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NAIROBI (AFP) – The European Union’s team of election observers acknowledged fraud and questioned the accuracy of the ballot results.
“We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU EOM (Electoral Observation Mission) and the ECK have evidence,” chief EU observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said in a statement.
Kibaki cancelled out Odinga’s lead in late vote-counting, even as more than half of his cabinet’s ministers were voted out of parliament.
Former colonial ruler Britain expressed “real concerns” at reported “irregularities.”
But in Washington, US State Department spokesman Rob McInturff congratulated Kibaki on his re-election and called on all sides to accept the results.
A resident of Kibera and supporter of presidential candidate Raila Odinga holds a sign that reads "No Raila no peace in Kenya" during disturbances, after Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner. (AFP)
Fresh violence left scores dead in Kenya as defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga prepared to declare himself head of state, after rejecting the victory of incumbent Mwai Kibaki in disputed elections.
At least 84 people have now been killed since Thursday’s general elections, which have threatened to plunge one of Africa’s more stable democracies into turmoil.
The government has enforced a ban on live television broadcasts in what its says is an effort to contain the violence.
Post election violence in Nairobi and coastal city Mombasa
Police reported that some residents were running out of basic goods and started looting shops, especially in the coastal city of Mombasa. “We know there are skirmishes in many parts of the country. We are fully cracking down and fully responding to every situation,” police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told AFP.
According to police, hundreds of houses have already been torched in the western Rift Valley province and fresh fighting broke out Monday in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum.
NAIROBI, Kenys (Sky News) – At least 124 people have been killed in Kenya overnight after a disputed presidential election triggered bloody riots, according to TV reports.
Violence has convulsed the nation, with police warning those living in capital Nairobi’s slums that they will be shot dead if found outside their homes.
A curfew is also being enforced in the city of Kisumu, with officers ordered to gun down any violators.
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SECRETARY COLIN POWELL : Thank you very much, Mr. President for your warm welcome. It’s a great pleasure for me to be back in Kenya. And also to be here so soon after your very successful State visit to the United State of America, and I bring you greetings from the President and Mrs. Bush.
I’m also pleased on this occasion to have the opportunity to follow up with the President some of the items we discussed when he was in Washington. Items with respect to economic reform activities in Kenya, the anti-corruption drive that is underway. And I took note of the fact, that just as he said he would, when the President returned from Washington he took very important steps with respect to rooting out corruption within the judiciary, and I congratulate him for that.
We did talk about our mutual counterterrorism efforts. We touched on the United States commitment to making sure that we provide a good level of assistance to Kenya in counterterrorism activity as well as the development aid we have provided in the past …
PRESIDENT KIBAKI: Thank you very much. Will you please tell President Bush and his wife how much we enjoyed during our visit to the United States and we hope he’ll be coming to Kenya sometime very soon.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Kibera – Africa’s largest slum. Watch the video-trailer in this article:
AFRICA: Slum Survivors – new IRIN film released
That is an eye opening link. Thank You.
Scores die in Kenya rioting
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It had been predicted that this election would be close, and the final results had Kibaki winning by a sliver, 46 percent to 44 percent. But that gap may have included thousands of invalid votes. “The presidential elections were flawed,” said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the chief European observer.
The European Union said its observers witnessed election officials in one constituency announce on election night that Kibaki had won 50,145 votes. On Sunday, the election commission increased those same results to 75,261 votes.
Koki Muli, co-chairwoman of the Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum, said she was in the room on Sunday when the election commission was presented with dozens of suspicious tally sheets, some missing signatures, others missing stamps, and most of them were from the president’s stronghold of central Kenya. In some areas, more people voted for the president than there were registered voters. “I saw this with my own eyes,” she said.
Muli said that 75 out of the 210 constituencies — meaning more than one-third of the vote — had serious question marks and that the election chairman initially agreed to investigate. But later on Sunday he changed his mind.
Kenya is a close American ally, and a team of Western diplomats, including the American ambassador, tried for hours to persuade election officials to recount the votes using original results. One Western ambassador said that they knew if the dubious results were certified and the president declared the winner based on them, Kenya would plunge into crisis. But the commission would not budge.
“The government was determined to hold onto power,” said the ambassador, who did not want to be identified because he said he feared reprisals from the Kenyan government.
NY Times – Tribal Rivalry Boils Over After Kenyan Election
“It’s a sad day for Kenya,” said Michael E. Ranneberger, the American ambassador to Kenya. “My biggest worry now is violence, which, let’s be honest, will be along tribal lines.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Kenya: Western diplomats dispute Kenyan election results
Note the inconsistencies; diplomats based in Nairobi all express serious doubt as to the credibility of the ECK.
Yet back in their capitals, this is what we get:
this sucks.
This does indeed suck. But what seems to be getting short shrift in the coverage here is how this election and subsequent unrest is fractured along tribal lines.
Gift 9,069 of the legacy of colonialism, the creation of states and power structures that favor one ethnic group over another. But Eastern Africa is no place to laugh about fractured ethnic lines.
It’s particularly of concern that Mombasa is rioting. That is the heart of Kenya’s Muslim population.
Ooof what a wounded world we live in.
Pax
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(The Independent) – This time, both men are playing the tribal card. Mr Kibaki is a Kikuyu, the majority ethnic group which has supplied two out of three of Kenya’s post-independence presidents. Mr Odinga, is a Luo , who make up just over a tenth of the population and hails from the western province of Nyanza near Lake Victoria.
On top of the personal scores to settle, there are also historical grievances. The Kibaki-Odinga falling out was almost a re-run of history. Mr Odinga’s father, Oginga, was sidelined by Kikuyu president Jomo Kenyatta after independence even though he helped propel him to power.
… According to Kenyan stereotypes, rattled off good-naturedly, Luos are well educated but spend all their money on keeping up appearances, while popular mythology has it that if you drop a coin on the grave of a Kikuyu, the corpse will come back to life to claim it.
Kenya: People and Culture
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."