Results so far from a recount of disputed seats confirm the opposition’s majority in parliament, a government-run newspaper reported today as a top US envoy called for international intervention against state-sponsored violence.

Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has confirmed the results in 10 disputed parliamentary votes, making it unlikely that President Robert Mugabe’s party can wrest control from the opposition.

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader won the disputed presidential election outright, a top US envoy declared today.

The Bush administration is intervening with governments in southern Africa to prevent a Chinese ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe’s security forces from unloading its cargo, officials said.

It is up to Africa to help Kenya resolve a dispute over elections that has sparked spiralling violence, the African Union chief said as the continent’s leaders converged in Ethiopia for a summit.

THE top US envoy to Africa called the violence in Kenya “ethnic cleansing” and said yesterday Washington was reviewing its hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the country.

Violent anti-government protests in Kenya’s Rift Valley are aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the Kikuyu tribe there, a diplomat claimed today.

Kenyan police have killed and wounded dozens of protesters, an international human rights group said today, warning that the opposition call for mass rallies this week raises concerns of new clashes that could lead to more deaths and injuries.

Police firing tear gas have broken up protests in Nairobi demanding an investigation into the disputed presidential elections that have sparked violence across Kenya.

The Catholic bishop of one of the Kenyan towns worst hit by the ethnic clashes said today that the attacks appeared well planned and organised.

Kenya’s president and his chief rival made key concessions to end the dispute over the country’s elections, calling off protests and agreeing to talks under pressure from the US as the death toll from a week of violence reached nearly 500.

Kenya’s opposition leader called today for rallies across the country, raising the prospect of renewed bloodshed even as he indicated he was willing to negotiate a power-sharing agreement to resolve the explosive electoral crisis.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga today rejected an offer to form a unity government to end an electoral dispute that has caused ethnic violence.

Kenya will face a health emergency within days if the wave of political violence in the east African state is not halted, a UK-based charity warned today.

Kenya’s president is ready to form “a government of national unity” to help resolve disputed elections that caused deadly riots, a government statement said today.

The leading US diplomat for Africa is in Kenya today to encourage a peaceful resolution after a disputed presidential election sparked days of deadly riots.

Kenya’s embattled opposition vowed to stage another day of rallies today, setting the scene for more violence amid a political deadlock between the president and his chief rival.

Artillery shells and mortars rained down on Mogadishu today after a week of fighting, despite a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for an end to the violence that local groups say has claimed the lives of over 350 people.

African Union nations have committed about 4,000 troops for a Somalia peacekeeping force, and the first deployments could come as early as next week, a US State Department official said today.

Somalia’s president agreed today to a national reconciliation conference in a bid to end 16 years of anarchy in the war-ravaged country, paving the way for the deployment of African peacekeepers.

Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops supporting the Somali government, sparking a fight in the second straight day of violence in a city struggling to emerge from more than a decade of chaos.

The United States will provide $40m (€30.7m) to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance, the top US diplomat to Africa said today.

Fighting broke out today between Somalia’s government troops and rival Islamic militia near where an EU envoy was meeting with senior leaders to press for peace talks.

Liberian voters waited in snaking queues at churches, schools and empty, long-shuttered bank buildings, hoping presidential balloting would mark an end to a quarter century of coups, despotic rule and fighting that killed tens of thousands.

LIBERIAN voters waited in snaking queues, hoping yesterday’s presidential balloting would mark an end to a quarter century of coups, despotic rule and fighting that killed tens of thousands.