KENYA:Kenya's opposition said yesterday it hoped to hold a banned mass rally of thousands of its supporters in a central Nairobi park today. "The rally is on for tomorrow," said opposition spokesman Salim Lone.
And as thousands of opposition supporters plunged the capital, Nairobi, into violent chaos, attorney general Amos Wako called for an independent investigation into vote-fixing allegations in the recent disputed election.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to keep mobs of stone-throwing protesters from assembling in the city centre yesterday.
Plans by opposition leader Raila Odinga to hold a "million man" march were postponed as his supporters were pinned back in the city's slums.
Meanwhile, President Mwai Kibaki appealed for calm and offered to talk to political rivals. "I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement," he said. However, Mr Odinga says he will not meet Mr Kibaki unless the latter concedes he lost the presidency, something he is unlikely to do.
Pressure is mounting on Mr Kibaki to seek a compromise. Yesterday Mr Wako, the country's most senior law officer, speaking on national television, said a "proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately".
Until now the government has refused to accept that there was any need to examine the results of last Thursday's poll. The elections were initially praised for their orderly conduct but discrepancies in results and long delays at counts prompted accusations that Mr Kibaki's supporters had rigged his narrow victory.
Samuel Kivuitu, head of Kenya's election commission, said on Tuesday he could not be certain the results were fair.
More than 300 people have been killed and at least 70,000 driven from their homes across Kenya since Sunday. The political dispute has degenerated into ethnic violence, pitting Mr Kibaki's influential Kikuyus against Luos, who back Mr Odinga.
As well as violence in the capital there were also running battles yesterday between police and youths in the coastal city of Mombasa and in Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria.
International mediation efforts were intensified in the search for a solution. Achbishop Desmond Tutu arrived from South Africa and held a two-hour meeting with Mr Odinga and other opposition leaders. The Nobel laureate said: "This is a country that has been held up as a model of stability. This picture has been shattered."
Kenya has long been heralded as an island of political stability in a chaotic corner of the world. Its economy is seen as the powerhouse that keeps East Africa running. Yesterday its city centre of skyscrapers was empty as mobs marauded through the suburbs.
The Nairobi Stock Exchange was forced to close barely an hour after opening. In London, major tour operators suspended holidays to Kenya for at least two days. And Irish aid agency Goal has evacuated staff from the city.
However, the government insists there is no crisis and no need for outside intervention.
"Kenya is not at war and does not need mediators or peacekeepers," said Alfred Mutua, government spokesman.
But Mr Odinga insisted that the country was in the grip of ethnic cleansing, as he toured a morgue in the city. "What we have just seen defies description," he said. "We can only describe it as genocide on a grand scale."