Kenya ethnic violence fears grow

Riot police are on patrol after fresh clashes in Nairobi's slums

Both sides in Kenya's disputed election have accused each other of ethnic violence as tens of thousands have fled their homes fearing further clashes.

At least 250 people have been killed, including 30 in western Kenya burned to death while sheltering in a church.

Many Kenyans have been taking refuge from armed mobs and looters as fears mount of further attacks and reprisals.

The African Union chairman is due in Kenya, as the US and UK add their voices to AU calls to end the violence.

Mwai Kibaki, who was officially re-elected president in Thursday's vote, and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says he was robbed of victory by fraud, have both called for an end to the killing.

A government spokesman told the BBC that Mr Odinga's supporters are "engaging in ethnic cleansing" in an "organised, calculated manner".

Mr Odinga has countered in an interview with the Associated Press that Mr Kibaki's government was "guilty, directly, of genocide".

The majority of those killed in the church were Kikuyu, the same tribe as Mr Kibaki, and there have been reports of people being targeted on the basis of their ethnicity.

Abbass Gullet, secretary general for Kenya's Red Cross, told AFP that only those from "the right ethnic group" had been allowed through barricades in some places.

Correspondents say that although the election was more about economic and political issues than tribal ones, there is a danger that as the violence escalates it will take on more of an ethnic dimension.

Diplomatic push

Aid agencies are warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe" if the crisis is not defused.

African Union chairman John Kufuor is due to meet with Mr Kibaki on Wednesday amid growing international pressure to find a solution to the crisis.

The visit comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UK Foreign Minister David Miliband issued a joint statement pointing to reports of "serious irregularities" in the vote count.

"The immediate priority is to combine a sustained call from Kenya's political leaders for the cessation of violence by their followers with an intensive political and legal process that can build a united and peaceful future for Kenya," the statement said.

Fear and looting

President Kibaki, who was swiftly sworn in on Sunday following Thursday's vote, said political parties should meet immediately and publicly called for calm.

But Mr Odinga said he would only hold talks once the re-installed president "publicly owns up that he was not elected".

Commuters travel by foot after police blocked roads to traffic

Those killed in the church in Eldoret were among hundreds believed to be sheltering there.

Witnesses said that a mob angry about the election result doused the church with petrol before setting it alight.

Residents of the town who have contacted the BBC have described an atmosphere of fear, with people sheltering as homes are set on fire and gangs of armed youths loot properties.

One woman told the BBC that she was locked in an orphanage in Eldoret.

"The older children have been told that they need to arm themselves just in case we might have to protect ourselves, so they've got batons, they've got anything they can find," she said.

Also on Tuesday there were reports of new street battles breaking out in Nairobi slums.

The Kenyan Red Cross has said that in the Rift Valley, at least 70,000 people have been displaced as a result of the unrest, describing it as "a national disaster".

Ugandan officials also reported hundreds of Kikuyu tribes people crossing the border from Kenya, AFP reported.

Commission 'pressured'

Mr Kibaki was declared the winner on Sunday after a controversial three-day counting process.

On Tuesday, election commission chairman Samuel Kivuitu said he had been under pressure to make the election results public from Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity and a minor opposition party that recently split from Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

"I was being pushed by PNU and ODM-Kenya to announce the results immediately," he said.

EU observers said the poll "fell short of international standards", and four Kenyan election commissioners have joined calls for an independent judicial body to re-examine the process.

But Finance Minister Amos Kimunya denied the fraud allegations.

He told: "I have no evidence that they were rigged. Anyone who has any information that they were rigged in one constituency or the other, or overall, let them subject it through the legal process."