More than 50 people have been killed in a fresh flare-up of inter-ethnic fighting in the central Kenyan town of Nakuru, local media reported Sunday, as violence triggered by last month's disputed polls spread eastwards, according to dpa. Clashes erupted in the flower-growing town of Naivasha Sunday, with armed gangs battling rival tribes in a continuing spiral of violence that has convulsed Kenya, with the BBC reporting at least nine people killed. The independent Daily Nation said fighting between machete- wielding tribes left 53 dead and more than 100 injured since the new clashes began Thursday in Nakuru, the capital of Rift Valley province which is the epicentre of the chaos. Police put the death toll at 31 and said no one had been reported killed in Naivasha. "Gangs of young men are attacking individuals from other tribes and asking them to leave but police have moved in very strongly and reinforcements are headed for that place," said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe. Scores of people continued to flee Nakuru, some 150 kilometres north-west of the capital Nairobi, while others sought shelter in churches and police stations nearby. The situation was similar in Naivasha, 80 kilometres north-west of Nairobi, with residents hiding at the flower farms that dot the area. Meanwhile, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan continued meeting with leaders Sunday, including the head of the opposition Raila Odinga who charges last month's presidential vote was stolen from him. Annan secured a meeting between Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki last week, which saw the two men shaking hands for the first time since the polls. But it was unclear what if any moves had been made toward a resolution of the crisis. The elections sparked violence that has seen Odinga's Luo people as well as the Kalenjin, the dominant tribe in the Rift Valley, turn on Kibaki's Kikuyu people who traditionally hold the levers of power. More than 700 people have been killed and 250,000 displaced in what marks a disturbing change in the East African nation known as a beacon of stability in a volatile region.
