issued a public call for calm in the family. "I never agreed with her politics. I never did. I never agreed with those she kept around her, the political opportunists, hangers-on, them. They repulse me. I never agreed with her version of events. Never," she wrote on Sunday in The News. "But in death, in death perhaps there is a moment to call for calm. To say, enough... We cannot, and we will not, take any more madness."

Meanwhile, the mine-laden path towards parliamentary elections on 18 February was laid out last week by the country's Electoral Commission, widely seen as controlled by President Pervez Musharraf. The commission said that damage caused in the emotional aftermath of Ms Bhutto's death had left it logistically unable to hold the vote as planned. Voter registration lists and ballot boxes had been burned, said officials.

Yet one thing is certain: the decisions taken in the coming weeks by Mr Musharraf will be crucial to the country's short-term future. In the power-sharing arrangement that had been brokered by the US and Britain, the elections were a means to allow Ms Bhutto, and with her a degree of democracy, to enter Pakistan's political dynamic. The main motive for the West was not promotion of democracy as much as the provision of a political lifeline to the beleaguered Mr Musharraf, a vital ally in the so-called war on terror. Mr Musharraf's choice is simple. Does he, as the international community is urging, decide that even though Ms Bhutto is dead, the deal with her party still stands? Does he allow the poll to go ahead in conditions that can be called at least reasonably free and fair?

If he does, the likelihood is that the PPP will be in a position to put together a coalition that can at least in the short term make a government. In such circumstances, the PPP vice-chairman, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, would almost certainly serve as prime minister, in theory sharing power with Mr Musharraf and the military. And there, always there somewhere, will be the House of Bhutto.
Independent

Seeds of genocide were sown a decade ago by Moi


Sam Kiley -The Observer

Roads are blocked with trees, lamp-posts and burning tyres. Young men drunk on booze and blood, armed with Iron Age weapons, paraffin and matches scrutinise ID books to select victims for tribal murder.

That was the scene in Kenya last week. It has happened before, not just in Rwanda but a decade ago in Kenya. And there is very little time to act before Kenya's tribal tensions explode into more widespread massacres. It is no surprise, or accident, that up to 50 Kikuyu were murdered in the western city of Eldoret last week in revenge for alleged rigging of the elections by the Kikuyu President Mwai Kibaki over Christmas.


His predecessor Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin, allowed Kalenjin warriors, who dominate the region around Eldoret, to conduct a pogrom against the Kikuyu in 1991-92 and again in 1999-98. It was the Kalenjin who torched terrified men, women and children seeking sanctuary in Eldoret last week.

In 1992, 1,500 Kikuyu or 'non-indigenous' people were slaughtered in the Rift Valley east of Eldoret by Kalenjin and Masai moran, or warriors, armed with pangas. Many were hunted down like animals with bows and arrows in the woodland and farms around Nakuru, the provincial capital. An estimated 300,000 fled their homes. Back then their 'crime' had been to vote for the opposition parties against Moi's Kenya African National Union (Kanu).

There were no arrests, no proper inquiries, and very little publicity for these atrocities - most foreign correspondents were too busy cataloguing the larger horrors of Congo and Rwanda. But the seeds of the genocide that engulfed the Great Lakes of central Africa were sown by Moi in Kenya. Until now they lay dormant, but in fertile ground.

Kenya is the most stable and economically successful state in the region. It has been the base for international emergency relief operations to Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan for decades.

But it is no less riven by ethnic hatred than any of its neighbours. Put crudely, very few Kenyan tribes get along well with one another - and almost all hate the Kikuyu. The Kikuyu are the biggest tribe, with 42 different ethnic groups, and make up about a fifth of the population. They fought the British in the Mau Mau uprising that led to independence in 1963. Led by President Jomo Kenyatta until his death in 1978, the Kikuyu did well out of freedom, the other tribes less so.

Under Moi, the Kikuyu, who hail from the fertile highlands around Mount Kenya, concentrated on commerce and sedentary agriculture. A failed coup against Moi in 1982, by mostly Kikuyu air force officers, resulted in a purge of their ethnic group from the civil service and armed forces.

They kept their heads down until Kenya began to democratise in the 1990s and, in spite of a punishing campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Rift Valley, the Kikuyu returned to the centre of the political stage when Kibaki won the elections in 2002 - much to the undisguised anger of the smaller tribes.

Kenyans have disparaging stereotypes for almost every ethnic group. Kibaki's challenger, Raila Odinga, is a Luo, the brunt of any joke about sexual deviance; Masai and Kalenjin are 'ignorant and lazy'; xenophobic rivals say that a typical Kikuyu, or 'Kuke', is 'wily and dishonest'.

At best these ugly attitudes have provoked no more than workplace tensions. Today, after seven years of incompetent and wildly corrupt rule by Kibaki, culminating in a dubious election giving him a 200,000-vote lead in a population of around 35 million, they are an excuse for murder.

Kikuyu students hide in their dormitories from their classmates and Kikuyu doctors, nurses, accountants, farm workers and bank clerks stranded in the 'wrong' (western) part of Kenya hide, flee or die.

Kenya is most certainly on the brink. The insouciant attitude of young Kalenjin men, who confessed to having taken part in the Eldoret massacre of Kikuyu last week to Xan Rice [the Observer and Guardian correspondent] shows that they see nothing wrong with what they are doing. After all, it's only a decade since the ruling party actively encouraged the killing of ethnic and political rivals. And they're not really supporters of the political opposition, they are simply anti-Kibaki because he's a Kikuyu.

A pogrom has already begun against the Kikuyu as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other African dignitaries rush to Nairobi to try to bring Kibaki and Odinga to the negotiating table. But wider chaos threatens to ignite ethnic rivalries throughout the country.

So far the Luo and their allies the Luhya (together accounting for about a quarter of Kenyans) have directed their anger at the police, who have been using live rounds, tear gas and water cannon to break up their efforts at a Romanian or Ukrainian-style 'revolution'.

But as tensions mount, and the leaders of the rival parties fail to agree to new elections, power sharing or some other peaceful compromise, Kenya will no longer be a paradise holiday destination - but another equatorial war zone.
observer

Stone: my part in hostage baby saga


Oliver Stone, the maverick American film director, speaks exclusively about his bizarre role in the abortive attempt by Hugo Chavez to release hostages held by the Colombian rebel group Farc



Oliver Stone, the maverick Hollywood director, has returned from the jungles of Colombia to launch a scathing attack on America's 'secret war' in the country and blame US President George Bush for the failure of an international mission to free hostages held by armed rebels.

Speaking exclusively to The Observer, the Oscar-winning maker of films including Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Wall Street gave the first full eyewitness account of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's effort to secure the release of captives from the rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).


Stone also spoke out in defence of Chavez, whom he called 'an honest man, a strong man and a soldier', and condemned the United States for treating Latin America like a backyard to 'throw trash, piss, do whatever the hell they want'.

Farc said last month that it was prepared to release into the hands of the left-wing Chavez two women politicians - Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez - held hostage for six years, as well as Rojas's four-year-old son, reportedly born of a relationship with a guerrilla fighter. Colombians hoped it might be a step towards peace in their decades-long civil war. If Farc was willing to make this gesture, many believed, it could pave the way for a broader agreement for the release of all 46 hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three American defence contractors and dozens of local politicians and military and police officers.

Chavez sent helicopters to the city of Villavicencio on the edge of the Colombian jungle. He rallied support from Latin American governments which made up an international verification commission. An acquaintance of Chavez who worked with Stone on his film Comandante, about the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, invited the director to witness the rescue for his next documentary, a study of the US relationship with Latin America.

At first Stone was told to remain in his hotel for his own safety in case he became a kidnapping target himself, but he soon ventured out and passed time in town talking to 'coke dealers and murderers'. His trip ended in frustration as he watched Chavez's negotiations unravel. 'Chavez played a poker game where he was trying to really make this work, and I think that he couldn't do it alone,' said Stone from his home in California. 'From where I was standing, he was beating the drum to rescue these hostages and to break the ice in the ongoing war between the state and the rebels. I thought that it was a significant first move, and there was resentment towards him for this on the part of Colombia and the United States.'

He says Farc had promised to provide coordinates for the location where the helicopters could go to pick up the two women and the child. Each day began with the hope that at last the hostages would be freed and for four days each day ended in discouragement for their families. Finally, on New Year's Eve, Farc announced it was 'suspending' the handover. It was not possible, it said in a letter to Chavez, to continue because Colombian military movements were compromising the safety of the hostages and their captors.

This was vehemently denied by Colombia's President, Alvaro Uribe, who is credited with improving law and order in recent years, but is also accused of close ties with right-wing paramilitary groups. He claimed that Farc was not in possession of the four-year-old boy, called Emmanuel, who had actually been living in a state-run orphanage under the name Juan David since 2005. On Friday the Colombian government said that DNA evidence proved this to be true, and hours later Farc confirmed that it had placed the child in the care of 'honourable people' while a humanitarian agreement for a hostage release was hammered out.

Stone, speaking before Farc's statement was released, denied that the discovery of Emmanuel in the orphanage was a major blow to the rebels' credibility. 'Even if it were true, I would say to you, so what? What would be the motive for Farc to create such a build-up and not release the hostages? That would be such bad intention, such bad faith, that it would condemn them from the whole world, and if that was the truth I would be surprised and upset with them.'

Stone, 61, served in the US army in Vietnam, was wounded twice and received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He has won Oscars for his Vietnam dramas Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, as well as for his screenplay for Midnight Express. Among his other best known films are Salvador, The Doors, JFK, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, Alexander and World Trade Center. He is a trenchant critic of US foreign policy.

He blamed the collapsed deal not on Farc but on President Uribe and his American backer. 'It's Colombia's fault, Colombia did not want it to happen, and I think there were other outside forces, like Bush. Uribe went to great lengths to justify his behaviour that day. For the President to fly down to this place and give a long press conference and have his general give a long talk feels like a lot of over-justification to me. I think there was a lot at stake in getting Chavez out of the hostage situation. I heard that day from two rival sources that Uribe had made a phone call to Bush the day before or that day. The Bush phone call is significant.'

Stone continued: 'I said at the time, shame on Colombia, shame on Uribe, and I meant to say shame on Bush, too. I think Bush has a spiteful attitude towards Chavez, as does the American establishment. They want to see Chavez fail. The New York Times had an article the next day saying: "Chavez's promised hostage release fizzles, his second major setback in weeks." If that's the headline, that's certainly a surprise to all those people who were down there, including the families of the hostages. It was a genuine effort to free them.'

Uribe's war on drugs has been waged with the support of Bush's programme to eliminate one of the most plentiful sources of cocaine in the world. Stone regards it as another chapter in America's long history of interference and exploitation in Latin America, supporting dictators when in its own self-interest. 'America seems to treat it as its backyard. I guess people do all kinds of things in their backyards. They throw trash, piss, do whatever hell they want, let the weeds grow. I think we've always had that idea, that it's ours.

'Colombia is the last one we have left. It's a big investment, I gather we're talking almost a billion a year now. It is the equivalent of a secret war. In my time it would have been shocking, the equivalent of the Laotian war or the Cambodian war. The country is crawling with military equipment and American equipment and supervisory technologies - satellite technology, information technology. It exists for the Farc, I think they know that. They're very paranoid; they're right to be. Every Colombian that I spoke to was scared of the military in some way or another; they're the most dangerous people, not the Farc.'

Farc is regarded as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union and is thought to be holding up to 3,000 hostages in the country's eastern jungles. But Stone refused to condemn it outright. 'I do think that by the standards of Western civilisation they go too far; they kidnap innocent people. On the other hand, they're fighting a desperate battle against highly financed, American-supported forces who have been terrorising the countryside for years and kill most of the people. Farc is fighting back as best it can and grabbing hostages is the fashion in which they can finance themselves and try to achieve their goals, which are difficult. They're a peasant army; I see them as a Zapata-like army. I think they are heroic to fight for what they believe in and die for it, as was Castro in the hills of Cuba.'

Farc has said its intention to release the two women hostages still stands but it has returned to an intractable demand: the demilitarisation of two municipalities in southwestern Colombia to negotiate an exchange of the hostages for jailed rebels. Uribe has repeatedly refused that demand and, given his apparent political victory in the case of the boy Emmanuel, is unlikely to change his position any time soon.

As they waited in vain for the handover, Chavez quipped that Stone was Bush's emissary; Stone in return called Chavez a 'great man'.

Asked to explain this description, he said: 'Because he's really made a difference. You sense a revolutionary spirit throughout Venezuela. He doesn't seem like a tyrant to me at all, he doesn't seem even like a strongman, he seems like a man who respects the law. He's abided by the constitution far faster than Bush has abided by our constitution.'

Stone also said that he was impressed with the socialist President at close quarters. 'America has heavily invested in publicising anything negative about Chavez, but I have to admire him in person as an honest man, a strong man and a soldier.'

Hostage history

Q: Who are the Farc?

A: Colombia, the centre of the world cocaine trade, has endured civil war for decades between left-wing rebels with roots in the peasant majority and right-wing paramilitaries.

Manuel 'Sureshot' Marulanda named his guerrilla band the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 1966. Rebels make at least $300m from the drug trade yearly.

President Alvaro Uribe, in power since 2002, has launched a fresh offensive against the insurgents - backed by $3bn of US military aid.

Q: How many hostages are held by the rebels?

A: The Farc are thought to have about 800 hostages.Three have been the focus of international attention after rebels offered in December to release them - Clara Rojas, a former vice-presidential candidate; her young son, Emmanuel, believed fathered by one of her captors; and politician Consuelo Gonzalez. Rojas was kidnapped with Ingrid Betancourt, 45, in 2002.

Betancourt, 45, has won international attention because of her dual French-Colombian nationality and her children's campaign in France to keep her name in the headlines.

Q: How did Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez became involved?

A: In efforts to broker a swap four months ago, he was seen as someone to whom the Farc rebels could talk.
observer.

US seconds from opening fire on Iran


In what is being called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, US officials said.

US forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the incident yesterday, when the boats ended the incident and turned and moved away, said a Pentagon official.

"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record.

The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a U.S. Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were transiting the strait on their way into the Gulf.

The White House warned Tehran against taking such actions in the future.

"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

A Pentagon official said: "Five small boats were acting in a very aggressive way, charging the ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers.

"There were no injuries but there very well could have been," he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defence.

He said he did not have the precise transcript of communications that the two forces exchanged, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."

Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

In another incident off its coast, Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.

The 15 sailors from HMS Cornwall, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters - a claim denied by Britain.
Metro