Nine people were hacked or burned to death in new violence linked to Kenya's political crisis on Tuesday, as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan arrived to revive mediation efforts.

As the African Union and the United Nations condemned rights violations, police fired tear gas at supporters of President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi, while six separate deaths linked to the unrest were reported in the west of Kenya.

The government and opposition meanwhile stepped up their political standoff by threatening each other with international court action over the violence that erupted after Kibaki's 27 December re-election.

More than 700 people have been killed in the unrest since the election, which opposition leader Raila Odinga says was rigged. The latest deaths were in the Kipkelion area between rival tribes.

"Eight people were killed today in Kipkelion, four of them hacked to death and four others burnt inside a house," a police commander told AFP.

A father was meanwhile burnt in his vehicle in the volatile Molo district after he dropped his son off at school, police said.

Six other victims, including a father and his two sons, were killed late on Monday in the same district of the Rift Valley, a region with a history of tribal fighting.

The violence has degenerated into tribal revenge killings, targeting mainly members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

In Nairobi, police, who have banned all demonstrations, fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators marching in support of Kibaki.

Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement party has also called for new street protests this week. Dozens of opposition supporters have died in nationwide protests over the past week, many of them shot dead by police.

'We have not come with a solution'

Annan, whose mission had been due to start last week but was delayed by a severe flu, was met at the airport by Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula and several top ODM leaders.

Several previous attempts by international leaders to bring the two sides together have failed, with rival sides fortifying their hardline positions.

Annan said he had no solutions for the Kenyan crisis, but would "count on the will, maturity, resourcefulness and judgment of the leaders".

"We have not come with a solution. We are to insist on a solution for the sake of Kenya and its people, and for the sake of Africa," he told reporters.

"We expect all parties to enter into dialogue in good faith, and to seize this opportunity to end the suffering and uncertainty that has plagued the lives of Kenyans everywhere."

"There can be no solution without genuine dialogue," he explained.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who is in the country as the chair of the five-nation East African Community summit, also held talks with Kibaki in a bid to defuse the political stalemate.

Kibaki updated Museveni "on developments in the country and steps his government has taken to normalise the situation in the country and restore peace in some parts of the country that had experienced some violence," Kibaki's office said in a statement.

He also briefed Museveni "on steps so far taken to open political dialogue and ensure national reconciliation."

But the rhetoric between the rival sides worsened with the ODM saying it has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

"The ODM has sent a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court in The Hague notifying the panel about the charges that authorities committed crimes against humanity during the crackdown on demonstrations," ODM spokesperson Salim Lone told AFP.

The government responded by accusing some opposition leaders of being involved in planning "mass genocide" and promising to file its own complaint with the ICC.

"The government is aware that some leaders of ODM planned and executed a mass genocide that we saw in the Rift Valley of this country," government spokesperson Alfred Mutua told AFP.

"They are now running to The Hague because they know that we have overwhelming evidence against them for ethnic cleansing. They should know that very soon, they, as individuals not as a party, would be languishing in jail."

The AU's Peace and Security Council on Tuesday condemned "gross violations of human rights" in Kenya and called for an investigation, which was also supported by the United Nations.

"The killings have to be investigated expeditiously and impartially, and anyone found responsible for human rights abuses must be brought to justice," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in a statement.

Kenya's Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai, once a minister in Kibaki's administration, lamented the government's "failure to protect its citizens and their property."

The World Bank and African Development Bank said they would review funding to Kenya if leaders fail to halt the crisis that has crippled the once-vibrant economy.

The banks said in a joint statement that they will "continue to monitor developments closely, keep our programmes under review and make necessary adjustments as the situation evolves".

AFP

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