Fresh attacks claimed at least 15 lives in Kenya’s Rift Valley region overnight, police said on Monday, while rival political leaders worked out details for reform under last week’s power-sharing accord.
”A total of 15 people died: six burned in their houses, six hacked with machetes and three shot dead,” a police commander said after the attack that occurred in the Rift Valley’s Trans Nzoia area.
Police said the attackers, armed with machetes and guns, pounced on their victims who were sleeping in the volatile area that was rocked by violence in the weeks after a disputed December 27 presidential election.
”It was horrifying. These people were merciless. They burned people alive. About 10 houses were razed,” said another police officer, who asked not to be named.
The government and opposition resumed talks in the capital, Nairobi, under a new international mediator, after a weekend break in a marathon talks on the accord to share power and end violence.
Former Nigerian foreign minister Oluyemi Adeniji replaced former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who left on Sunday, after obtaining a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Negotiations are now concentrating on reforms to address historical injustices, with electoral, institutional, constitutional and judicial issues to address impunity and corruption, and increase government transparency and accountability.
They are also to discuss land reforms, measures to address poverty, unemployment and inequity.
The rival leaders agreed last Thursday to create a post of a prime minister and two deputies under the East African country’s current constitution, pending a comprehensive constitutional review in 12 months’ time.
Odinga accused Kibaki of rigging the presidential elections, and the ensuing violence left more than 1 000 dead. Odinga is set to become prime minister after Parliament entrenches the deal in the Constitution.
In article published in the Daily Nation newspaper, Annan told Kenyans to hold leaders accountable and urged them to forget the past.
”I know you will support this agreement, even if some of you might feel that your party conceded too much. But compromise was key to success, and this compromise opens the door to a unified, prosperous and peaceful Kenya,” Annan wrote.
”My heart aches for you, especially for those who have lost loved ones. We cannot bring them back. But you can, through the way you choose to live your lives without them, ensure that the legacy of their loss is not one of hatred and revenge,” he said.
The government and opposition lawmakers are to meet separately to discuss ways of getting the deal enshrined in the Constitution when the 222-member Assembly resumes on Thursday.
The crisis tapped into simmering resentment over land, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki’s tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence in 1963.
Besides the civilian toll, the crisis also affected the economy, particularly weakening the key tourism and agriculture, which both sides have pledged to rebuild.
On Sunday, Odinga pressed for foreign countries to lift travel advisories against visiting Kenya.
”There is no need for anyone to fear coming to our country, therefore I make a passionate appeal to the countries that issued travel advisories to the tourists … to remove those advisories immediately,” he told local media. — AFP
