Kenyans retrieve bodies

By Tim Cocks

NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyans in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha were braced for fresh violence on Monday after a spate of ethnic killings which complicated efforts by former U.N. boss Kofi Annan to resolve a month-long crisis.

At least 19 people were killed here on Sunday in battles between members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Luos and Kalenjins who backed his rival Raila Odinga in disputed elections a month ago.

A Reuters reporter heard screams late into the night. Mobs stopped cars on the main highway and demanded passengers' identity cards. One man was beaten before being kicked under the wheels of a minibus as it sped to safety.

At least 750 people have died since the December 27 polls plunged Kenya into a spiral of violence, battering its image as an east African trade and tourism hub and one of the continent's more stable nations.

Negotiators led by Annan have told the two rival camps to select four representatives each and study a blueprint for further talks in the next 24 hours, an official involved in the mediation said.

But residents in Naivasha, on Kenya's main western highway, appeared to put little faith in Annan's mediation efforts.

"Those people shouting for Raila, they don't want peace. They have been killing our people, burning our houses," said David Gitonga, a Naivasha resident who had been manning a roadblock until the army cleared it away.

"Now it's our turn to have justice."