Children burned alive after seeking refuge in church

A mob torched a church where hundreds had sought refuge, and witnesses said dozens of people – including children – were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes in ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s disputed election.

A mob torched a church where hundreds had sought refuge, and witnesses said dozens of people – including children – were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes in ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s disputed election.

The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret yesterday brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275.

President Mwai Kibaki, who was swiftly inaugurated for a second term on Sunday after a vote that critics said was rigged, called for a meeting with his political opponents.

In today’s edition of the country’s oldest newspaper, The Standard, the head of the country’s electoral commission Samuel Kivuitu was quoted as saying: “I do not know whether Kibaki won the election.”

The latest violence recalled scenes from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when more than half a million people were killed.

The question facing Kenya is whether the politicians will lose control of the mobs, triggering a civil war.

Opposition candidate Raila Odinga refused an invitation to meet with Mr Kibaki, saying he would meet the president only “if he announces that he was not elected”.

Mr Odinga accused the government of stoking the chaos, telling The Associated Press in an interview that President Kibaki’s administration “is guilty, directly, of genocide”.

The head of the African Union, Ghanian president John Kufuor, is expected to arrive in Nairobi today to help mediate an end to the postelection violence, said the AU’s spokeswoman Habiba Mejri-Cheikh.

The violence – from the shantytowns of Nairobi to resort towns on the sweltering coast – has exposed long-festering tribal resentment.

The people killed in Eldoret, about 185 miles northwest of Nairobi, were members of Mr Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

The Kikuyus in Eldoret had fled to the Assemblies of God Church on Monday night, seeking refuge after mobs torched homes.

Video from a helicopter chartered by the Red Cross showed many homes in flames and the horizon obscured by smoke.

Groups of people were seen seeking sanctuary at schools and the airport, while others moved into the forest.

Yesterday morning, a mob of about 2,000 arrived at the church, said George Karanja, whose family had sought refuge there.

“They started burning the church,” Mr Karanja said, his voice catching with emotion as he described the scene. “The mattresses that people were sleeping on caught fire. There was a stampede, and people fell on one another.”

Mr Karanja, 37, helped pull out at least 10 people, but added, “I could not manage to pull out my sister’s son. He was screaming ’Uncle, uncle!’ ... He died.” The boy was 11.

Up to 50 people were killed in the attack, said a Red Cross official.

Mr Karanja said his two children raised their hands as they left the church and they were beaten with a cane, but not killed. His 90-year-old father was attacked with a machete, but survived, he said.

“The worst part is that they were hacking people and then setting them on fire,” he added.

The attackers saw Mr Karanja saving people and began stoning him, he said.

Mr Karanja said he ran and hid – submerging himself in a pit latrine outside the church property. He stayed there for about 30 minutes until he heard people speaking Kikuyu, he added.

The Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest ethnic group, are accused of using their dominance of politics and business to the detriment of others. Mr Odinga is from the Luo tribe, a smaller but still major tribe that says it has been marginalised.

There are more than 40 tribes in Kenya, and political leaders have often used unemployed and uneducated young men to intimidate opponents.

While Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga have support from across the tribal spectrum, the youths responsible for the violence tend to see politics in strictly ethnic terms.

In Nairobi’s slums, which are often divided along tribal lines, rival groups have been fighting each other with machetes and sticks as police use tear gas and bullets to keep them from pouring into the city centre.

The capital has been a ghost town for days, with residents stocking up on food and water and staying in their homes.

Parents in the capital’s slums – home to a third of its population – searched for food, with many shops closed because of looting.

Anne Njoki, a 28-year-old Kikuyu, said she fled her home in a shantytown after she saw Kikuyus being attacked and their homes looted. She was camped near a military base with her sister, three-year-old nephew and seven-year-old niece.

“They have taken our beds, blankets, even spoons,” she said of the looters.

In the Mathare slum, Odinga supporters torched a minibus and attacked Kikuyu travellers, witnesses said.

“The car had 14 people in it, but they only slashed Kikuyus,” said witness Boniface Mwangi. Five were attacked by the machete-wielding gang, he said.

The prospect of even more violence is ahead.

Mr Odinga insisted he would go ahead with plans to lead a protest march in the capital tomorrow.

The government banned the demonstration, but Mr Odinga said: “It doesn’t matter what they say.”

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