U.S. and Britain pressure Kenya over disputed poll

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States and Britain pressed Kenya to investigate possible voting irregularities in an election that returned President Mwai Kibaki to power and triggered rioting in which more than 100 people have died.

The death toll appeared certain to rise after Kibaki's disputed victory in East Africa's biggest economy.

International observers who initially hailed the poll as an example for the continent expressed serious concerns about the vote-counting and abhorred the nationwide clashes that followed.

The United States said on Monday disputes over the poll should be resolved through "constitutional and legal remedies" and that it was working with all parties to avoid more violence.

"All sides should exercise and work for a solution that reflects the will of the Kenyan people," said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who spoke to Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga and urged them to work together.

Reuters estimates about 100 people have been killed, based on witnesses, body counts and credible media reports of the battles between police and machete-wielding protesters.

Residents said bodies still lay on some streets of Kisumu, a city in the opposition's western heartland. Local television station KTN said the nationwide toll had reached at least 124.

The violence in the capital Nairobi, the Indian Ocean resort of Mombasa and many smaller towns put investment in the economy at risk and dented Kenya's image as a haven of relative stability in an often dangerous region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the bloodshed and urged security forces to show the utmost restraint.

Amnesty International called for an independent inquiry into the killings. "The government should ensure its security forces comply with international standards on the use of lethal force against demonstrators," the rights group said in a statement.

KIBAKI MESSAGE

In a New Year message, Kibaki urged reconciliation but promised to deal decisively with any troublemakers.

Much of the fighting has pitted members of his Kikuyu ethnic group, Kenya's largest and most economically dominant tribe, against Luo supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

As many people stayed at home in fear, most businesses remained closed and supplies of food, fuel and water ran low.

The worst violence has been in Kisumu, where witnesses said police fired on protesters when riots erupted on Sunday.