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Last Updated: Apr 15th, 2008 - 14:54:41 |
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Police shot dead two people when Kenya's dreaded Mungiki gang took to the streets again on Tuesday, presenting a serious challenge to the new coalition government on only its second day.
The unrest echoed the worst days of post election violence before the power-sharing deal was reached and overshadowed the resumption of business in parliament, due to debate a reform agenda keenly anticipated by many Kenyans.
A Reuters Television journalist saw two people killed by police in Nairobi's Industrial Area, where witnesses said members of the outlawed Mungiki gang were stoning cars. The identity of the dead was not immediately clear.
Elsewhere in the capital gang members burned buses, paralyzing transport and business there and in parts of central Kenya.
"The Mungiki gang is taking us back to the mayhem we witnessed a few months ago," motorist Martin Mutembi said near the burning hulk of a bus in the city's Kenyatta market. "They hijacked the bus...and threw a bomb that completely burned it."
The gang caught police off-guard on Monday when they blocked transport in Nairobi, two provinces and Kenya's main highway, creating the worst turmoil since the riots and ethnic killings after President Mwai Kibaki's disputed December 27 re-election.
Mungiki is Kenya's version of the mafia and has provided muscle-for-hire to politicians in the past. It provoked a bloody police crackdown that led to more than 100 deaths last year, after the group killed and beheaded scores of people.
The gang is drawn from the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe and Kenya's largest. The Mungiki say they are protesting against the beheading of a jailed leader's wife last week, which they blame on police. Police deny the beheading.
Analysts believe the violence may also have a political motive -- either dissatisfaction with the power-sharing agreement or unpaid dues from politicians to the Mungiki for their help during the elections and the violence that ensued.
BUSINESS SHUTDOWN
Kibaki on Sunday named a power-sharing cabinet -- the largest in Kenyan history -- aimed at defusing tension and steering one of Africa's most promising economies back on track after more than 1,200 people were killed in the turmoil.
He named election rival Raila Odinga prime minister under the terms of a February 28 deal to end the crisis, which also tasks the divided administration with preparing a new constitution in just 12 months.
Kenya's shilling currency appeared to ignore the Mungiki problems, firming slightly to 61.50/60 against the dollar. It has risen 2 percent since the cabinet was named.
Local media said at least 11 people had been killed in the clashes between Mungiki and the police, but police denied that.
Mungiki has de facto control of Kenya's minibus industry via a lucrative protection racket, a point the protests have made clear.
"We have circulated leaflets warning businesspeople not to open for a week because we want to make our presence felt," a gang member who declined to give his name told Reuters in the central Kenyan town of Nyeri 110 km (68 miles) north of Nairobi.
"After that, we shall give our conditions for operating."
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