Violence has risen dramatically in Kenya in the run-up to the December 27 presidential election which is poised to be the closest contest in the country's history.
Since October, violence in the Rift Valley, about 170km northwest of Nairobi, has killed at least 22 people.
More than 200 houses have been burned and 8,000 people forced to flee, the Kenya Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Antony Mwangi, Kenya Red Cross spokesman, said that fighting in the Mount Elgon area, 470km west of Nairobi, has killed more than 300 people and displaced 45,000 others so far in 2007.
"The number of deaths is escalating day by day," he said.
"There is a big humanitarian crisis. The people are in danger of dying from starvation and disease."
Clashes in Mount Elgon started in late 2006 and have continued despite the deployment of special police squads there.
Election violence
Clashes have broken out every election year since 1992.
One man was shot dead and several were injured at a violent rally in western Kenya on Thursday, officials said.
Rival groups clashed at the campaign meeting in Kakamega district, about 350km northwest of the capital Nairobi, police said.
The man, a taxi driver, died on arrival at Kakamega district hospital after a bullet penetrated his ribs, Japheth Maloba, a doctor at the facility said.
The latest death brings the death toll to at least 39 in poll-related incidents since July.
Displacement
Dan Juma, acting deputy director of the independent Kenya Human Right Commission, said politicians instigate violence to displace supporters of their opponents so that they do not vote.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has compiled a report in which it documents 22 deaths in election violence between October 10 and November 19.
On Thursday, Eric Kiraithe, a police spokesman, said that people found to be inciting bloodshed would be punished.
Source: mongenie
