Kenya : 24 dead as violent protests after elections

Nairobi, Aug 12 (IANS)    During the ongoing post-electoral protests in Kenya a human rights organisation confirmed that at least 24 persons, including two minors had been shot dead.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said at least 17 of them were killed by police in Nairobi between Friday and Saturday as a wave of violence hit the country after supporters of the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) rejected President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election, Efe news reported.

KNCHR President Kagwiria Mbogori condemned the police's excessive use of force and demanded that authorities stop officers from using live ammunition against protesters, denouncing the brutality used as illegal and unacceptable.

Meanwhile, NASA spokesman James Orengo claimed that more than 100 protesters had been killed by police, including at least 10 minors, though he did not specify any source for this information.

He said the bodies of those killed were removed from the streets in bags to stop the public from knowing about the so called massacre.

The Kenyan government earlier on Sunday denied that protests were ongoing across the country and assured that only isolated violent incidents by criminals had been registered.

As the protests continued, police in Kisumu cut access to the city centre and security forces in Nairobi's Kibera suburb used tear gas against demonstrators and journalists.

On Friday, Kenyatta was declared the winner of Tuesday's election by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), winning his second term with 54.3 per cent of the vote. His rival Raila Odinga got 44.7 per cent votes.

The announcement of the final tally was delayed by seven hours and took place without representatives of the NASA opposition coalition being present. 

They boycotted the presentation after signalling that they would not accept the results. The opposition called the election process a "charade".

The NASA had claimed that the IEBC's electronic vote counting system had been hacked and given Kenyatta a 700,000-point advantage.