Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called for calm yesterday as opposition leader Raila Odinga warned that the east African nation was heading toward anarchy.
"The president appeals to all Kenyans to maintain peace," said a statement from Kibaki's office.
Odinga told reporters: "This country is drifting into a state of anarchy."
PHOTO: AFP
His comments came just hours after two gunmen shot newly elected opposition member of parliament (MP) Mugabe Were as he drove to his house in suburban Nairobi early yesterday.
"We are treating it as a murder but we are not ruling out anything, including political motives," Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said. "We are urging everyone to remain calm."
Police fired tear gas into the compound of Were's home at unarmed mourners who had been taunting them.
Kibaki condemned the killing and appealed to Kenyans to maintain peace and avoid drawing premature conclusions. In a statement, Kibaki promised police would act swiftly to ensure the perpetrators were dealt with severely.
But Odinga told reporters that he suspected political "adversaries" of his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had a hand in the murder.
"We are very shocked and dismayed at what has happened to our colleague," Odinga said, describing the death a "brutal assassination in cold blood."
"Of course there are lots of rumors going around. We hope and expect that investigations are going to be carried out by the law enforcement agencies, but as you can see, the country is drifting into a state of anarchy," he said.
Odinga also asked for calm, as angry opposition supporters in several cities vowed to avenge what they consider to be the first political assassination of the crisis.
"We want all our supporters to desist from any acts of thuggery, hooliganism or revenge," he said.
ODM spokesman Salim Lone also appealed for calm, saying: "This is a very dark day for our country. More than 1,000 people have been killed and now the killing of an MP takes the violence to a new level altogether."
The killing came as thousands of machete-wielding youths from both Kikuyu and Luo tribes continued to hunt each other down in western Kenya's Rift Valley, burning homes, blocking roads with blazing tires and clashing with police who appeared overwhelmed.
Outside Naivasha Country Club, police were trying to rescue hundreds of Luos from a mob of Kikuyus armed with machetes and clubs inset with nails.
``We're trapped,'' said Rose Achieng, who fled with her two children when looters ransacked her home Sunday.
She and hundreds others had sought refuge next to the police station, beside the road outside the country club.
Police, apparently worried they could not protect them, started ferrying them in trucks to the town's walled prison compound, where more than 1,000 refugees already had gathered.
``If you stay we will kill you,'' Kikuyus yelled.
Two Kenyan military helicopters fired on above armed crowds terrorizing refugees. The helicopters dive-bombed the crowd several times, firing what police said were rubber bullets at a mob of about 600 people brandishing machetes.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was hit.
Police also fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse at least 100 protesters in Kisumu..
In horrific images round the Rift Valley, one mother lay in a pool of blood in a Nakuru shack, as her baby cried on a chair nearby. In Naivasha, a man entered a clinic with an arrow in his head.
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan is spearheading attempts to mediate between the government and the opposition.
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