Skip to main content

Kenya election: Five dead as Raila Odinga returns home

By

Kenya election: Five dead as Raila Odinga returns home


Five people have been killed in Kenya's capital Nairobi as police broke up crowds of opposition supporters.
At least two of the victims were shot dead, reports said, while others may have been stoned to death by a mob.
Riot police were present but did not use any live rounds, a police spokesman said, blaming the deaths on the crowd.
The supporters of the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) had gathered to welcome home its leader, Raila Odinga, from an overseas trip.
On Monday, the Supreme Court is due to rule on the legality of last month's re-run election, won by the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta with 98% of the vote.
The vote was widely boycotted by the opposition and denounced by Mr Odinga as a sham. He went away on a 10-day speaking tour in Europe and America after withdrawing from the election.
On Friday, Mr Odinga's convoy snaked through Nairobi to avoid security forces who tried to block off routes to public grounds where a rally could convene, the BBC's Tom Oladipo reports from the city.
Demonstrators threw stones in response. A police truck was set on fire. Police spokesman George Kinoti said in a statement that officers had used only teargas and a water cannon.
"No live fire was used," he said. "We are however aware that sections of the mobs accompanying the Nasa convoy, looted property and five persons were killed by stoning in different incidences after having been caught stealing by enraged crowds."
Mr Odinga has called for a "national resistance movement" to "restore democracy" following last month's vote, in which turnout was only 39%.
"Today is the day we are launching Kenya as a third republic," he said from his car on Friday, to cheering supporters.
"What you have seen is a signal that a third liberation is coming soon," he added.

Who is Raila Odinga?

  • Aged 72, son of Kenya's first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
  • Nicknamed Agwambo (act of god) by supporters
  • MP for Africa's biggest slum, Kibera, for 20 years
  • Has been a mainstay of Kenyan politics since the 1980s and plotted a coup in 1982
  • Holds record for being Kenya's longest-serving detainee
  • Also holds record for switching political parties
  • Has stood four times for the presidency

  • Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    The world looks to America to defend press freedom

    By
    The world looks to America to defend press freedom The world looks to America to defend press freedom Joel Simon is executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. This is the next installment in the CNN Opinion series on the challenges facing the media, which is under attack from critics, governments and changing technology. (CNN) For a brief period, following more than four decades of military repression, Myanmar saw an explosion of independent media. Beginning in 2011, exiled journalists flooded back into the country and started new publications. They covered the news, criticized the government and contributed to a national debate. But when I visited the country in June as part of a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, I observed serious backsliding. We met with the widow of a murdered journalist. We spoke with editors who told us they worried about going to jail. When we asked the g...
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    Russia investigation zeroes in on Trump inner circle

    By
    Russia investigation zeroes in on Trump inner circle STORY HIGHLIGHTS Mueller charged Flynn with one count of lying to the FBI It raises questions about how high up Mueller's investigation will reach Washington (CNN) Michael Flynn's downfall  Friday exacerbated grave legal and political risks that represent the most serious threat to any administration for at least 40 years, and could eventually imperil the Trump presidency itself. The plea deal cut by the fired national security adviser with Special Counsel Robert Mueller undermines much of what the White House has said about the Russia controversy engulfing the presidency. It means there is now no credible way for  President Donald Trump  to claim the Russia investigation is a hoax, made up, fake news or a witch hunt. It raises questions about who higher up the chain of command in Trump's orbit -- possibly even including the President himself -- is in Mueller's sights after he agreed to...
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    UN sending senior official to visit North Korea

    By
    UN sending senior official to visit North Korea Story highlights Feltman is visiting as the US and South Korea conduct military exercises North Korea test-fired a long-range missile last week (CNN) A senior United Nations official is expected to arrive in North Korea Tuesday for the first visit of its kind in six years, as US and South Korean military drills inflame tensions in the region. Jeffrey Feltman, the UN's undersecretary-general for Political Affairs, is set to meet with officials and discuss "issues of mutual interest and concern," the UN announced. The visit comes just days after North Korea tested an advanced, long-range ballistic missile. The last senior UN official to visit North Korea was Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos in October 2011,  according to the UN . The last time an undersecretary-general for Political Affairs visited the country was in February 2010. UN Undersecretary- General for Political Affairs J...
    Post a Comment
    Read more