Kenya Opposition Calls for Mass Rallies To Protest Election Results

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's main opposition party said Friday it plans three days of mass rallies next week to protest President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election, which has sparked waves of deadly violence across the East African nation.

The African Union president, who had been trying to mediate a compromise between the opposition leader Raila Odinga and Kibaki, left Kenya on Friday after failing to persuade the two even to meet.

More than 500 people have died in protests and ethnic violence since the Dec. 27 elections and ensuring vote tally that foreign observers say was rigged. The election returned Kibaki to power for another five-year term; Odinga came in second.

Police have banned all rallies since the violence broke out, and have used tear gas, water cannons and live bullets fired over people's heads to block previous attempts to assemble.

"Kenyans are entitled to protest peacefully at this blatant violation of their fundamental rights," Anyang Nyongo, secretary-general of the Orange Democratic Movement, said in announcing rallies in more than 20 locations on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Defeated
presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement
plan protests from Wednesday to Friday, in 25 towns and cities.

 
They say the government has made clear it is not interested in taking part in dialogue or mediation attempts.

 
Previous attempts to march through Nairobi were blocked by police.