Odinga rejects Kenya poll result

Monday, 31 December 2007,

The opposition candidate in the Kenyan presidential election has rejected the victory of President Mwai Kibaki, who has been sworn in for a second term.

Raila Odinga claims that he lost the election because of large-scale vote rigging.
Mr Odinga's party has said it will hold an alternative inauguration ceremony on Monday to declare him president. The election result has sparked fears of ethnic violence, with riots breaking out across the country. Overnight, there were reports that several people had been killed in the central Kenyan city of Nakuru. Local police chief Stephen Munguti, quoted by AFP news agency, said that seven people had been killed as a result of fighting between rival political groups.

On Monday morning, there were running battles between police and mobs armed with clubs and machetes in Kibera, a large slum in the capital. Mr Odinga has planned a ceremony for Monday in Nairobi's Uhuru Park. The event has been banned by police, and hundreds of riot officers have been deployed around the park. A team of observers from the European Union said the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) had failed to ensure the credibility of the vote. "We believe that... the ECK... has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates," chief EU observer Alexander Lambsdorff said in a statement.

The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, said London had "real concerns at the irregularities reported by the EU observers and others". But the United States congratulated Mr Kibaki on his re-election and called on all sides to respect the result despite the allegations of fraud.