AU head goes to Kenya following election violence that killed 275

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The head of the African Union was traveling to Kenya Wednesday for crisis talks to end an explosion of post-election violence that has killed more than 275 people, including dozens burned alive as they sought refuge in a church. The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus Tuesday as they sheltered in a church in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret recalled scenes from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when more than a half-million people were killed. The question facing Kenya is whether the politicians will lose control of the mobs, triggering a civil war in what has been one of Africa's most stable democracies. President Mwai Kibaki, who was swiftly inaugurated for a second term Sunday after a vote critics said was rigged, called for a meeting with his political opponents - a significant softening of tone for a man who rarely speaks to the media and who vowed to crack down on rioters.