'SEVEN DEAD' IN KENYA PROTESTS !

Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga says police in Nairobi have shot dead seven people on the second day of protests against disputed polls. BBC correspondents reported Kenyan riot police firing into the air to disperse protesters in several cities. They said at least two people had been shot in Nairobi's Kibera slum and there were clashes in Kisumu in the west as police tried to clear barricades.

The European Parliament has asked the EU to cut aid to Kenya's government. On the first day of the protests on Wednesday, at least four people were killed. The police have banned all public protests. Kenyan authorities say more than 600 people have died in violence since President Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor in elections held in December.

But Mr Odinga told reporters on Thursday that more than 1,000 people had died. Mr Odinga has demanded a recount of the vote, but said he would stop disputing the result if it showed Mr Kibaki won. He told the BBC that the international community should impose sanctions. He also told the BBC's Hardtalk programme that he would be prepared to take part in a "transitional coalition government" charged with organising new elections within six months.

The Commonwealth is the latest body to criticise the results. The final report of its observer team said the polls "did not meet international standards". A BBC correspondent says two people are known to have been shot in Nairobi's Kibera slum, and there is also a standoff in the city's Mathare slum.

Youths are burning tyres and barricades, and police have been firing into the air in an attempt to disperse the groups. The military is being used to clear road blocks like this one in Eldoret

In the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, where four people were killed on Wednesday, residents of the Kondele slum set up barricades on a main road, which officers have been trying to clear. Gunshots can already be heard in different areas of the city, correspondents say.

TV footage of Wednesday's rally there showed a protester lying on the ground being kicked by a policeman. The man was found dead shortly afterwards with bullet wounds. The BBC's Karen Allen says a wake for one of those killed has turned into a political meeting.

Kisumu's police chief Grace Kahindi told the BBC that local officers had ignored orders only to use tear gas and batons in putting down Wednesday's protests, and that they would now be more closely supervised.

"The specific instructions were very clear: tear gas and batons. That's what we said. We're also trying to find out why [shots were fired] because we were not there," she said.

The European Parliament on Thursday unanimously backed a resolution calling for the EU to suspend aid to the Kenyan government. The EU is due to give some 400m euros (£298m) to Kenya over the next five years. Kenyan refugees have been receiving food aid in Uganda.

MEPs have no direct say over the aid budget, but the vote sends a strong signal to EU governments about the disquiet provoked by the elections and their aftermath, says the BBC's Alix Kroeger in Strasbourg.

MEP Glenys Kinnock told the BBC News website that EU money should be diverted away from the government and used in aid projects instead. Mr Odinga has called for tougher measures from the outside world. "Sanctions is one way of putting pressure on Mr Kibaki to know that it is not going to be business as usual with the rest of the world, unless and until he agrees to a peaceful resolution to this artificially instigated crisis," he said.

Meanwhile, the UN has launched a $34m (£17.3m) humanitarian appeal for Kenya, to help those affected by the violence following the disputed election. A quarter of a million people have left their homes and 6,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda. Kenya is East Africa's most developed economy and its bread basket has traditionally been the Rift Valley, where maize is grown, but the ethnic violence.

Sir John Holmes, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the money the UN was seeking over the next six months would be mainly used for food aid.
BBC NEWS REPORT.