Kenya death toll tops 700 as protests loom.

(Nairobi, January 13, 2008 Ceegaag Online)  

A prominent US-based human rights group called Sunday for Kenya to lift a ban on opposition rallies, as the nation braced for three days of opposition protests over disputed elections.

The appeal was made as the police death toll from violence in the wake of December 27 presidential election surpassed 700, after four deaths in overnight clashes in the Rift Valley and the discovery of 89 bodies.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to allow rallies, led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, which are due to start Wednesday to protest alleged vote-rigging that led to President Mwai Kibaki winning a second five-year term.

Police have outlawed any public meetings since bloody clashes erupted when Kibaki was declared re-elected. Besides the rising death toll, the violence has seen more than 250,000 people displaced from their homes.

"The government should defuse tension by immediately lifting the ban on public assembly and allowing the planned demonstrations to go ahead," said Georgette Gagnon, Human Rights Watch's acting chief for Africa.

"The Kenyan government should urgently and publicly order the police to stop using excessive, lethal force against public rallies," she added, after police cracked down on previous rallies with tear gas, truncheons and warning shots.

International pressure is growing on Kibaki and Odinga to break their deadlock and drop all preconditions for face-to-face talks.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned both men that failure to negotiate would be disastrous.

"The potential for further bloodshed remains high unless the political crisis is quickly resolved," said Ban in a statement.

The turmoil has shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of stability in otherwise restive East Africa, and dealt a serious blow to the region's largest economy.

"The country-wide death toll is more than 700 dead," a top police commander told AFP on Sunday, after another senior officer reported 89 more bodies had been recovered in the Rift Valley and western provinces.

Four new deaths were meanwhile reported in the Rift Valley overnight.

An official from the Kenya Red Cross Society confirmed the new recorded deaths, and revised its official toll from 486 to 575 dead. A tally by AFP meanwhile stands at 693.

Odinga, who called for mass rallies after talks led by the African Union last week ended in failure, is refusing to recognise Kibaki's re-election or to sit down with him until he admits to fraud.

AU chairman and Ghanaian President John Kufuor left Nairobi last week stating that both men had agreed to work with a panel -- led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan -- "towards resolving their differences".

It remains unclear, however, just what Annan's role would be, with Kibaki rejecting the idea of outside mediation.

A senior US official who left Nairobi on Friday after talks with both sides said Saturday it was "imperative" for Kibaki and Odinga to sit down together "directly and without preconditions."

"Both should acknowledge serious irregularities in the vote tallying which made it impossible to determine with certainty the final result," said US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.

The Kenya Red Cross Society warned Saturday of degenerating conditions for those displaced by the recent unrest, most of whom are in the west of Kenya and in slums around the capital Nairobi.

Camps housing displaced persons have "reported increased numbers of people suffering from malaria, pneumonia, respiratory tract infections and other diseases," it said.

Source: AFP

webmaster@ceegaag.com