2 Dead, Half a Town Burned in Kenya

[January 25, 2008]  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Ethnic clashes have left half a town burned down and at least two dead in western Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society said Friday, in the latest violence in the East African nation's deadly election dispute.

Some 50 people have been wounded and up to 3,000 have been left homeless in fighting that erupted Thursday at Total Station town, Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said.

Aid workers have said the violence pitted people from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group against the Kalenjin who support opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Some 700 people have been killed since the Dec. 27 election.

On Friday, Odinga's party argued that Kibaki should not be allowed to send a delegation to an African Union summit, saying the government stole the election and is therefore illegitimate.

Those comments came a day after Kibaki and Odinga held their first talks aimed at ending the violence and political standoff.

Though the two leaders shook hands when they emerged from the meeting, hope for a power-sharing deal quickly began to fade as each moved to restate his entrenched position.

Kibaki insisted his role as head of state was not negotiable, and Odinga condemned the statement, saying it ran counter to the spirit of negotiations.

The recriminations began anew Friday.

"We are telling the world, including the African Union, that Kibaki's government is not the legitimate government," said Salim Lone, spokesman for Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement. "The AU should accept our call because Kibaki lost the election and all the independent institutions in the world have shown this was a fraudulent election."

The African Union summit, which draws together heads of state from across Africa, starts next week in Ethiopia.

[Associated Press; By DAVID ESPO]

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.