NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called Sunday for "international intervention" in the country's election crisis, saying at least 31 supporters have been killed by police and militia forces since he returned Friday from an overseas trip.
Odinga said Kenya "was being pushed to the precipice" after residents of a Nairobi slum protested the killing of at least 13 people in an overnight attack by unknown gunmen. "This is state-sponsored thuggery," Odinga said. An area lawmaker was shot in the leg during protests that followed the killings, Odinga said.
Police said four people were killed in the attack, but mortuary attendants said 13 bodies, all with bullet wounds, had been taken in.
Odinga said 18 people were shot dead Friday when police tried to stop his supporters from lining the roads to welcome him after his speaking engagements in the U.S. and Britain. Mortuary records corroborate the death toll provided by Odinga. Police said five people were killed by mobs.
Tensions have risen since the Supreme Court nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election in August, citing irregularities, after Odinga challenged the results. The court ordered another vote last month, which Odinga boycotted, citing a lack of electoral reforms.
Kenyatta won the repeat election in October, but his victory is again being challenged at the Supreme Court by civil society activists and a politician. The court will announce its decision today.
There have been concerns about intimidation of the justices, who failed to muster a quorum to decide on a last-minute petition that sought to postpone last month's election. One justice's bodyguard was shot and seriously wounded hours before the expected ruling.
Odinga has rejected Kenyatta's victory.
The nullification of Kenya's August election was the first time a court in Africa had overturned a presidential vote. With the weekend's death toll, nearly 100 people have died in political unrest since then, the majority of them opposition demonstrators shot by police during protests.
A Section on 11/20/2017