Kenya opposition vows to hold rally

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's opposition vowed to pour thousands of demonstrators on to the streets on Thursday after both sides traded accusations of genocide in post-election turmoil that has killed more than 300.

The wave of riots and ethnic violence triggered by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election on Sunday has cut supplies of fuel and other goods to a swathe of central African countries and shocked world powers who called for reconciliation.

Kenya is east Africa's biggest economy and a key ally of the West in its counter-terrorism efforts. It is used to being the peacemaker, rather than the problem, on a volatile continent.

As both sides toughened their stance and rhetoric, the opposition said it would push ahead with a banned mass protest on Thursday in the centre of the capital Nairobi.

"There is no such law in Kenya that anybody cannot attend a political rally," William Ruto, a senior official in opposition leader Raila Odinga's party, told reporters.

"We have notified the police commissioner and he should live up to his duty of providing security when that meeting goes on."

The police said the assembly was banned because they did not have the capacity to ensure security.

A local and an international rights group said "more than 300" people have died and accused Kenyan security forces of having "bloodily repressed" protests by opposition supporters.