Kenya death toll tops 700 as protests loom

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — A prominent US-based human rights group called Sunday for Kenya to lift a ban on opposition rallies, as the nation braced for three days of opposition protests over disputed elections.

The appeal was made as the police death toll from violence in the wake of December 27 presidential election surpassed 700, after four deaths in overnight clashes in the Rift Valley and the discovery of 89 bodies.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to allow rallies, led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, which are due to start Wednesday to protest alleged vote-rigging that led to President Mwai Kibaki winning a second five-year term.

Police have outlawed any public meetings since bloody clashes erupted when Kibaki was declared re-elected. Besides the rising...