THREE DIE IN NAIROBI SLUM CLASHES!

Nairobi's slums have seen some of the worst violence. At least three people have died in violence in a Nairobi slum which has seen deadly clashes since last month's disputed Kenyan election. The bodies of the three killed in Mathare bore machete marks and appear to have been victims of inter-tribal fighting, witnesses said.

An opposition spokesman accused Kenyan police of failing to intervene. A top EU official is in Kenya as part of outside efforts to mediate an end to the crisis over the presidential vote. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel has urged both sides to stop exacerbating tensions. Separately, the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is expected in Kenya on Tuesday.

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the 27 December election, say they will resume protest rallies on Thursday. The disturbances have left more than 600 people dead, including at least 31 in the last four days, and a quarter of a million homeless.

Several homes were set ablaze in Mathare during Sunday's violence, where witnesses said the violence had a tribal element between Kikuyus, the tribe of Mr Kibaki, and Luo, the ethnic group which Mr Odinga is from.

An Associated Press reporter saw the body of one man who was beaten to death, apparently a Luo caught by a group of Kikuyus. Another man staggered past, blood streaming from his mutilated arm after a machete attack, the reporter adds. A Luo woman who spoke to Reuters said she had been asked what tribe she was from. "Even before I could tell them, they took my bag and even wanted to cut me with a machete," she said. "I was just saved by the grace of God, they have taken everything I had."

Musalia Mudavadi, an official from Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), visited the injured in hospital and attacked the actions of the police. "Now we are seeing cases of the police actually giving way and allowing people to attack each other," he told AP.

Mr Michel, who met political leaders from both sides in Nairobi, said he was concerned that the Kenyan police were using excessive force against opposition demonstrators. But he also criticised the opposition's decision to resume mass rallies which could lead to more violence. "Now there is a need for a military ceasefire and also for a semantic rhetoric ceasefire," he said. "Now we need a quiet situation, we need just a little bit positive silence."

The ODM, which wants a re-run of the election, had originally called off protests in favour of a boycott of companies that back President Kibaki. Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights cast doubt on the vote, listing a catalogue of irregularities on Friday.
BBC NEWS REPORT.