Kenyan violence swells, with attacks on Kikuyus

KISUMU, Kenya — Thousands of machete-wielding youths hunted down members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe Monday in western Kenya’s Rift Valley, torching homes and buses, clashing with police, and blocking roads with burning tires.

Witnesses described seeing two people pulled from cars and stoned to death, while another was burned alive in a minibus — the latest victims of a month of escalating violence triggered by a disputed presidential election. The death toll has topped 800.

“We wish to find one, a Kikuyu. … We will butcher them like a cow,” said David Babgy, 24, who was among 50 young men stopping buses at a roadblock of burned cars and uprooted lampposts.

There was no sign of relief from international mediators trying to persuade politicians to resolve the crisis that has erupted over Kibaki’s re-election in Dec. 27 balloting that international and local observers say was marred by a rigged vote tally.

Kibaki has said he is open to direct talks with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who is from the Luo tribe, but that his position as president is not negotiable. Odinga says Kibaki must step down and only new elections will bring peace.

In Nakuru, provincial capital of the Rift Valley, 64 bodies were counted Monday at the morgue, said a worker.