Post-Election Rioting Kills 124 in Kenya

Protesters, and EU election monitors, dispute Kibaki's 'win'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2007 7:23 AM CST
Post-Election Rioting Kills 124 in Kenya
Orange Democratic Movement supporters attack a bus that they burned, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007 during riots in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. Kenya's opposition candidate called on President Mwai Kibaki to concede defeat Sunday, accusing him of fraud after a chaotic vote count sparked widespread violence...   (Associated Press)

At least 124 have died in rioting that escalated across Kenya today in anger over president Mwai Kibaki's  disputed re-election victory. Police fired live ammunition at protesters, who threw stones, wielded machetes and burned cars and buses. Supporters of opposition candidate Ralia Odinga, who led in the vote count until the last minute, say Kibaki rigged the election, and EU election observers also threw doubt on the results, Reuters reports.

The EU's chief observer said monitors in one district saw a last-minute increase of  25,000 votes for Kibaki over the tally they had certified, and refused to declare the election free and fair. But the US, which cooperates with the Kibaki government on anti-terror measures, supported the election commission's ruling and congratulated Kibaki on his re-election, the Guardian reports. (More Kenya stories.)

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