Tension eases after Kenyan opposition agrees to take electoral dispute to court
Cape Town/Nairobi — Kenya pulled back from the brink of a violent electoral dispute after the main opposition buckled to international pressure and agreed to contest the outcome in court. The country has been on a knife-edge since President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of an August 8 vote that his main rival, Raila Odinga, said was stolen. There have been clashes between security forces and opposition supporters in slums in Nairobi and in western Kenya since the results were announced, stoking the fear of a repeat of more widespread turmoil that followed a disputed 2007 vote when 1,100 people died. "Raila now has a unique opportunity to demonstrate at the Supreme Court that the election wasn’t credible, free and fair," Dismas Mokua, an analyst at Nairobi-based risk-advisory firm Trintari, said by phone. "He has been able to reduce tension and anxiety, but at the same time created suspense about who has won this election. It’s a welcome move." Senior members of Odinga’s fiv...
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