By Andrew Cawthorne and Helen Nyambura-Mwaura
NAIROBI, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Ethnic fighting killed at least 12 people in Kenya’s Rift Valley and forced thousands from their homes on Friday, undermining hopes of an end to weeks of unrest.
The violence, and a denial by opposition leader Raila Odinga that he would agree to serve as prime minister under President Mwai Kibaki, followed the first meeting between the two rivals since a disputed Dec. 27 election triggered a political crisis.
“Nakuru town has been shut down … hundreds are injured in hospital,” Kenya Red Cross head Abbas Gullet said.
About 700 people have died in violence since Kibaki was re-elected after polls observers say were flawed and Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) say were rigged.
The turmoil has also made 250,000 people homeless and damaged one of Africa’s most promising economies.
Hopes for a solution had grown on Thursday after former U.N. boss Kofi Annan brought Odinga and Kibaki together for their first discussions on how to end the standoff.
But their smiles and handshake were quickly followed by new accusations, with the opposition angered by Kibaki’s reference to himself as the country’s “duly-elected” leader.
On Friday, Odinga urged the African Union to avoid endorsing Kibaki’s re-election at a planned summit in Ethiopia.
Fresh violence broke out in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru, where soldiers cleared burning barricades as houses smouldered and the crack of gunshots filled the air.
Terrified residents sought shelter in churches, police stations and at the prison, while aerial pictures of surrounding villages showed smoke rising from torched homesteads. The local authorities imposed a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
The fighting pitted members of Kibaki’s Kikuyu ethnic group against Luos and Kalenjins seen as pro-opposition.
A police source said 10 bodies had been found in different parts of the town, most with deep cuts. But he expected the death toll to rise because officers had not yet ventured deep into the Kaptembwa suburb, where clashes started. Local media said at least two people were also killed in nearby Molo town.
“WAR IN NAKURU”
“Its a nightmare. The Kalenjins came in from Eldoret side. Then the Kikuyus massed to confront them. It’s a war out here,” said one Kenyan businessman reached by phone in Nakuru.
All factories and shops were shut and his driver had been hurt by an arrow, he added. “The whole town is closed.”
Some Kikuyus said they would confront Kalenjins blamed for the killings of Kikuyus earlier this month in Rift Valley.
“We have vowed that for every Kikuyu killed in Eldoret, we shall kill two Kalenjins who are living in Nakuru,” said bus conductor Dennis Kariuki.
Another witness, Joel Okumu, said his house was torched in an attack overnight that he said seemed well planned.
The Kibaki-Raila meeting had been applauded around the world, including in statements from the European Union and U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. But diplomats expressed concern for the future of the mediation process.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Odinga ruled out taking a new post of prime minister in Kibaki’s government — a solution some media and diplomats have touted. He said the only three acceptable options would be Kibaki’s resignation, a vote re-run, or power-sharing followed by a new election.
Kibaki’s Party of National Unity accuses the opposition of pre-planning violence against Kikuyus and says it should respect the election board’s verdict he won.
“We should focus on the bigger picture — how we resolve the conflicts we are having in the country, not the semantics and phrases in speeches,” Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said.
“We are moving on.”
(Additional reporting by Anthony Gitonga in Nakuru and Tim Cocks, Duncan Miriri in Nairobi; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)