ODM: the public must boycott Kibaki-owned companies

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2huqPLFLeJg&refer=home Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Kenya's opposition plans to end street protests against President Mwai Kibaki's re-election after rallies today and will begin calling for economic boycotts and talks with international mediators, a spokesman said. Today is the last of three days of gatherings called by Raila Odinga, leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, to protest the Dec. 27 vote that he says Kibaki rigged. The poll result sparked clashes that left hundreds dead, forced 250,000 to flee their homes and exposed tensions among the more than 40 ethnic groups in the previously stable East African nation. ``This is the end of the demonstration phase and we are now going to target economic boycotts of companies owned by hard- liners and to ask unions to strike,'' ODM spokesman Salim Lone said in a phone interview today from Nairobi, the capital. The state-funded Kenyan Human Rights Commission and 26 other groups said today that vote-counting irregularities mean Kibaki ``cannot be said to be in office legitimately or legally.'' Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi on Jan. 22 to begin his bid to mediate a settlement to the crisis, the UN said. Two people were shot dead today in the coastal city of Mombasa when police fired on 500 protesters, Najib Balala, an ODM member of parliament, said in a telephone interview. Four more were killed in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the police. Western Statement Nine Western governments issued a joint statement today in which they called on the Kenyan police to stop shooting protesters. The Kenyan government bears particular responsibility in respecting human rights, according to the statement, released by Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. ``We urge security forces to exercise their duties strictly within the boundaries of law and desist from any extraordinary or disproportionate use of force and, in particular, the killing of unarmed protesters,'' the countries said. ``We have seen clear and disturbing footage of the use of lethal force on unarmed demonstrators.''

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