Violence exposes Kenya's deep ethnic fault lines

By Tim Cocks

NAIVASHA, Kenya (Reuters) - On a road in the lakeside town of Naivasha, against a backdrop of vast mountains flanking Africa's Great Rift Valley, two groups of men armed with machetes, hammers and clubs taunted each other.

On one side, thousands of members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyus, the dominant ethnic group in this picturesque tourist town. On the other, a few hundred Luos, the tribe of opposition challenger Raila Odinga.

Barely 10 police officers separated the two and as the Kikuyu mobs got increasingly angry -- lobbing stones at their targets and telling them to "go home" -- officers fired shots into the air to disperse them. Then they came back.

The violence since Kenya's disputed December 27 election, which has caused at least 800 deaths, has taken on a momentum of its own, Rift Valley residents say, exposing deep ethnic fault lines in a country previously regarded as one of the most stable in Africa.

A wave of looting, riots and ethnic clashes convulsed the country after an election Odinga says was rigged, making about 250,000 people homeless, many of them Kibaki's Kikuyus.

In the worst attack for weeks, a Kikuyu mob set fire to a house where Luos and Kalenjins were hiding on Sunday, burning at least 19 to death, police said, echoing a similar attack against Kikuyus in a church in the Rift two weeks ago that killed 30.

Rift Valley Kikuyus say they do not want revenge but are determined to defend themselves after their kinsmen were attacked in violence orchestrated by members of other tribes supporting Odinga.

"We're not saying it's them who are killing," said Steven Mungai, 21, gesturing to a retreating Luo crowd with his machete. He said he would not rest until all Luos were chased out of town.

"We have no quarrel with them but with their tribe. Their tribe is killing ours. Why should we let them enjoy life peacefully when their people are causing havoc?"

As the ethnic killing has gathered momentum, it has pitted former friends against each other, residents say.

"All these people fighting each other, we are neighbors," said Peter Juma, an employee of a logistics company as he wondered how he would get an armed escort out of town to escape the mobs baying for Luo blood.

"We lived side-by-side, but politics divided us. We're so polarized, I don't know if we'll live together again."

(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)