KEY POINTS:
As Kofi Annan launched formal talks yesterday between Kenya's leaders, the scale of his challenge was made clear in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum.
Two gangs, one made up of Kikuyus, the other of Luos and Luhyas, faced off against each other across a railway track, both sides armed with machetes, clubs and sticks.
"We have now a border," said Fred Ruffi, 24, pointing a metal pole at the line of paramilitary police separating the two sides. "That is their land, this is ours," he said.
Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, brought together President Mwai Kibaki and the opposition leader Raila Odinga for talks a day after an opposition MP was murdered as the violence continues to escalate.
But despite the breakthrough, the killing has not let up. Gangs from different tribes have terrorised Kibera before, but never, residents said, has it been this bad.
Talk of revenge is frequent. Both sides cite cases of friends and neighbours killed or raped by the other.
No shops or kiosks were open in Kibera yesterday, and schools were closed.
The normally busy paths and tracks were empty, except for men with weapons.
"They are killing our people," Ruffi said. "Why should we not revenge?" As he spoke, gunfire rang out just yards away as the paramilitary police tried to disperse the crowds by firing in the air.
News agencies reported at least seven deaths in Kibera and 12 nationwide. The death toll since violence broke out following the announcement of Kibaki's re-election last month has reached at least 850.
More than 250,000 have been made homeless.
The divide in Kibera has split families and forced some from their homes.
Junior Dunstan and his friend Kevin Bore, both 21, live in the area now "owned" by Kikuyus. They are both Luhyas.
"We can't go back to living on that side," Dunstan said.
Nor can they go back to college. Both men are 10 months into a year-long catering course, but their classroom is on the other side.
"I want to one day own my own restaurant," said Bore.
"But this is making things verydifficult."
The violence in Kibera had been in response to the murder early yesterday of Mugabe Were, a newly elected opposition MP.
Noting that two bullets went into Were's eyes, Odinga called it "a planned political assassination". He also said that Kenya was "drifting into a state of anarchy".
Kibaki appealed for peace and promised a swift investigation into the "heinous" murder of Were, who was shot dead while driving up to the gate of his home.
Local media reported three people had been arrested, but police spokesman Eric Kiraithe declined to comment.
- INDEPENDENT
