Kenya Death Toll Surpasses 1,000

Kenya Death Toll Surpasses 1,000
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya —

The death toll in Kenya surpassed 1,000 people on Tuesday as negotiations to end the country’s violent political crisis entered a critical stage.
According to the Red Cross, most of the killings have been in the turbulent Rift Valley, where gangs from opposing ethnic groups have fought fiercely in the past few days.
“It’s a very volatile situation out there,” said Anthony Mwangi, a spokesman for the Kenya Red Cross.
Mr. Mwangi said that more than 300,000 people had been driven from their homes and the continuing insecurity, especially in the countryside, was slowing down the delivery of food, water and tents. On Tuesday, officials from the government and Kenya’s top opposition party began specific discussions about how to address the political crisis. Both sides have so far refused to budge, claiming they won the election in December.
Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, is mediating the talks. Solutions could include a power-sharing arrangement between the government and the opposition; a transitional government to serve until a new election is held; or an audit of the election results.
Mr. Annan is also pushing for a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the explosion of violence that has convulsed Kenya, which up until recently was viewed as one of the most stable and promising countries on the African continent.
On Tuesday, Mr. Annan met with Kenya’s top business leaders who pleaded with him to speed up the negotiations because the country’s economy has been devastated by the violence.
As the violence has intensified, roadblocks manned by young men armed with machetes and bows and arrows have popped up across the country. In many places, the rowdy youth act like toll booths, extracting payment before lifting barriers to allow vehicles to pass.
Kenya descended into turmoil after the deeply flawed election in December. The country’s electoral commission declared that the incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, had narrowly beaten the top opposition leader, Raila Odinga, but election observers have said there was widespread evidence of vote rigging.
The dispute uncorked decades of frustration about political, economic and land issues, pitting opposition supporters against members of the president’s ethnic group and against other groups perceived to support the government. Much of the violence has taken on an ethnic flavor, though many participants insist their motives are political.
Kenya’s billion-dollar-a-year tourism industry has been brought to its knees, with game parks and beach hotels deserted. Agriculture has also been hard hit because the insecurity in the Rift Valley has blocked the flow of produce and commodities like tea and office. The stock market is down roughly 25 percent in dollar terms and business leaders estimate the economy has already lost several billion dollars.