By C. Bryson Hull
The deaths bring to at least 28 the number of people killed in the last four days, in a combination of ethnic violence and police action against three days of opposition demonstrations the government has banned.
In the latest flare-up, a group of Kalenjins raided a camp in the Rift Valley village of Kipkelion, 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Nairobi, police said.
"A group of armed warriors attacked a village, leaving five people dead and property destroyed. These were refugees in a camp, people thought to have supported (President Mwai) Kibaki," Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer Everett Wasige said.
Several hundred people had taken refuge at the camp, located near a monastery, after three weeks of attacks across the Rift aimed at people seen to support Kibaki, mostly from his Kikuyu tribe and the Kisii ethnic group.
The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) dominates the Rift, and most of the 250,000 people who fled politically-fuelled ethnic clashes came from there. Police say the Rift accounts for 70 percent of the deaths since the vote.
Kenya's paroxysm of violence has seriously damaged its democratic reputation and harmed investor confidence in one of Africa's strongest economies.
More than 650 people have been killed since Kibaki won the disputed December 27 election, in killings that have laid bare the underlying tribal sentiments behind Kenya's politics.
Both ODM and the government accuse each other of genocide.
Also on Saturday, ODM reversed its plan to call off demonstrations.
"We are resuming our peaceful public rallies on Thursday," ODM Chairman Henry Kosgey told reporters. "We will use all available means to bring down the Kibaki regime."
HIGH STAKES
ODM leader Raila Odinga on Friday had said the opposition would take its fight off the streets and use other channels, including talks with African leaders and economic boycotts.
Odinga says Kibaki stole the closest-ever election in the east African nation from him. International observers say the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell who won, and the government says the ODM also rigged votes.
The protests are a high-stakes tactic to pressure the government, already being threatened with aid cuts after images of police shooting and beating protesters drew widespread criticism. The government has rebuffed the threat.
But many Kenyans say ODM's strategy could backfire, as the protests have bred chaos that disrupted schools and closed businesses, and shown Odinga staying off the streets while his supporters face the might of government security services.
EU aid commission
SOURCE: Reuters,January 20, 2008