Mob kills up to 50 at Kenya church

In Nairobi’s slums, which are often divided along tribal lines, rival groups have been fighting each other with machetes and sticks as police use tear gas and bullets to keep them from pouring into the city center. The capital has been a ghost town for days, with residents stocking up on food and water and staying in their homes.

Parents in the capital’s slums — home to a third of its population — searched for food, with many shops closed because of looting.

Anne Njoki, a 28-year-old Kikuyu, said she fled her home in a shantytown after she saw Kikuyus being attacked and their homes looted. She was camped near a military base with her sister, 3-year-old nephew and 7-year-old niece.

“They have taken our beds, blankets, even spoons,” she said of the looters.

In the Mathare slum, Odinga supporters torched a minibus and attacked Kikuyu travelers, witnesses said.

“The car had 14 people in it, but they only slashed Kikuyus,” said witness Boniface Mwangi. Five were attacked by the machete-wielding gang, he said.

Thursday protest march planned
The prospect of even more violence is ahead. Odinga insisted he would go ahead with plans to lead a protest march in the capital Thursday. The government banned the demonstration, but Odinga said: “It doesn’t matter what they say.”

The widespread violence and gathering international pressure could lead Kibaki to seek a compromise with the opposition.

The European Union and the United States have refused to congratulate Kibaki, and the EU and four top Kenyan election officials have called for an independent inquiry. In Britain, Kenya’s former colonial ruler, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Kibaki and Odinga to hold talks.

Election commission chairman Samuel Kivuitu said Tuesday he had been pressed by both an opposition party and Kibaki’s Party of National Unity to release the results of the vote. Western ambassadors “wanted me to delay announcing the results, even if it is for a week,” to allow the commission to investigate alleged irregularities, he said.

Kibaki, 76, won by a landslide in 2002, ending 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi. Kibaki is praised for turning the country into an east African economic powerhouse with an average growth rate of 5 percent, but his anti-graft campaign has been seen as a failure, and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty.

Odinga, 62, cast himself as a champion of the poor. His main constituency is the Kibera slum, where some 700,000 people live in poverty, but he has been accused of failing to do enough to help them in 15 years as a member of parliament.

Kenya’s tourism industry, which brings in some $900 million and attracts more than 1 million visitors a year, is sure to suffer from the violence. The United States has warned tourists against all but essential travel to Kenya, and Britain has advised against travel in some areas.

Stuart Dickson, a Canadian who was vacationing in Nairobi, said he was cutting short his visit.

“We are leaving early because of the riots and how dangerous it is to be out on the streets,” he said. “With shops being closed and everything, it is not the best place for a tourist or traveler to be right now.”

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