A Kenyan opposition Member of Parliament (MP) has been shot dead in Nairobi. Mugabe Were, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of the defeated candidate, Raila Odinga, was attacked outside his home, police said according to BBC online Tuesday.
Hours after the MPs death, hundreds of opposition supporters protested in western Kenya and Nairobi. Outbreaks of violence were reported both in the capitals slums, and in the cities of Kisumu and Nakuru.
Mr Were is the first leading politician to have died amid violence that has gripped Kenya since Decembers poll.
ODM spokesman Tony Gachoka said: – The current situation makes one suspicious. All fingers will point at the government, and the government will have to show it is not involved.
In the Kibera slum in Nairobi, rival ethnic groups began fighting. Eyewitnesses said houses were on fire near a railway line which divides ethnic groups in the slum, and there were reports of at least two dead.
Members of President Mwai Kibakis Kikuyu tribe have been fighting with Luos and Kalenjins who backed his rival, Mr Odinga, in last months election.
Mr Odinga accuses Mr Kibaki of stealing the vote and has refused to recognise the result. Analysts warn a cycle of violence is emerging amid the political impasse, where the pattern of attacks is followed by reprisals.
Meanwhile the parties will begin formal talks on Tuesday to resolve the crisis, mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
He set Tuesday as a target for Kenya’s government and opposition to name negotiators, in the hope that engaging in formal talks might make it possible to quell the violence, BBC adds.
