Ethnic clashes killed at least 10 people in Kenya's Rift Valley today as former UN chief Kofi Annan met opposition leader Raila Odinga to try to resolve a month-long crisis that has claimed 750 lives.
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan (left) gestures as he meets opposition leader Raila Odinga (right) in Nairobi today.
A Reuters reporter in Naivasha counted ten bodies, six burnt and four hacked to death as members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe fought running battles with Luos and Kalenjins who back his rival Odinga.
Mr Odinga put the death toll higher, saying up to 30 people had been burned to death and blaming the government for trying to divert attention away from the electoral dispute.
"What is now emerging is that criminal gangs, on a killing spree, working under police protection, are part of a well orchestrated plan of terror to spread and escalate the levels of violence," Mr Odinga said in a statement.
Two truckloads of soldiers were deployed as sporadic gunfire rang out and smoke poured from torched homes and vehicles. Barricades blocked Kenya's main western highway outside the town and police turned back cars heading towards the area.
Shooting continued late into the day.
"It is as if every tribe is against us, and no one is protecting us," said Dominic Karanja, a Kikuyu watching troops dismantle roadblocks that he had helped build.
Several shops including a nearby Internet cafe were looted and smashed and burnt computers littered the street outside.
The violence threatened to undermine mediation by Mr Annan, who called on both feuding parties on Sunday to name four officials for further talks after he held discussions with Mr Odinga.
The former UN chief visited parts of the Rift Valley on Saturday that have been hit by clashes and warned that turmoil triggered by Kibaki's disputed re-election had now evolved into something worse with "gross and systematic" rights abuses.
"Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral problem. It's much broader and much deeper," he said.
The sudden slide of Naivasha and another previously quiet tourist town, Nakuru, into pitched tribal battles has deepened growing anxiety since December 27th polls cast the country into chaos.
Hundreds have died in the turmoil and quarter of a million more have been forced from their homes. The unrest has shattered the east African nation's image of stability and damaged one of the continent's most promising economies.