Kenya opposition seeks new vote after violence

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya’s opposition party demanded a new presidential election to settle a dispute over the vote that has sparked days of deadly riots, and police hurled tear gas to scatter more than 1,000 protesters in the coastal city of Mombasa Friday.

A spokesman for President Mwai Kibaki said there would only be a rerun of the Dec. 27 election if a court orders it. Kenya's high court, which can annul the vote and force a new one, was largely appointed by Kibaki.

"The government doesn't reject or accept this. Only the court can call for the rerun of the election," said Alfred Mutua.

The United States and Europe were among those pushing for reconciliation, but said a “made-in-Kenya solution” is needed to end the violence that has killed 300 people and displaced 100,000 in what was once lauded as among the most stable democracies in Africa.

Peace Corps volunteers in western Kenya were being evacuated from their posts because of the violence, the agency and the State Department said Friday.

About 35 Peace Corps workers stationed in Kenya's three westernmost provinces that have been hardest hit by the clashes were being temporarily moved to Tanzania, they said.

Mass protest in Nairobi fizzles
The upheaval has spread from the capital to the coast and the western highlands. In Mombasa, a city heavily dependent on tourism, police scattered 1,500 protesters who were shouting “Kibaki has stolen our vote!” There were no immediate reports of injuries.

In Nairobi, Odinga supporters vowed that street protests would continue Friday, but none materialized. Instead, armed soldiers with riot shields patrolled.

Fred Nguli, 24, said he was simply too hungry to march.

"As these rallies continue we are suffering because we are all casual laborers," he said. "You need food for energy to work or even demonstrate."

In Mombasa, food shortages caused price rises, with the cost of a loaf of bread more than doubling to $1, said Michael Musembi, who sells wood carvings.

"There is no kerosene to light lamps with. To travel round town is difficult because transporters have raised fares," he said.

‘Let people die’
In Kibera, the country’s largest slum, shops remained shut Friday and small groups of protesters gathered on street corners.

“Let people die and then there will be a change,” said Joshua Okoth, standing with a group of young men by the smoking remains of a Kibera food market.

Ruth Otieno, who lives in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, said Friday about 60 houses were burned down in Mathare overnight, displacing scores of families.

The violent images — of burning buildings, machete-wielding gangs, looters making off with gasoline — are heartbreakingly common in a region that includes war-ravaged Somalia and Sudan, but until now not in Kenya.

In some areas, the political dispute has degenerated into violence pitting Kibaki’s influential Kikuyus against Odinga’s Luos and other tribes.

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