KENYA:Gangs of armed youths brought chaos to Kenya's Rift Valley towns at the weekend, leaving at least 69 dead.
Plumes of smoke rose over the pretty lakeside town of Naivasha yesterday.
The killings bring the death toll since December's disputed election to 800 and underline the task facing Kofi Annan as he tries to steer Kenya out of its worst crisis since independence.
The former United Nations secretary-general spent yesterday with Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader, trying to draft an agenda for talks that will be acceptable to both sides.
Mark Malloch-Brown, Britain's minister for Africa, is also due in Nairobi today and hopes to hold talks with both Odinga and the president, Mwai Kibaki.
Yesterday, the bloodshed inched across the Rift Valley ever closer to the capital Nairobi.
Gangs from the Kikuyu tribe, members of the same ethnic group as the president, descended on Naivasha, a neat town once favoured by Kenya's British colonial elite. Today it is popular with tourists and expats on weekend breaks from Nairobi, 55 miles to the south east.
The gangs barricaded the main road in and out, before systematically rooting out members of Odinga's Luo tribe in a frenzy of murder.
"We have moved out to revenge the deaths of our brothers and sisters who have been killed, and nothing will stop us," said Anthony Mwangi. "For every one Kikuyu killed, we shall avenge their killing with three." Many of the attackers are thought to be from the feared Mungiki sect, a cult-like criminal gang responsible for dozens of grisly murders in the past year.
Witnesses counted five charred bodies, three others that had been hacked to death, and a policeman who was shot accidentally by a colleague.
Police eventually managed to regain control yesterday evening, firing tear gas and live rounds.
More than 250,000 people have been forced from their homes by ethnic clashes which erupted after Mr Kibaki was hurriedly sworn in.
His Kikuyu tribe, long envied for their economic and political power, has borne the brunt of the violence as old scores are settled. Thousands living in the Rift Valley have seen their homes burned by opposition supporters, mainly from the Kalenjin tribe.
Many Kikuyus had made their way to Nakuru, the regional capital. Aid agencies were trying to care for 1,000 new arrivals every day. But the previously peaceful town was sucked into the violence on Thursday night, as members of the Kalenjin tribe torched two shantytowns populated by Kikuyus.
By Friday morning, the Kikuyus had organised themselves into gangs. Most of the town was a no-go area for the rest of the weekend. Young men, clutching planks studded with nails or machetes, fought running battles with police.
"This is a war against our community," said one young Kikuyu man, sharpening his machete on the railway tracks that run into Nakuru. "We have been here for 25 years. We can't leave so we will fight."