An opposition leader with Kenya's Orange Democratic Movement, David Kimutai Too, was killed in what police officials described as a “crime of passion.”  ODM leader Raila Odinga called the killing an execution targeting ODM members. “David Kimutai Too was killed by a policeman. I condemn this second execution of an ODM member of parliament. The purpose of this killing is to reduce the ODM majority,” he said.

This is the second suspected assassination this week.  Melitus Were, a legislator with the ODM, was shot to death outside his Nairobi home in an event that opposition leaders describe as a “political assassination.”   Were's death sparked rioting and ethnic killings in the streets, with various reports citing villagers hacked to death, stoned and poisoned in the street.  Conversely, the BBC Monday showed video depicting a police officer shooting a protester dead in the street when he taunted the officers.

The ethnic rivalry between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Odinga's Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins supporters erupted following a disputed presidential election Dec. 27.  Human Rights Watch issued a report alleging opposition members ordered the attacks against Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, who in turn launched retaliatory attacks against Odinga's supporters.  Many observers describe the violence since Dec. 27 that resulted in 850 deaths as an ethnic cleansing campaign.

Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is in the region and Wednesday, both parties met for discussions on the way forward.  The U.S. envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said Wednesday that the region would spiral into further ethnic conflict unless the rival leaders could agree on “some kind of power-sharing and some kind of coalition government.”

The beginnings of this conflict invoke images of Rwanda.  The death of regional leaders in a plane crash removed the central authorities that united ethnic rivals under a tense peace resulting in one of worst genocides in the modern era.  Kenya once served as a model for democracy and a hub of African tourism for Westerners.  On Wednesday, many of the wire services ran stories about a German tourist hacked to death in a Kenyan resort.  The situation is quickly spiraling out of control.  Frazer, the U.S. envoy, said Wednesday that she hoped to see a power-sharing arrangement develop in the next four weeks.  In states where an unstable sub-national power structure is abruptly left without a strong supporting central government, the struggle to fill the power vacuum quickly escalates to violent atrocities.  Waiting four weeks to start over may not be soon enough for Kenya.

Reuters