Kibaki offers talks, protests shake Kenya

By Andrew Cawthorne and Nicolo Gnecchi

NAIROBI (Reuters) - With corpses littering the streets and smoke billowing from burning slums after battles between police and anti-government protesters, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki offered on Thursday to talk to his political rivals.

"I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm," Kibaki said.

A week of bloodshed since a December 27 election has killed more than 300 people and threatens to wreck Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most promising democracies and strongest economies.

"I am deeply disturbed by the senseless violence instigated by some leaders," Kibaki told reporters on the lawn of his residence. "Those who continue to violate the law will face its full force."

After police clashed for hours in Nairobi with thousands of protesters angered by Kibaki's victory, the opposition called off a planned rally in the capital's Uhuru (Freedom) Park, saying it wanted to save lives. It vowed to try again on Friday.

"The rally is on for tomorrow," spokesman Salim Lone said. Both sides accused the other of vote-rigging in the election, won narrowly by Kibaki, according to official results.

U.S. President George W. Bush urged Kenyans to refrain from further violence and called on Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to "come together" to resolve the dispute.

Asked in a Reuters interview whether Kibaki and Odinga should share power, Bush said: "I believe that they have an opportunity to come together in some kind of arrangement that will help heal the wounds of a closely divided election."

The European Union urged them to form a coalition government.

Currency and stock trading was halted in Nairobi on Thursday, with the shilling and share prices down about 5 percent since the troubles began.

The World Bank said the violence could threaten Kenya's impressive economic gains and harm neighboring countries that depend on it as a business hub.

The disputed polls have unleashed vicious tribalism around Kenya. Both sides accuse the other of ethnic cleansing.

"This is genocide being conducted by the political class illegally sitting in State House," Odinga said after taking journalists to view corpses with gunshots at a city mortuary.

CATASTROPHE

He named two Kibaki allies as backing a Kikuyu gang behind some of the killings. On Wednesday the government accused Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of organized genocide.