Relief for Kenyan businesses as protests end

By Bosire Nyairo

NAIROBI (Reuters) - If Kenya's demonstrations over a disputed presidential election had lasted more than three days, candy and peanut seller Wanjiru feared the worst.

"I slept hungry for three days. If it had continued, I would have died of hunger," Wanjiru, 76, who declined to give her other name, said.

From traders like Wanjiru, who sells her wares spread on a piece of cardboard in downtown Nairobi for a subsistence living, to bigger merchants, the end of three days of protests called by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement came as a relief.

Police firing teargas and chasing protesters defying a government ban on demonstrations led downtown Nairobi businesses to shut down as soon as the fumes began wafting through the air, from Wednesday through Friday.

That followed a week-long shutdown caused by violent protests after Kibaki was declared the winner on December 30.

Many of the city's businesspeople are small-scale traders, relying on daily sales to make a living.

"Now, I hardly make 600 Kenyan shillings (4.50 pounds) a day," said Mohamed Kikuji, who sells compact discs and mobile phone accessories. On a good day, he makes as much as 5,000 shillings (37.79 pounds).

Angry traders at one point on Friday confronted demonstrators chased by police, and TV footage showed one woman shouting at opposition leaders: "We have a right to work!"