Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:05:25 +0300




AT THE GSU HEADQUATERS AMIDSTS CLAIMS MUNGIKI ARE BEING SUPPLIED WITH POLICE UNIFORMS. EMBAKASI ODM MP, A HALF LUHYA AND HALF LUO NEWLY-ELECTED MP HAS BEEN ASSASINATED JFK STYLE AT HIS HOME AS HE WAS COMING FROM A MEETING RENOUNCING VIOLENCE AND 4 HOURS BEFORE HE WAS SCHEDULED TO GIVE A RECONCILIATION PRESS CONFERENCE ALONGSIDE OMINGO MAGARA, HENRY KOSGEY,WILLIAM RUTO AND MUSALIA MADAVADI.

MEANWHILE, SOURCES FROM GSU HEADQUARTERS HAVE INFORMED US THAT 6421 ARMS AND ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADES HAVE GONE MISSING, ALLEGEDLY GIVEN TO MUNGIKI UNDER MICHUKI'S ORDERS (HE'S NOT THE INTERNAL SECURITY MINISTER, BUT HE WIELDS MORE POWER THAN THE INCUMBENT GEORGE SAITOTI). MUNGIKI IS BEING ARMED WITH POLICE AND GSU UNIFORMS.

DAVID MWENJE WAS SPOTTED AT GSU HEADQUARTERS AT 4PM ON SUNDAY NIGHT, GSU SOURCES OF NORTH EASTERN ORIGIN REVEAL. MWENJE LOST ELECTIONS TO THE ASSASINATED YOUTHFUL CHANGE-ORIENTED MUGABE WERE. CHECK THE MESSAGE BELOW FROM REUTERS.




Kenyan opposition MP shot dead, clashes erupt

By Andrew Cawthorne and Jack Kimball, 24 minutes ago

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a Kenyan opposition politician at his home in the early hours of Tuesday and rival ethnic gangs fought in a Nairobislum as a month-long political crisis threatened to spiral out of control.

Newly elected Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) member of parliament Melitus Were was shot twice in the head as he reached the gate of his house shortly after midnight.

"Initial investigations indicate this was a case of murder," police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.

ODM spokesman Tony Gachoka said, without giving evidence, that Were may have been targeted by political foes. "We want no stone unturned in the investigation, but we suspect foul play."

Government officials did not immediately comment.

Hours after Were's death, rival ethnic gangs began fighting in Nairobi's Kibera slum, not far from where he was shot. A Reuters witness saw two corpses, with cuts on the head and neck, and another man badly hurt after being forcibly circumcised.

Unrest also simmered across the volatile Rift Valley, with mobs ransacking homes and burning belongings of people trying to flee Naivasha town, north of the capital.

More than 800 people have been killed since the December vote, which the opposition says was rigged.

The violence has taken on a momentum of its own, with cycles of killing between tribes who have never reconciled divisions over land, wealth and power left by British colonial rule and exacerbated by politicians in 44 years of independence.

TALKS TO START

Former U.N. head Kofi Annan is spearheading attempts to mediate between Kibaki's government and the opposition led by Raila Odinga. An Annan spokesman said negotiating teams would begin "formal dialogue" at 4 p.m. (8:00 a.m. EST) on Tuesday.

Legislator Were was shot soon after midnight as he drove up to his gate in the middle-class Woodley district of Nairobi.

His attackers fled without taking anything, police said.

A crowd gathered during the morning outside the house in a middle-class suburb on the edge of Kibera slum.

Police fired teargas into the compound to disperse mourners and supporters who had been taunting officers, a Reuters witness said. Officers briefly entered the compound before retreating down the street.

Some vowed to march in protest at the death.

"It had nothing to do with robbery, it had to do with politics," supporter Colin Omondi, 26, said, holding a picture of the late MP.

In Naivasha, about an hour's drive north of Nairobi, crowds ransacked homes and burned belongings of people fleeing the lakeside town, a Reuters witness said.

Plumes of smoke rose from different parts, as members of Kibaki's Kikuyugroup hunted down Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins thought to be opposition supporters.

Nearly 100 people have died in the latest flare-up over recent days in the Rift Valley. Fighting has been largely centered on the towns of Naivasha and Nakuru, better known for their lakes and wildlife, but now deserted by tourists.

"What is alarming about the last few days is that there are evidently hidden hands organizing it now. Militias are appearing ... the targeting is very specific," Britain's Africa Minister Mark Malloch Brown said on a visit to Kenya.

Both sides have traded accusations of genocide in a standoff that has shocked world leaders, who had long viewed Kenya as a peacemaker, rather than a problem, on a volatile continent.

About 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence.

Official results showed Kibaki narrowly won the December 27 vote, but Odinga says victory was stolen from him by vote-rigging. International observers said the poll was flawed and diplomats are pushing for a power-sharing arrangement.

(Additional reporting by C. Bryson Hull, Joseph Sudah in Nairobi, David Lewis in Naivasha; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by George Obulutsa)"


       KENNEDY ODINDO OTIENO
       +255787951642

       ORANGE DEMOCRATIC PARTY REPRESENTATIVE, TANZANIA


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