"Mob Burns Church in Kenya, Killing Dozens"

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Mob Burns Church in Kenya, Killing Dozens

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: January 2, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya — Dozens of people seeking refuge in a church in Kenya were burned to death by a mob on Tuesday, according to witnesses and Red Cross officials, in an escalation of ethnic violence that is threatening to plunge the country into chaos.
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Up to 40 people died inside the church, a few miles from a town called Eldoret, after young men from a different tribe poured gasoline on it and set it on fire, the witnesses and officials said.

In Nairobi, the capital, tribal militias squared off against each other in several slums. Witness reports indicate that more 200 people have been killed in the past two days in violence connected to a disputed election Kenya held last week.

The European Union said there was clear evidence of ballot rigging, and European officials called for an independent investigation. Kenya’s government, which won the election by a razor-thin margin, has refused. Government officials said they would crack down harshly on anyone who threatened law and order, and they banned political rallies for the foreseeable future.

A knot of rage seemed to be moving across the country, from the slums of Nairobi, the capital, to the cities along the Indian Ocean, to usually tranquil towns on the savanna. Many people were furious that President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner on Sunday in the country’s most fiercely fought election, despite widespread evidence of fraud.<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02kenya.html?ref=world