Scores killed in Kenya election riots
- 00:01:39
- ITN
Scores killed in Kenya election riots
More than 120 people have been killed in bloody rioting in Kenya after disputed elections returned President Mwai Kibaki to power.TV reports in the country said at least 124 people had been killed in the clashes which erupted across the nation after Mr Kibaki's controversial victory on Sunday, from the opposition heartland in the west, to Nairobi in the centre, and Kenya's Indian Ocean coast.The bloodshed has shocked one of Africa's most developed countries which has a booming tourism industry and one of the continent's highest growth rates.In the western town of Kisumu, a hotbed of opposition support, 21 bodies lay in and around a hospital mortuary, witnesses said. Most had gunshot wounds.In Nairobi's Mathare slum, police threatened to shoot people coming out of their homes, witnesses said. Taxi driver Argwings Odera said: "Police are saying on loudspeakers from trucks that anyone found outside will be shot dead."Much of the fighting is between Luos, who support defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga, and Mr Kibaki's ethnic Kikuyu group. Mr Odinga has rejected the election results and claimed the vote was rigged.The 62-year-old has called for a mass rally later this week in Nairobi's main park to protest the vote. He said: "We are going to call for a meeting at Uhuru park on January 3 where we expect a million Kenyans to attend.""No Raila, No Peace!" chanted youths in Nairobi's Kibera slum - one of Africa's largest.They lit bonfires in the road and torched a petrol station before police moved in to fire teargas and bullets in the air. Bodies lay in the dirt alleys.In Korogocho slum, rocked by clashes between protesters and police, a witness reported seeing 15 bodies.In an attempt to defuse the riots - some of the bloodiest since independence in 1963 - the government flooded the streets with security forces and kept a ban on live TV broadcasts.In Nairobi, ambulances and armoured cars with water cannon rushed through the streets in the direction of Kibera, Mathare and Kawangware slums, where smoke could be seen rising and helicopters flew overhead."We are in an undeclared state of emergency," said a statement from civil society groups. "The consequences of a stolen election must be clear to all Kenyans."Bewildered tourists - who contribute to a £400 million a year industry that is Kenya's top earner - have been left stranded by delayed flights at Mombasa airport on the Indian Ocean coast.The Foreign Office has advised Britons against all but essential travel to a number of parts of Kenya including Nairobi city centre and some districts in Mombasa.Supporters of 76-year-old Mr Kibaki say he has turned Kenya's economy into an east African powerhouse, with an average growth rate of 5 per cent.He won by a landslide in 2002, ending 24 years in power by the notoriously corrupt Daniel arap Moi, who was constitutionally barred from extending his term.But Mr Kibaki's anti-graft campaign has largely been seen as a failure and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty.And after the opposition took most of the parliamentary seats in Thursday's vote, he will likely find great tests in uniting the country during his second five-year term.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | December 31, 2007
