By DPA
Nairobi : At least 50 people, mostly women and children, were killed in western Kenya when an angry mob set alight the church they were hiding in to escape the post-election violence, the Red Cross said Tuesday, as rioting continued to overwhelm the east African nation.
Bags filled with pots and cooking utensils that were not destroyed in the blaze were strewn by piles of ashes in the ruins of the church, which was mostly razed in the fire, a Red Cross volunteer on the scene said.
The Red Cross was unable to give an official death toll, but local media reported some 200 people were in the church. At least 42 were rushed to hospital with serious burn wounds.
“There has been a burning of a church where people were seeking sanctuary,” said Abbas Gullet, head of the Kenyan Red Cross Society.
The Red Cross volunteer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said those who were not burnt inside the Kenya Assemblies of God church were attacked by the crowd as they were trying to escape the flames. Most were women and children, she said.
Kenya has been plunged into chaos since disputed presidential election results sparked widespread outrage and riots and has touched off riots in the capital Nairobi’s slums and fighting between the country’s ethnic groups.
Gullet said the church was mostly filled with Kikuyus, President Mwai Kibaki’s tribe, who have been chased out of their homes and attacked by ethnic Luos, the tribe of defeated candidate Raila Odinga, and other ethnic groups.
A local journalist at the morgue in Eldoret, some 300 km from Nairobi where the church was torched, said police confirmed a death toll of between 35 and 40.
“I counted some bodies. I can’t count others because they are reduced to ashes,” said reporter Samuel Siringi.
Gullet said the situation was dire around Eldoret and the North Rift region with up to 100,000 people displaced and in need of food, water and shelter.
“We must highlight the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding. There is a massive displacement of the population that have no access to food, water, sanitation or health care,” he said.
Police have said 73,500 people have been displaced countrywide but Gullet said the number was “much, much higher” without being specific.
Odinga has charged the vote was rigged and is set to declare himself Kenya’s president at a rally on Thursday.
The European Union, the US and Britain have all voiced concerns over the polls and the EU election observer mission on Tuesday called for an independent inquiry into alleged fraud.
Some 200 people have been killed in the aftermath of Kenya’s elections in what marks a disturbing turn for the worse in the country’s otherwise peaceful history.
A range of Western states have advised their citizens not to travel to troubled regions in Kenya, a country with a booming tourist industry known for its fabled game parks and pristine coastline.