CLASHES END KENYA PRAYER MEETING!

Skirmishes between police and youths have broken up an opposition prayer meeting for victims of the post-poll violence in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Tear gas was fired at Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) supporters who stoned police vehicles and torched a nearby government building.

Meanwhile, former UN chief Kofi Annan is beginning a fresh attempt to end the chaos arising from the disputed poll. The ODM says it will consider calling off protests if Mr Annan asks them to. Opposition protest rallies were due to resume on Thursday.

"Our official position is that we shall meet Mr Annan this afternoon, and if he asks us to call them off, that is a request that will be seriously considered by the ODM leadership, but as of now the rallies are still on," spokesman Salim Lone told the BBC. Mr Annan says he will insist on a solution for the "sake of Kenya and its people and for the sake of Africa".

His main goal is to establish a dialogue between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga who says his election victory was stolen. Mr Annan is accompanied in his mission by Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa. "I am confident that, in this crucial endeavour, we can count on the will, maturity, resourcefulness and judgment of the leaders," Mr Annan said late on Tuesday.

President Yoweri Museveni of Kenya's neighbour Uganda is also in the country and held talks with President Mwai Kibaki. Correspondents says ODM leaders left the interdenominational prayer meeting, near the sprawling Kibera slum which was has seen some of Nairobi's worst violence, after the trouble started.

Reports say a group of ODM youths were angered by the presence of police at the venue and started pelting their cars with stones and the meeting then descended into chaos. They have now set fire to a nearby building where the government-owned telecommunications company Telkom is based. Earlier, a group of commuters in the east of the city were attacked by about 30 unidentified armed men. Police say three people were killed and there have been eight arrests.

Hospital officials in Kenya say the political violence that followed the poll has brought a big rise in rape. One UN agency spoke of an opportunistic atmosphere for gangs of men. On Tuesday, the opposition filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court, accusing the government of crimes against humanity.

It says the police used excessive force during last week's protests, in which more than 30 people died. In the latest violence, four people were hacked to death as at least seven were killed in the Rift Valley. More than 650 people have been killed in protests, while 250,000 more have fled their homes since the 27 December elections.
BBC NEWS REPORT.