Kenyan Riots Continue

The situation in Kenya remains dire as riot police clash with protestors.

Protesters burned tires, smashed store windows and fought with the police across the city.

Some demonstrators showed restraint, yelling to the rowdier members in their ranks, “Weka mawe! Weka mawe!” which means, “Put down the stones.”

Other protesters torched businesses as police officers in padded suits chased them away from the downtown area.

“We will burn this country down!” screamed Abdullah Mohammed, a young protester. He promptly set fire to a mountain of tires.

One band of opposition supporters tore through a Nairobi slum, attacking residents and raping several women, residents said. The residents caught one of the thugs and hacked him to death. The man’s body lay on the street for some time because police officers said it was too dangerous to wade into the slum to retrieve it.

He lay on a dirt path between shanties with his face covered by plastic bags. Someone had stolen his shoes.

By 3 p.m., Raila Odinga, Kenya’s top opposition leader, officially called off what had been billed as a million-person rally, though by that point it was pretty clear that the riot police had succeeded in turning protesters back from the city center and had stopped the rally from going ahead.

The Kenyan Attorney General had called on an independent recount of the vote. Desmond Tutu has been asked to oversee a recount of the disputed votes, and President Kibaki said he was prepared to enter into discussions with opposition groups if the demonstrations and rioting ceases, but opposition groups don't appear all that willing to trust Kibaki, who they claim rigged the elections.

US and EU diplomats, including Javier Solana and Sec. State Rice were looking to push for a coalition government that was comprised of opposition groups and Kibaki. I don't think that's a wise decision given all the distrust between the groups.

UPDATE:
If you want to get to the heart of why Kibaki can't be trusted, all you have to do is look at the timeline of events on December 27 when the election results were coming in and overlay that with the longstanding tribal conflicts that simmer just below the surface:

At one stage on Sunday in this nation of 36 million, Odinga was one million votes in the lead. Election officials in Kibaki's strongholds then disappeared with the ballot boxes, only to reappear with dramatically enhanced tallies for the President, who was promptly declared the winner and sworn in less than an hour later. Kibaki's first act was to ban live TV and radio broadcasts of the resulting unrest. With the U.S., U.K. and Kenya's own Electoral Commission questioning the result, Odinga is demanding that Kabika admit that he lost.

On the streets, the violence is about tribal score-settling. Kibaki is a Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe with 22% of the population. Odinga is a Luo, Kenya's third largest at 13%. The Kikuyu have dominated Kenya's politics, business and land ownership since independence in 1963, provoking simmering resentment from the Luo and other smaller tribes. That has only increased in recent years. Kibaki's government was elected on an anti-corruption ticket, and the economy has since grown at a steady 5%, fueled by a thriving tourism sector. But the benefits have not been enjoyed by all. Corruption has reserved much of Kenya's riches for the government and its cronies, and unemployment and poverty have actually increased, so that today more than half the country lives on less than $2 a day.