Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Sunday appealed for calm as pre-election mayhem that has killed dozens gripped the country ahead of elections later this month.
At least 16 people were killed, dozens of huts razed and 16 000 people displaced in the Molo district, about 170km north-west of Nairobi, where violence is particularly savage, police said.
”There is no need for anybody to be violent and abusive,” Kibaki said in Nairobi.
Campaign rallies across the country have regularly turned chaotic in recent weeks, with the death toll standing at at least 38 in poll-related incidents since July.
European Union poll monitors have warned the violence will undermine the credibility of elections in Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy and a bastion of stability in a region beset by conflicts.
The Commonwealth and African Union are expected to deploy their observer teams soon.
More than 14-million Kenyans are registered to vote in the December 27 polls to choose a new president, Parliament and local councils in the country’s fourth multiparty election since pluralism was introduced in 1992.
Opinion polls put sharp orator and opposition leader Raila Odinga slightly ahead of Kibaki in the presidential race, with former foreign minister Kalonzo Musyoka trailing far behind.
Kibaki (75) has been credited with advancing basic freedoms, but criticised for failing to rein in corruption within government ranks.
Odinga, who casts himself as a champion of the poor, has vowed to reorganise every government sector and accused Kibaki of totally failing in his leadership.
Political observers expect the elections to be the closest yet in this East African nation of about 35-million people. — Sapa-AFP