Dozens die in torching of Kenya church

NAIROBI, Kenya — Dozens of people seeking refuge in a church in Kenya were burned to death by a mob Tuesday in an explosion of ethnic violence that is threatening to engulf this African country.

According to witnesses and Red Cross officials, as many as 50 people died inside the church in a small village in western Kenya after a furious crowd doused it with gasoline and set it on fire.

In Nairobi, the capital, tribal militias squared off against each other in several slums, with gunshots ringing out and clouds of black smoke wafting over the shanties. The death toll across the country, which until last week was one of the most stable in Africa, is steadily rising. Witness reports indicate more than 250 people have been killed in the past two days in bloodshed connected to last week's disputed election.

Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, who won the election by a razor-thin margin over Raila Odinga, has refused calls for an independent investigation by the European Union, which on Tuesday said there was clear evidence of ballot rigging.

Government officials Tuesday banned all political rallies. The opposition, meanwhile, vowed to hold a million-person march Thursday, which many Kenyans fear could become a bloodbath.

Celebrated for its spectacular wildlife and robust economy, Kenya has become a land in distress. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, and some are so frightened they have crossed into Uganda.

"We've had tribal fighting before, but never like this," said Abdalla Bujra, a retired Kenyan professor who runs a democracy-building organization.

As for the people burned alive in the church, Bujra echoed what many Kenyans were thinking: "It reminds me of Rwanda."

While the bloodshed of the last few days in Kenya has fallen far short of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, many Kenyans are worried that it is spiraling out of control.

The violence has been a mix of hooliganism, political protest and ethnic bloodletting. Most of the victims have been Kikuyus, the tribe of the president and Kenya's traditional ruling class. Kikuyus have dominated business and politics since independence in 1963. They run shops, restaurants, banks and factories all across Kenya, from the Indian Ocean coast to the scenic savannah to the muggy shores of Lake Victoria in the west.

But they make up only 22 percent of the population and are part of Kenya's mosaic of roughly 40 ethnic groups, which have intermarried and coexisted for decades.

For the most part, the country has escaped the widespread ethnic bloodletting that has haunted so many of its neighbors, like Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia. In Kenya, the Kikuyu elite has shared the spoils of the system with select members of other tribes, which has helped defuse resentment.

However, the election controversy has created a new dynamic where many of Kenya's other tribes, furious about the ballot rigging that may have kept Kibaki in power, have vented their frustrations against them.

"We are easy targets," said Stephen Kahianyu, a Kikuyu, staring at the embers of his home in Nairobi that was burned to the ground on Saturday.

Over the past few days, Kikuyus have sought protection at police stations and churches.

On Monday night, several hundred Kikuyus barricaded themselves inside the Kenya Assemblies of God church in Kiambaa, a small village near the town of Eldoret. The next morning, a rowdy mob showed up.

According to witnesses, the mob was mostly Kalenjins, Luhyas and Luos, Odinga's tribe, which makes up about 13 percent of the population. They overran Kikuyu guards in front of the church and then pulled out cans of gasoline. There were no police around, witnesses said, and no water to put out the fire.

Most people escaped, but some did not. In addition to those killed, dozens were hospitalized with severe burns. Witnesses said most of the people hiding inside were women and children.

The Eldoret area has become a killing zone. According to residents, dozens of Kikuyus have been hacked to death, including four who were beheaded Monday.

In Nairobi, a much-feared Kikuyu street gang called the Mungiki appears to be taking revenge. According to residents in a Luo area, the Mungiki were sweeping through the slums and killing Luos.

The government is blaming Odinga for the violence.

Odinga, who said he would not talk to Kibaki until he admitted he had lost the election, urged his followers to calm down.

Odinga and Kibaki ran together in 2002, in what was considered Kenya's first free election. The tribal alliance they built steamrolled over Kenya's ruling party and marked a watershed moment, with the opposition finally taking control. But the two fell out soon afterward, and diplomats here said trying to broker a truce has been very difficult.

A record number of Kenyans, nearly 10 million, waited in lines miles long Thursday to vote.

Voting followed tribal lines, with the vast majority of Luos going for Odinga and up to 98 percent of Kikuyus in some areas voting for Kibaki.

Odinga, 62, ran as a champion of the poor and promised to end the tradition of Kikuyu favoritism. Kibaki, 76, had vowed to keep growing Kenya's economy, one of the strongest in Africa, partly because of its billion-dollar tourist trade.

The early results showed Odinga well ahead and more than half of Kibaki's cabinet losing their Parliament seats and therefore their jobs.

But when Odinga's lead began to vanish as further results were announced over the weekend, his supporters suspected something was amiss. It was slow-motion theft to them, and they began to riot. And even before Kenya's election commission declared Kibaki the winner Sunday, election observers were saying the president's party changed voting tally sheets to reflect more votes than were cast on election day. In some areas, there were more votes for the president than registered voters.

On Tuesday, Samuel Kivuitu, the election chairman, said he had been "under undue pressure" to certify the results.

Western governments, including the United States, are calling for Kenyan officials to re-tally the votes.

"It's the only way forward," said Graham Elson, the deputy chief of the European observer delegation.