Violence in Kenya as police clash with protesting opposition supporters
Kisumu — Kenyan police clashed with opposition supporters where burning barricades and gangs of youths prevented voting in some towns in an election re-run, seeking to challenge the credibility of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s expected victory. In the western city of Kisumu, stone-throwing youths heeding opposition leader Raila Odinga’s call for a voter boycott were met by live rounds, tear gas and water cannon, three hours after polling stations were meant to have opened. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The election is being closely watched across East Africa, which relies on Kenya as a trade and logistics hub, and in the West, where Nairobi is regarded as a bulwark against Islamist militancy in Somalia and civil conflict in South Sudan and Burundi. "By and large the security situation in the country is okay. Polling stations have been opened in over 90% of the country and voting has commenced," interior minister Fred Matiang’i told Citizen TV. In the western town of Mi...
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