LONG lines of Kenyans have queued from way before dawn to vote in the first election since the violence-wracked polls five years ago, with a deadly police ambush hours before polling started marring the ballot.
The tense elections are seen as a crucial test for Kenya, with leaders vowing to avoid a repeat of the bloody 2007-8 post-poll violence in which more than 1100 people were killed and observers repeatedly warning of the risk of renewed conflict.
Voters standing for hours in snaking lines several hundreds of metres long - and several people thick - crowded peacefully outside polling stations to take part in one of the most complex elections Kenya has ever held.
Tensions were high on the coast including in the port city of Mombasa where six policemen killed in two separate attacks, including an ambush by some 200 youths armed with guns and bows and arrows, hours before the opening of polling stations.
"Six policemen and six attackers were killed during the confrontation," Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo told reporters, adding that 400 officers were being sent to the coastal province to beef up security.
Kimaiyo said the attackers were suspected members of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a group seeking the secession of the coastal region popular with tourists.
Despite the attack, voters packed the streets in the city.
"We are not worried, we are voting," said architect Said Said, waiting to cast a ballot at a primary school.
Neck-and-neck rivals for the presidency, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy Uhuru Kenyatta, have publicly vowed there will be no repeat of the bloodshed that followed the disputed 2007 polls.
Crimes against humanity trials later this year at The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for Kenyatta and running mate William Ruto have raised the stakes: should they win the vote, the president and vice-president could be absent on trial for years.
Kenyans are casting six ballots, voting for a new president, parliamentarians, governors, senators, councillors and special women's representatives, with some 14.3 million registered voters and more than 30,000 polling stations.
Preliminary results are expected within 48 hours but could take up to seven days, officials have said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Kenyans vote after police gunned down
Dengan url
http://jamdindingin.blogspot.com/2013/03/kenyans-vote-after-police-gunned-down.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Kenyans vote after police gunned down
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Kenyans vote after police gunned down
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar