Nine-year-old among 24 people killed in Kenyan election riots
13 Aug 2017 5:15 PM GMT
Nairobi: A total of 24 people, including a nine-year-old child, have reportedly been shot dead in Kenya by police since Tuesday's disputed re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta. It is thought the boy was hit by a stray bullet while standing on a balcony as police opened fire in Mathare, a slum area of Nairobi. Earlier reports said the child was a girl, but the death has been confirmed by the boy's family, AFP reported.
The shooting follows a night of unrest in the western city of Kisumu on Lake Victoria, and Nairobi's overcrowded Kibera area. People in both areas are largely supportive of opposition leader Raila Odinga.
At least two people were shot dead by police in Kisumu, a regional police commander confirmed. In Nairobi, police reportedly opened fire after opposition protesters had blocked roads and set up burning barricades.
The unrest follows a fiercely fought presidential election in which Odinga has repeatedly claimed the vote was rigged.
Mr Kenyatta won a second term as president with 54.3 per cent of the vote to Mr Odinga's 44.7 per cent and a margin of 1.4 million votes. Odinga has repeatedly alleged that the election was rigged, and has denounced the process as a "sham" and a "massive fraud"
News of the boy's death comes as Kenya's main domestic poll monitoring organisation, ELOG, announced it had found no evidence to suggest the election was manipulated or inaccurate.
The organisation's official vote tally projected a victory for Kenyatta, giving him 54 per cent of the vote. The official count gave him 54.3 percent, which is well within ELOG's 1.9 percent margin of error, Reuters reports.
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