Five die in Kenya as opposition vows more protests

By C. Bryson Hull

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's opposition said on Saturday it would resume protests next week over a disputed election, and five people were killed in politically-fuelled ethnic violence in the country's Great Rift Valley.

The deaths bring to at least 28 the number of people killed in the last four days, in a combination of ethnic violence and police action against three days of opposition demonstrations the government has banned.

In the latest flare-up, a group of Kalenjins raided a camp in the Rift Valley village of Kipkelion, 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Nairobi, police said.

"A group of armed warriors attacked a village, leaving five people dead and property destroyed. These were refugees in a camp, people thought to have supported (President Mwai) Kibaki," Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer Everett Wasige said.

Several hundred people had taken refuge at the camp, located near a monastery, after three weeks of attacks across the Rift aimed at people seen to support Kibaki, mostly from his Kikuyu tribe and the Kisii ethnic group.

The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) dominates the Rift, and most of the 250,000 people who fled politically-fuelled ethnic clashes came from there. Police say the Rift accounts for 70 percent of the deaths since the vote.

Kenya's paroxysm of violence has seriously damaged its democratic reputation and harmed investor confidence in one of Africa's strongest economies.

More than 650 people have been killed since Kibaki won the disputed December 27 election, in killings that have laid bare the underlying tribal sentiments behind Kenya's politics.