Sunday, January 20, 2008

Update on Kenya post election violence

Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:43pm EST

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Five people hiding in a refugee camp in Kenya's Rift Valley were killed on Saturday by opposition supporters in the latest flare-up of violence in one of the regions worst hit by ethnic killings.
Kenya's opposition has said it will resume protests next week over a disputed election, just having finished three days of demonstrations in which at least 23 died.
Here is a chronology of the crisis:

Dec. 27 - Voters elect a new president and parliament. Most opinion polls put Kibaki's opposition rival Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement in the lead.
Dec. 30 - The Electoral Commission of Kenya declares Kibaki winner of the election and he is hurriedly sworn in.
Dec. 31 - The government floods the streets with security forces and maintains a ban on live TV broadcasts after riots convulse the nation.
Jan. 1 - A mob torches a church, killing about 30 villagers.

Jan. 2 - Kibaki's government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence rises.
Jan. 3 - Attorney General Amos Wako calls for an independent investigation into the election.

-- South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins to try to mediate.
Jan 4 - Kibaki says he would accept a re-run of the disputed election if a court orders it.
-- The United Nations says the unrest has uprooted 250,000 people, and that about 100,000 displaced people in the Northern Rift Valley could face starvation. The International Red Cross makes an urgent appeal for aid.

Jan 5 - Kibaki says he is ready to form a government of national unity to end the turmoil, but the opposition rejects the offer.
Jan 7 - Odinga calls off planned protests after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, saying the mediation process is about to begin.
Jan 8 - Kibaki announces 17 ministers for his new cabinet. Protesters respond by building burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold of Kisumu.
-- African Union Chairman and Ghanaian President John Kufuor arrives in Nairobi to mediate.

Jan 10 - Kufuor leaves Kenya saying both sides have agreed to work together with an African panel headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However Kibaki and Odinga, amid recriminations, did not meet or agree how to end the crisis.
Jan 11 - The ODM calls for international sanctions against Kibaki.
Jan 14 - The death toll in unrest rises to 612 according to aid agencies.
Jan 15 - Parliament is convened and the opposition gets a boost by winning the post of speaker in the assembly.
Jan 16 - Police fight hundreds of protesters in trouble spots across the country, killing three, as the opposition defy a ban on rallies.
Jan 17 - In Nairobi, and the western towns of Kisumu and Eldoret, police fire teargas and bullets during rallies called by the opposition but banned by police. The opposition accuse police of killing seven.
Jan 18 - At least 13 people are killed when police open fire in a Nairobi slum and ethnic groups clash during protests.
Jan 19 - Five people in a refugee camp in the Rift Valley are killed by opposition supporters. The opposition movement say it will resume protests next week over the disputed election, just having finished three days of demonstrations in which at least 23 died.
(Writing by Jijo Jacob and David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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