Gangs clash ahead of talks to end Kenya crisis

Gangs of youths from rival ethnic groups armed with clubs, bows and machetes clashed in Kenya's Rift Valley yesterday, shouting war cries, firing salvos of arrows and pelting each other with rocks.

As police appear seemingly powerless to intervene, in most cases, Kenya's opposition called for African Union peacekeepers to deploy and restore order.

"We need African Union peacekeepers to bring calm and peace. Given the ethnic dimension of the conflict, it would be more neutral than to selectively place the army," Orange Demoncratic Movement spokesman Tony Gachoka said.

Scores of people fled ethnic attacks on their homes in heavily armed police convoys.

A Reuters reporter saw police fire shots to disperse a gang manning a roadblock, allowing a busload of refugees to flee to safety, a day before former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was due to reopen talks trying to end a bloody political crisis. Around 900 people have been killed and more than a quarter of a million uprooted since violence flared in Kenya after President Mwai Kibaki was returned to power in a December 27 vote that opposition challenger Raila Odinga says was rigged.

Mr Annan persuaded the rival parties on Friday to agree to take quick steps to end the violence, but ethnic tension remained explosive over the weekend. Aid workers estimate at least 20 people have been killed in clashes since Thursday.