KUWAIT, Jan 2 (KUNA) — At least 250 people were killed, including 30 who were burned to death at a church in ethnic violence in Kenya, the BBC monitored here said on Wednesday.
The violence has been raging since last Thursday when Mwai Kibaki was officially re-elected president. He along, with the defeated opposition leader, Raila Odinga, who contested the poll, has called for cessation of the violence.
However, both sides have accused each other of fomenting the ethnic violence as tens of thousands have fled their homes fearing further clashes. Many Kenyans have been taking refuge from armed mobs and looters as fears mount of further attacks and reprisals. A government spokesman told the BBC that Odinga’s supporters were “engage in ethnic cleansing” in an “organised, calculated manner.” African Union chairman John Kufuor is due to meet with Kibaki on Wednesday amid growing international pressure to find a solution to the crisis. The visit comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UK Foreign Minister David Miliband issued a joint statement pointing to reports of “serious irregularities” in the vote count.