Christian Aid urges restraint in Kenyan unrest

International development agency Christian Aid has said it is disappointed at the conduct of Kenya's electoral commission following the disputed election victory of President Mwai Kibaki.

Christian Aid said that the commission should have postponed announcing the results of the election once alleged voting irregularities became apparent, until they had been investigated.

Christian Aid is now urging both the Kenyan Government and opposition supporters to exercise restraint following reports of the deaths of scores of people in widespread rioting after the poll results became known.

Police in one town were said to have fired indiscriminately into crowds of fleeing demonstrators. Dereje Alemayehu, Christian Aid's country manager, heard at first hand the extent of some of the violence from a security guard at the organisation's Nairobi office.

"He was in tears and I asked him what happened," said Alemayehu. "He replied: 'In Kibera where I live, over 40 people have been killed. In Kisumu, my home town, over fifty people have been killed, and there is no end in sight. Surely, this is not an appropriate way of defending democracy.'"

The electoral commission said on Sunday that President Mwai Kibaki secured 46.7 per cent of the vote versus 44.3 per cent for Mr Raila Odinga, the country's main opposition leader who had led in most opinion polls, and early vote tallies.

Chief EU election observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff reported that EU monitors were barred from counting centres in Mr Kibaki's home region and there were anomalies between the reporting at a local level of the numbers of votes cast, and the figures then reported nationally.

"I myself have seen forms which have been changed and no-one could tell me who had done the changes," he added.

Sam Kivuitu, chairman of the electoral commission, has said that it is the job of the courts, not his organisation, to deal with accusations of electoral irregularities.

Alemayehu said: "The behaviour of the electoral commission has been deeply unfortunate. It should have been guided by the principle that the credibility of a process is vital if the result is to be accepted, particularly where polarisation along ethnic lines prevails."

Alemayehu said that recent events would erode confidence of the democratic process and would undermine faith in public institutions among Kenyans.

He continued, "We hope calm and restraint will prevail while a solution is sought in which there are no winners and losers. The fact has to be acknowledged that even in results that have been given, the difference between the "loser" and the "winner" is merely about 300 thousand in a country of 30 million.

"It would be fatal to consider the results given as binding for the next five years. There has to be a compromise which ensures national cohesion and healing, and avoids civil strife."