Ethnic violence claims seven lives in Kenya

People were burned and hacked to death today in ethnic clashes in Kenya’s western Naivasha town, the latest flashpoint of violence over President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election.

Police stood by helplessly, apparently overwhelmed, as gangs of up to 100 people from Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe set ablaze the homes of Luo rivals in the centre of the town about 55 miles north-west of Nairobi, the capital.