KENYA:A fresh wave of tribal violence flared in Kenya yesterday after an opposition MP was shot dead at a police roadblock, writes Rob Crillyin Nairobi
Officers said he was the victim of a crime of passion, and appealed for calm.
But within minutes of the shooting, youths armed with machetes took to the streets of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold. They burned tyres and blocked roads.
The latest flashpoint came as African leaders gathered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa were warned in the starkest possible terms that Kenya was on the brink of meltdown.
Alpha Konare, African Union chairman, said the country had once offered hope for the continent.
"Today, if you look at Kenya you see violence on the streets. We are even talking about ethnic cleansing," he said.
"We are even talking about genocide. We cannot sit with our hands folded. If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he added.
Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, is due to arrive in the country today in the latest attempt to find a settlement.
Talks brokered by his predecessor at the UN, Kofi Annan, were suspended yesterday in the wake of the killing of David Too, an MP for Eldoret, scene of some of the worst ethnic violence.
Police said he was killed in a domestic dispute after being caught up in a love triangle, and the traffic officer responsible had been arrested. But opposition leaders insisted it was a politically motivated assassination.
"This is part of an evil scheme; to rob the party of its majority in parliament," said Anyang Nyongo, secretary general of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) .
It is the second murder of an ODM MP this week and was enough to raise tension throughout the country.
Shops shut down in Eldoret after the killing and some residents began to leave town.
About 200 people gathered outside the police station demanding the officer responsible be handed over.
Thousands of people from Mr Too's Kalenjin tribe blocked roads with rocks and set houses ablaze on the outskirts of the western town of Kericho, near Mr Too's constituency.
Other tribes fled to the police station for safety. Trouble has flared repeatedly since president Mwai Kibaki was sworn in at the end of last month.
Raila Odinga, the main opposition leader, accuses him of stealing the election in a process that observers have agreed was flawed.
More than 850 have died in clashes that have pitted a collection of Kenya's tribes against Kibaki's Kikuyu people.
The Kikuyu tribe have long been envied for their prominent role in Kenya's economic and political life.
What started as political violence has now spiralled into a series of revenge and counter- attacks.