Kenya's opposition accused of fuelling violence

Kenya’s opposition party was today accused of organising some of the worst violence in the wave of killings that have swept the county.

Monitoring group Human Rights Watch said it has evidence that leaders “actively fomented,” organised and directed ethnic attacks in Kenya’s western Rift Valley.

It said more attacks are being planned on members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

The group said interviews with numerous members of the Kalenjin people native to the area showed that “opposition party officials and local elders planned and organised ethnic-based violence in the Rift Valley.”

It said they “arranged frequent meetings following the election to organise, direct and facilitate the violence unleashed by gangs of local youth.”

The human rights organisation said the same sources confirmed plans were being made to attack camps of displaced Kikuyu. It called for police to protect displaced people.

“Opposition leaders are right to challenge Kenya’s rigged presidential poll, but they can’t use it as an excuse for targeting ethnic groups,” said a spokeswoman.

Both sides in the dispute have traded accusations of who is behind the violence, with the government and the opposition each saying they will take the other to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Mr Kibaki has been against international mediation in solving the crisis which was sparked by his disputed election last month.

He wants to resolve the conflict through direct talks with opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Mr Odinga says he will only negotiate with Mr Kibaki through a mediator.

After former UN chief Kofi Annan met both separately today a government statement said: “President Kibaki also informed Mr. Annan ... on steps his government was taking to open political dialogue and ensure national reconciliation and healing.”

Previous mediation failed to get the two men to agree to even meet. International allies, saying the vote was suspect, have been urging them to negotiate a power-sharing agreement that might create a new position of prime minister for Mr Odinga.

The Pan-African Parliament today belatedly published a report from its election monitors in Kenya saying the process did not meet democratic standards and concluding “an election rerun ... would be the most pragmatic and ideal solution.”

Mr Annan won a concession yesterday, his first day of mediation, persuading Mr Odinga to call off protests planned for today in defiance of a government ban. Scores of Mr Odinga’s supporters have been gunned down by riot police in earlier demonstrations.

Yesterday dozens of protesters set fire to a government office building, forcing workers to crawl out of windows.

The trouble erupted after police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths during a memorial service organised by the opposition for those killed in the violence.

The government says 685 people have been killed in riots and ethnic fighting. Some 255,000 people have been forced their homes by the violence.

While the spark was politics, much of the violence also has been ethnic.