Fears of genocide as violence spreads

The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus on Tuesday as they sheltered in a church in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret recalled scenes from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when more than a half-million people were killed.

The question facing Kenya is whether the politicians will lose control of the mobs, triggering a civil war.

President Mwai Kibaki, who was swiftly inaugurated for a second term on Sunday after a vote that critics said was rigged, called for a meeting with his political opponents — a significant softening of tone for a man who vowed to crack down on rioters.

But opposition candidate Raila Odinga refused, saying he would meet Kibaki only “if he announces that he was not elected”. Odinga accused the Government of stoking the chaos, telling The Associated Press in an interview that Kibaki’s administration “is guilty, directly, of genocide”.

The head of the African Union, Ghanaian president John Kufuor, arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday to help mediate the post-election violence, said the AU’s spokeswoman Habiba Mejri-Cheikh. She declined to offer further details.

In a joint statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband welcomed the emergency visit and called “on all political leaders to engage in a spirit of compromise that puts the democratic interests of Kenya first”.

“The immediate priority is to combine a sustained call from Kenya’s political leaders for the cessation of violence by their followers with an intensive political and legal process that can build a united and peaceful future for Kenya,” the statement said.

The UN cited Kenyan police as saying 70,000 people had been displaced so far. Around 5,400 people have also fled to neighboring Uganda, said Musa Ecweru, that country’s disaster preparedness minister.

In Nairobi’s slums, which are often divided along tribal lines, rival groups have been fighting each other with machetes and sticks as police use tear gas and bullets to keep them from pouring into the city centre. The capital has been a ghost town for days, with residents stocking up on food and water and staying in their homes.

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