FEARS FOR CONGO BOAT PASSENGERS!
More than 55 passengers are feared dead after a boat sank on Lake Tanganyika, off the Democratic Republic of Congo. The vessel was travelling from the town of Kalemie, in the south-east, to Moba at the time. "We have collected 10 bodies. The manifest says there were 58 passengers, but they might have been many more," Kalemie's deputy mayor told the BBC.
Bad weather causes many accidents on the lake at this time of year, but rarely is such a big boat affected. Boating disasters on Lake Tanganyika have become frequent occurrences in recent years. Correspondents say that due to the poor infrastructure in the war-ravaged DR Congo, ferries are the cheapest and most popular form of transport between lakeside towns.
Alexis Katempa, Kalemie's deputy district commissioner, said an investigation into the accident was under way. He said that the wooden boat bumped into a rock and sank. The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in DR Congo says the boat was called Yote ni Mapenzi ya Mungu, which in Swahili means "everything that happens is out of God's will".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
GHANA 2008 :NATIONS CUP DIARY!
Ghana 2008: Nations Cup diary
The BBC's David Amanor is keeping a diary of his travels around Ghana during the Africa Cup of Nations.In his latest instalment, he finds out the secrets for success from a 1963 footballing legend and meets "the king of the crocodiles".
THURSDAY 31 JANUARY
I've been ringing around to figure out why the stadiums are so empty during matches. At the Kumasi's 40,000-capacity stadium last night there was barely a 10% turnout.
There are several theories: Up to a quarter of seats have been allocated to sponsors and official organisations, who may not have turned up People who bought tickets to sell on the black market have been unable to shift them at a higher price That people aren't interested in seeing some teams - like yesterday's Zambia v Egypt - some felt it was a foregone conclusion that Egypt would qualify. Today's clash - Senegal and South Africa - is expected to be an exciting game with more bums on seats.
For the vendors at the stadiums, it's hurting business. I spoke to one lady last night, who'd hired a space outside the stands for her stall. She said that she'd have to throw away all her unsold meat pies.
During the game, one student at the stadium said: "The organisers should open the gates, and the let the people in for free."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
GHANA 2008 - AFRICAN NATIIONS CUP
SATURDAY 26 JANUARY
We've an afternoon appointment with the military in Bawku to respond to claims by young men in the northern town that they're not allowed to cheer during matches because of a curfew. So to kill time in the morning Ibrahim, my driver, and I head to Paga which is about 1km from the border with Burkina Faso.
I've been told the place has a special relationship with crocodiles - in fact they're sacred and it's taboo to kill them or eat their flesh. According to local belief, each crocodile represents the soul of one inhabitant in the town, At the Zenga Crocodile Pond, hundreds of them share the small lake with the local community who use it for washing and fishing. The cattle and sheep also have no problem standing amongst the reptiles.
The secret to such harmonious relations? Chickens - fed live to the crocs. The crocodiles bring the tourists; the tourists buy the chickens - and all live in safety except for the fowls, two of which I see disappearing down some gaping jaws
I meet the king of the crocodiles - Nave, a truly giant reptile - who I am told is more than 90 years old. "How do you know?" I ask my young guide. "Because my father and grandfather knew him before me," comes the reply. He insists the king won't hurt a fly and entreats me to climb on his back... when Nave makes a sudden move of his neck, I yelp and almost die of fear.
I live to tell the tale - but won't advise anyone to follow my example!
Later in Bawku, the military are still avoiding me. The police chief, however, is more forthcoming - explaining that he hopes the 2000-0500 curfew will be lifted for the Africa Nations Cup final. But he warns if the youth don't curtail their enthusiasm during Black Stars' matches, then it could send out the wrong signals to the government in Accra.
Back in Bolgatanga I stop by a chop bar and enjoy some banku (fermented maize) - grilled fish and red hot pepper ground with tomatoes and onions - just the way I like it. There's a live match showing, I eat and savour Angola teaching Senegal a few unexpected lessons on the pitch.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
TENSION AFTER KENYAN MP SHOT DEAD!
People are fleeing the western Kenyan town of Eldoret after an opposition MP was shot dead by a traffic policeman in disputed circumstances. The police say that David Too was killed in a domestic dispute unrelated to the political crisis but the opposition call it an "assassination".
A local police chief says Mr Too was having an affair with the girlfriend of the policeman, who shot them both. The killing has led to the postponement of peace talks in the capital, Nairobi. The first substantive talks between government and opposition began earlier on Thursday. "We have postponed this afternoon's session and we will work all day tomorrow so that the leaders can attend to urgent matters and call their constituents," said former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is mediating the talks.
Angry crowds have marched on the Eldoret police station, where they were dispersed by officers firing shots into the air, reports the AP news agency. Trucks have been set on fire outside the town, while members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu community have been fleeing the Rift Valley town, seen as an opposition stronghold.
Shops and businesses have closed in case of looting. A resident of Mr Too's constituency of Kericho in Western province told the BBC there was also unrest there. The police are struggling to contain crowds of angry youths, who have set several buildings on fire, he said. An opposition MP was shot dead on Tuesday, sparking violence in Nairobi slums. "The second killing of an MP belonging to Orange Democratic Movement is part of a plot to reduce our majority in parliament," ODM leader Raila Odinga told the AFP news agency.
While Mr Kibaki was declared the victor of the presidential election, the ODM won twice as many seats as Mr Kibaki's party in the parliamentary race held on the same day.
Eldoret Deputy Police Chief Gabriel Kuya told AP that the traffic policeman followed a car carrying Mr Too and the woman on his motorbike. "He drove toward the side of the woman and shot her in the stomach twice. Her partner [Mr Too] pleaded with the officer not to kill her but he turned his pistol on him instead, hitting him four times in the head," he said. The woman is in hospital in a critical condition.
More than 850 people have been killed since the disputed presidential poll. Another 250,000 have fled their homes in what used to be one of East Africa's most stable countries. The Rift Valley has seen some of the worst violence since the 27 December election. On Wednesday, the top US official for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said there had been "ethnic cleansing" in the region.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
CHAD REBELS 'SEIZE CENTRAL TOWN' !
Rebels in Chad say they have seized a strategically important town in the central region of Batha, about 400km (248 miles) from the capital, Ndjamena. A spokesman for several rebel groups who have joined forces said Oum Hadjer had been captured on Wednesday. Army patrols have reportedly been increased in N'Djamena in case the rebels try to move on the capital.
A European Union peace force is preparing to deploy to eastern Chad in the next few weeks. The 3,700-strong contingent will aim to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region and people displaced by internal fighting. The rebels want to drive President Idriss Deby from power. Nearly two years ago a group entered N'Djamena before they were repelled.
The Chadian military said a convoy of rebel forces had been sighted in the area around Oum Hadjer, but that there was conflicting information about its movements. The AFP news agency quotes military sources as saying that government troops have been mobilised to intercept a convoy of 300 rebel vehicles that are speeding towards the capital. "We are moving towards N'Djamena," rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah confirmed to AFP.
Meanwhile, army units have stepped up patrols on the streets of the capital, Reuters news agency says. France's embassy has closed the French school in the city, French radio reports. This comes after Chadian aircraft bombed rebel positions in the east near the border with Sudan on Tuesday.
The peacekeeping force - known as Eufor Chad/CAR - to be deployed in Chad and the Central African Republic - was given final approval on Monday and will mainly contain French troops. France already has 1,100 soldiers in Chad under a 1986 agreement to guarantee "territorial integrity", but rebel groups believe the French helped thwart the attempted N'Djamena attack in 2006. Rebels maintain the Eufor Chad/CAR will not be neutral.
Late last year, the main rebel group, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), declared a "state of war" against French and other foreign forces because it said they were "bringing diplomatic, strategic and logistical aid" to the president.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
STOP KENYA BURNING SAYS AU HEAD!
African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya.
AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told them they could not just sit by. "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he said. More than 850 people have died in political and ethnic clashes since last month's elections, which the opposition says were rigged.
In Nairobi, talks between government and opposition have begun. Mr Konare - the AU's top executive - said it was the AU's duty to support the mediation process which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Kenyan leaders to find a peaceful way out. "President [Mwai] Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga... have a special responsibility to solve the crisis peacefully," he told the summit.
In Kenya, an opposition MP has been killed in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, just as substantive peace talks began in Nairobi. Violence broke out after the 27 December presidential elections, which the opposition Orange Democratic Movement says Mr Kibaki's government rigged.
Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, even though the ODM called on the AU not to recognise him.
Mr Odinga, by contrast, has not been invited.
The BBC's Will Ross, reporting from the conference, says all eyes will be on Mr Kibaki. He says Mr Kibaki is likely to brief at least some of the African leaders on events in Kenya, especially the talks between government and opposition. The Kenyan crisis may then be pushed away, which could be convenient for an organisation which often struggles to tackle the continent's problems with any great urgency, he says.
Despite Mr Konare's plea, the official theme of the AU summit is industrialisation.
But other subjects are likely to include
Sudan, where the AU and the UN have promised to create the world's largest peacekeeping force in Darfur
Somalia, where members are keen to strengthen the small Ugandan and Burundian forces in the country, and
the AU's own internal organisation
Our correspondent says many Africans hope other urgent issues such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo will also be tackled.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"SAYINGS"
"SPEAK WELL OF YOUR FRIEND,
OF YOUR ENEMY SAY NOTHING" !
IVORIANS SORT FIVE YEARS OF POST!
Postal workers in the northern half of Ivory Coast are struggling to deliver a five-year backlog after post offices reopened as part of the peace deal. The build-up started after a failed army rebellion in 2002, when the country divided in two with rebels in charge of the north. Post offices were looted and staff fled to the government-controlled south. Employees now have to sort through mountains of post, which has not been delivered to people in the north.
For the past five years letters and parcels addressed to people in the northern half of Ivory Coast have been sorted, date-stamped and put into storage at the national post centre in the southern city of Abidjan. With post offices now re-opened in the north, sacks of letters are lying in the central rebel town of Bouake, and many post boxes are overflowing.
The BBC's John James said a few sad tales of missing letters and missed opportunities had been emerging. "The post inspector told me of one customer who was inconsolable after getting an out-of-date letter telling him he'd passed the entrance exam to study at the Sorbonne university in Paris," he said. Faced with such a backlog and time lapse, the postal service has launched a campaign to re-train staff and re-educate people on how to send a letter.
Ivory Coast split after Muslims in the north took up arms in protest at measures they said disenfranchised them. A peace deal in March reunited the country and made former rebel leader Guillaume Soro prime minister in a power-sharing government with President Laurent Gbagbo.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
PEACEKEEPERS 'DEFACE ANCIENT ART' !
UN peacekeepers in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara have vandalised ancient rock paintings, a UN official has told a UK newspaper. The Times has published pictures of the paintings, some 6,000 years old, showing them defaced with spray paint.
Julian Harston, the UN official responsible for Western Sahara, said he had been shocked by the vandalism. He said funds would now be sought from the UN cultural organisation, Unesco, to remove the graffiti. Western Sahara has been at the centre of a bitter dispute since former colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975 and neighbouring Morocco invaded. UN peacekeepers were deployed in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has been seeking independence for the territory.
Graffiti, including the spray-painting of UN personnel's names, can been seen at Lajuad, an important archaeological site, Mr Harston said. According to The Times, an area there known as Devil Mountain is regarded by the local Sahrawi people as a place of great cultural significance. "I was appalled. You'd think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies," Mr Harston said.
Nick Brook, a climate scientist who runs the Western Sahara Project, has written a blog about his findings which show pictures of graffiti more than a metre high on granite rocks. He says the vandalism at Lajuad is not the first example of the deliberate vandalism of an archaeological site by the UN.
"It is a tragedy that UN personnel tasked with resolving one of the world's longest running military and political conflicts are engaging in the wilful destruction of important archaeological sites that have much to teach us about the prehistory of a part of the world that is virtually unknown to the international research community," he writes on his Sand and Dust blog.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
INSIDE KENYA'S BURNING RIFT VALLEY!
By Pascale Harter - BBC News, Eldoret
Anthony Nganga Kimani realises that as a Kikuyu he can never return to live in his village in the violence-gripped Rift Valley. "My father was burned inside the church. So was my wife, when she was with my two-month-old baby," he says. "She knew there was no way out. She threw the baby boy through the window to save him."
Ultimately, Anthony's wife also made it out of the church alive, albeit badly burned, and found the baby safe outside. But his father died in the flames. Since that early horrific and shocking incident, the violence has spread across the Rift Valley and beyond. And as Anthony tells me his story, the police begin firing live rounds to disperse demonstrators opposed to President Mwai Kibaki.
Among the peaceful protesters are also those who have been burning Kikuyus out of their homes. And Anthony worries that, angered by the police, they might turn on the Kikuyus again: "I'm scared, because they burned the church," he says. More than 850 people have now been killed in tit-for-tat tribal violence since the elections in the country. But why did the Kalenjins start attacking Kikuyus in the first place?
The demonstrators say it is because they are convinced Mr Kibaki rigged the election. "We want to send a very strong message to Kibaki," says one. "Because we cannot get him, we are going to work on his tribe - which is the Kikuyu here. "When Kibaki got into power, he began to assist Kikuyus. The rest of the Kenyans are left in poverty. So this fight is between the haves and have nots."
To take Anthony back to his village of Kembar to visit we are given an escort of 20 police officers. Turning into the church compound, we see all that remains is charred rubble with flakes of corrugated iron. There is nothing left. Anthony shows me the grave where he buried his father. "You can see there are no flowers," he says. "My neighbours have run away; they are in a nearby village." And he sees an unwelcome sight as we leave - Kikuyu houses in flames.
'We will kill them'
When we go back the next day, without Anthony, we meet a group of boys who admit they burned the church, killing dozens of old men, women and children - including Anthony's father. "I felt guilt - I was worried I had hurt my friends," says one. "I knew people who had died. I was worried. "If Kibaki will not step down, those Kikuyus will not come back here. That's what we have decided - to stop them coming back. "We will of course kill them."
Investigators for Human Rights Watch have accused members of Raila Odinga's party of orchestrating the tribal violence in the run-up to the election. One of the church burners then tells me what was said at the local political meetings he went to. "We are going to make sure that all the Kikuyus are out of the Rift Valley," he said. "I was told to do this - it was something permitted by our elders."
One particularly influential Kalenjin elder is Jackson Kibbur. I visited him in his house on the outskirts of Eldoret. He denied inciting tribal hatred before the election - but said he will now be telling his community to "not sit down and see one tribe lead Kenya." "We will fight. This is a war," he added. "We will start the war. We will divide Kenya."
Now in Eldoret, Anthony has joined over 1,000 Kikuyu at a temporary camp guarded by a handful of police. With violence escalating all around, he fears the camp is a target. "I cannot say I feel safe, because somebody has chased me away - and yet they know who I am. "I don't know what they are thinking. I don't know about tomorrow."
BBC N EWS REPORT
AFRICA CUP NATIONS - UPDATE!
Samuel Eto'o became the top scorer in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations as Cameroon reached the last eight of the 2008 competition.
Eto'o's record-breaking 15th goal came from a penalty on 27 minutes and soon after Cameroon were 2-0 up following an own goal from Mohammed Ali Khider. Sudan improved after half-time and Cameroon keeper Idriss Carlos Kameni did well to save a series of shots.
Late on Eto'o extended his record when he raced clear to slot the ball home. That third goal was a little unfair on the Sudanese, who staged a spirited second-half revival. Eto'o, who had scored three times in Ghana before Wednesday's game, should really have come away from this game with four rather than two goals.
He missed a double chance to break Ivory Coast's Laurent Pokou's 1970 record of 14 goals early on when his close-range shot was partially saved by Mahjoub El Moez. The rebound fell to Eto'o but the Barca striker blasted over the bar.
With Joel Epalle marauding down the right and Timothee Atouba adopting a similarly attacking policy down the other wing, Sudan struggled to break out of their own half. Too often Sudan resorted to illegal tactics and Amir Damir should have been booked for an awful tackle on Epalle.
Achille Emana won the penalty when he was hauled to the ground by another poor challenge from Yousef Alaeldin, who arguably should have been sent off.
Eto's shot was hit almost to the centre of the goal, but with El Moez going the other way the Cameroon striker was able to wheel away in delight to celebrate his fourth goal of the tournament and a slice of history.
After the break, Sudan emerged from their defensive shell and an Alaeldin shot was pushed away for a corner by Kameni. When that corner came over the ball landed invitingly for Haitham Tambal, but he miscued badly. Kameni had to scamper across his goal for a second time to turn away Faisal Agab's shot.
In between those glut of Sudanese chances historymaker Eto'o missed another good chance when he shot straight at El Moez when it looked easier to score. Sudan were soon back on the attack and Rigobert Song had to be alert to deal with a dangerous cross.
Kameni did well to deal with another cross - this time from Haitham Tambal - as the Cameroon keeper came under renewed pressure. But in stoppage time Eto'o raced clear to collect Epalle's pass and expertly guide the ball past El Moez.
Having been already been beaten by Group C winners Egypt, Cameroon finished in second and will play the winners of group D in Tamale next Sunday.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
S.A. CALL TO LEGALISE PROSTITUTION!
South African MP George Lekgetho has called for prostitution to be legalised for the duration of the football World Cup to be held in the country in 2010. "It is one of the things that would make it a success," the ruling African National Congress parliamentarian said. It would help cut the incidences of rape and would bring in taxes to fight poverty, he told his colleagues.
The opposition Democratic Alliance criticised the idea but a group representing sex workers welcomed it.
"We would support any legalisation of sex work, particularly during the 2010 World Cup," Nicola Fick from Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Task Force told the BBC. "Our position is that it's going to be in the best interest of the sex workers and the government if the police no longer arrest women for this crime."
Mr Lekgetho made his comments after a presentation by the Arts and Culture Department to a parliamentary committee on its plans for social cohesion for 2010. "If sex working is legalised people would not do things in the dark. That would bring us tax and would improve the lives of those who are not working," the South African Press Association quotes him as saying.
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says his suggestion was met with groans of protest and chuckles from other MPs. The idea of legalising sex work was first proposed last year by police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who has since been suspended to face corruption charges. But Mr Lekgetho only called for its legalisation for the duration of the football tournament.
Meanwhile, our correspondent says there are growing concerns that power cuts across the country are delaying preparations for the international spectacle. South Africa has in the last few weeks been hit by rolling black outs. But the World Cup organising committee has expressed confidence the tournament will go ahead as planned.
BBC NEWS REPORT
NIGERIAN CHILDREN RETURNED HOME!
A group of 105 children rescued from suspected people traffickers in Nigeria have been handed back to their parents. The children were discovered by police two weeks ago, packed into a minibus. They were taken from villages in the northern state of Kano and were going to a school 400km away, the driver of the minibus said.
The parents said they gave consent for the boys to be taken to the school but anti-trafficking authorities said they may be "complicit" in the crime. Traditional Islamic education involves sending children away from their homes to learn the Koran. But many children end up as bonded labourers, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (Naptip) says.
Parents told BBC News it was not the first time they had sent their children away like this. All the boys are aged between five and 15 "It is not for the parents to decide what is human trafficking and what is not," Naptip spokesman Orakwue Arinze said. "These children would certainly have been abused and molested. The parents may be complicit in it," he said.
The children were first handed over to the Emir of Kano, a well respected regional leader, who then handed them back to their families. The country's anti-trafficking authorities are still investigating the school in Suleja, Niger state. Islamic leaders have also called for the system of traditional Islamic schools to be reformed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'TARGETED FOR MARRYING A KIKUYU'!
Professor David Habel Odongo, from the Luo ethnic group, married his wife, a Kikuyu lady, more than 20 years ago. All this time, they have lived in Dunga in western Kenya. But he tells the BBC's Muliro Telewa why, in the inter-ethnic post-election violence, his family's livelihood has been lost and his wife's life threatened.
I was targeted because I am married to a Kikuyu. There is no other reason why they should have attacked me and identified me. They were attacking selectively. At about 0830 local time (0530 GMT), a big group of people not numbering less than 300, wielding pangas [machetes] and axes, came to my guest house and hacked the gate down. Some ran, charging straight in, broke the windows and literally everything. Not even just breaking - some were smashing things onto the floor.
Why, why, why?
They took away a lot of things; maybe 50 tables and gas cylinders.
This lady, like Professor Odongo's wife, had to flee for her life.
Why, why, why? Why did they say they were doing this?
They did not come to argue or to listen to my pleas. I asked them, now, why have you come to destroy my things? I am a fellow Luo like yourselves. None of them could answer me. In fact, they were shouting. They didn't even want to listen to me. They just marched in and broke into all the rooms, took away all the bedding, the mattresses, the beds, the mosquito nettings - anything that they could lay their hands on. The total cost of what has been destroyed is 13-15m Kenyan shillings ($180,000-210,000).
I have been married to my wife for over 20 years and I have lived in Dunga for all that time with my lady. We have grown up children - they are at high schools in Uganda. Last night, I sent my wife away because after those people destroyed everything we had, they said they would come for her. So the police rescued her and my mother-in-law, who had been visiting. We took them to the airport and got them tickets and flew them to Nairobi.
I have since called the chief of the area where the attackers came from, asking him to come and talk to his people. It's a tribal issue the fact that I am married to a Kikuyu. They don't see her as Odongo's wife, they see her as a Kikuyu.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
S. AFRICA MP'S DEBATE ENERGY CRISIS!
By Peter Greste - BBC News, Johannesburg.
Power cuts mean boxes are packed outside flower shop cold rooms.The South African parliament has begun a special session to discuss the electricity crisis. State electricity company Eskom began a series of rolling blackouts last week and cut power to most mines as demand outstripped supply. Economists have also warned that the crisis could seriously disrupt South Africa's economic growth forecasts. Minerals and Energy Minister Bujelwa Sonjica opened the at-times acrimonious parliamentary debate.
To boos and jeers, she formally apologised for the crisis which, she acknowledged, was the result of poor planning and a lack of foresight.
SUGGESTIONS TO CUT CONSUMPTION
Taking showers rather than baths
Using energy-efficient lightbulbs
Going to bed early
She blamed unprecedented and unexpected economic growth of over 7% for the past few years, and a lack of interest by the private sector in taking up some of the country's generating capacity. But she stopped short of offering to resign, as the opposition demanded. Instead, she turned to solutions.
South Africa has been generating new electricity - but not enough The government has asked for every South African household and business to cut consumption by 10%. And she offered a list of 10 suggestions to help, including taking showers rather than baths, using energy-efficient lightbulbs, and going to bed early. That was an idea that drew howls of protest from opposition benches.
The special session came at the end of two weeks of some of the most serious blackouts by the state electricity producer in the country's history. Eskom predicts that there will be shortages for at least the next five years, and economists say that could drag growth below 3%.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
UGANDANS DIE IN SCHOOL COLLAPSE!
At least nine construction workers in Uganda have died after the building they were working on collapsed.
The building, which had at least three storeys, was part of a school outside the capital, Kampala. The BBC's Sarah Grainger at the scene says police, army and workers at the site are using industrial diggers to search for people who may be trapped.
Two years ago, poor construction was blamed for the collapse of church killing 27 people during a service. Police said then that the planning authorities were responsible for what they called a rampant problem of substandard construction and high levels of corruption meant short cuts were often taken. Our correspondent says the building is now a heap of rubble, twisted metal and broken timber.
An eyewitness told her that minutes before it collapsed one of the building's pillars began to wobble. Police spokesman Gabriel Tibayungwa says it is not known how many people were working on the site. "The foreman is suspected to have died so we have nobody to give us a record of how many people were there," he told the BBC. Local residents say they are not surprised at the tragedy.
"The kind of materials these people have been using - it is no surprise," said one man near the school. "We blame our government because it does not take into account what kind of buildings are being built in the city." Police say the rescue and recovery effort will continue until all survivors have been found and the bodies extracted from the site.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
KEY PLAYERS ON KENYA: IN QUOTES !
Reactions from key political figures inside and outside Kenya to the spiralling ethnic violence - as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan mediates talks between the government and opposition in an effort to resolve the crisis. The number of people killed since December's disputed elections is close to 900 and rising.
MEDIATOR KOFI ANNAN
"There is one Kenya. We all have multiple identities... We are confident that the issues can be resolved within a year... and the immediate political issues can be resolved within four weeks if not shorter."
KENYAN PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI
"Using violence against one another can never be a sustainable substitute to discussing with one another. As leaders, we have the responsibility to preach peace and act accordingly in our dealings with our followers. I encourage all our leaders to go to their regions and urge mwananchi (citizens) to pursue peace and reconciliation amongst one another."
KENYAN OPPOSITION LEADER RAILA ODINGA
"We did not in our darkest dreams imagine that children and women would be burned alive in our beloved Kenya as happened on Sunday in Naivasha, and earlier in Eldoret... I seek to be president of all Kenyans. Their deaths and suffering horrifies me."
KENYAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER KENNETH MARENDE
"Today our country is under serious threat of sliding into anarchy. Today as we meet our country bleeds... The hopes and aspirations of the entire nation are weighing down on your shoulders".
KENYAN OPPOSITION SECRETARY GENERAL ANYANG NYONG'O
"The talks have to make a difference, because we need to overcome this moment of madness in our republic.
"If the government really sent the security forces to maintain law and order with the same gusto with which they shot people in Nairobi who were demonstrating peacefully, peace could be restored.
"But apparently the police, as you hear, are standing by shooting in the air, more or less just observing as the situation gets worse."
KENYAN INTERNAL SECURITY MINISTER GEORGE SAITOTI
"We have decided to act tough this time and we're going to do so to make sure that the security of this country is secured, we want to make sure the situation is normal."
"We do not want to have the criminals running around and disrupting the activities of this country and I would like to tell those... who have been used to taking laws into their hands... that they are going to face very, very, very serious consequences."
US SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE
"We are certainly asking everyone to maintain calm. It's deeply concerning."
US ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICA JENDAYI FRAZER
"There has been an organised effort to push out people from Rift Valley... It is clearly ethnic cleansing. I don't consider it genocide."
"The cycle of retaliation has gone too far and has become more dangerous."
KENYAN NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE WANGARI MAATHAI
"I appeal to the elders of the various communities to reach out to others and appeal to the youth to stop the cycle of violence and vengeance... The international community will support us, but at the end of the day it is all up to Kenyans to sit down and resolve the issues." .
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID MILIBAND
"We must continue to send a very resolute signal about the need for sides to calm their supporters against violence, for election irregularities to be properly investigated, and for political power-sharing to go forward."
UN ADVISER FOR PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE FRANCIS DENG
"Political and community leaders may be held accountable for violations of international law committed at their instigation."
SOUTH AFRICAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER AZIZ PAHAD
"It will begin to take dimensions of ethnic and tribal conflict that will be disastrous for Kenya and for the African continent as a whole... For us what is alarming is that there are increasing reports coming out that militias aligned to the main protagonists are now being armed and that creates a more volatile situation."
US PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL BARACK OBAMA
"Now is the time for all parties to renounce violence. Now is the time for Kenyan leaders to rise above party affiliations and past ambitions for the sake of peace."
UK MINISTER FOR AFRICA MARK MALLOCH-BROWN
"What is so alarming about the last few days is... there's evidently hidden hands organising it now."
UN AID CHIEF JOHN HOLMES
"The situation is deteriorating quite sharply at the moment with the violence we have seen over the last few days... We were preparing to deal with these humanitarian consequences over a time scale of say, three months.
"But as you know, you all see the situation is beginning to look more serious than that."
KENYAN HIGH COMISSIONER IN LONDON JOSEPH MUCHEMI
"The scale [of the problems] is bigger than we have seen in the past, but we had a disputed election in 1992 and we were able to resolve it. So I really don't think we can say it's gone beyond control completely. It is still solvable in my view...
"Under the chairmanship of Kofi Annan, I believe there's a possibility to develop an agenda that is going to be discussed, and which I think is going to be acceptable to Kenyans, once it is known that both sides have agreed to whatever Kofi Annan may come up with, and of course with the discussions with the leaders."
KENYAN OPPOSITION MP WILLIAM RUTO
"We have been consistent - violence does not advance the cause of this country. Violence does not advance the cause of democracy. Violence will not sort out the crisis we have in our country.
"And I have been very categorical that violence should not be a part of the solution for the problems we have."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
GADDAFI WARNS AFRICA OVER UNITY!
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to turn his back on Africa if the continent's leaders again reject his proposals for closer unity. He said Libya would instead look towards Europe and the Arab world. Col Gaddafi was speaking just ahead of the opening of a summit of African Union leaders in Ethiopia on Thursday. He also said Libya was prepared to move its African investments, which he said amounted to more than $5bn (£2.5bn), to Arab and Mediterranean states. The Libyan leader has for a long time advocated the creation of a United States of Africa - with its government including a foreign minister, defence minister and minister of trade.
The AU, which succeeded the Organisation of African Unity in 2002, was conceived by Mr Gaddafi as part of this vision. The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says Col Gaddafi expressed his concerns on the future of Africa at a two-hour news conference at his residence in the Libyan capital.He accused the AU of failing to achieve tangible results in unity because of its endless delays in progressing towards forming a government for the continent.
After decades of sanctions and isolation, the Libyan leader seems comfortable with his new-found friendship with the West, our reporter says. He said Libya would consider more economically strategic alternatives like Europe and the Arab world if his vision was rejected.
"The (summit) will be decisive. It will either put an end to stalling and time wasting on the unification of Africa or prove there is a conspiracy which vetoes African unity," Mr Gaddafi said. Our correspondent says the Libyan leader failed to name individual countries he blames for the lack of progress. But he praised the French-speaking African states as well as Nigeria, under its former leader Olusegun Obasanjo, for wanting African unity.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ANNAN LEADS KENYA CRISIS TALKS!
Former UN chief Kofi Annan has opened talks with Kenya's rival president and opposition leader, to try to end weeks of violence linked to disputed polls. Mr Annan, flanked by President Mwai Kibaki and ODM party leader Raila Odinga, urged the two men to do "whatever possible" to restore calm. Mr Annan will present the leaders with a "route-map" for talks, which correspondents say could last weeks.
The talks came as the death of an opposition MP sparked fresh violence. At least seven people were killed on Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi, after Mugabe Were, from Mr Odinga's ODM party, apparently died in violence triggered by last month's disputed elections.
Towns in the Rift Valley also witnessed outbreaks of inter-ethnic fighting. Army helicopters fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a mob of ethnic Kikuyus attacking Luo refugees trying to flee the town of Naivasha. Members of President Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have been fighting with Luos and Kalenjins who backed Mr Odinga in December's poll.
Opening the talks, Mr Annan said: "There is only one Kenya. We all have multiple identities but I hope you see yourselves as Kenyans first." He warned that the crisis was having a "profound and negative impact" on the country and urged the two leaders to take the talks seriously or risk losing aid. He said he believed that short-term political issues could be resolved within four weeks, although more in-depth talks could take as long as a year.
The talks began 90 minutes late, after an argument over seating arrangements. Speaking after Mr Annan, Mr Odinga stressed that the resolution of the "deeply flawed" results of the presidential elections needed "most urgent attention". "While our appeal for peace is uncompromising and unconditional, it will have effective meaning if we pledge today that everything will be done to speedily address this specific dispute," he said.
President Kibaki said he strongly condemned incidents of violence, and would "implement stern measures" against "those who disrupt the peace". He pledged his support to the "process of national dialogue", pledged to provide more police stations and a fund to help victims of the violence. Both Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga said there was a need to resolve problems dating back to independence - such as corruption and ethnic tensions.
Mr Were is the first leading politician to have died amid violence that has left at least 800 people dead. Two gunmen shot Mr Were as he drove up to the gate of his house in the capital just after midnight, Kenya police spokesman Eric Kiraithe was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. He said the police were treating the incident as a murder, but not ruling out anything, including political motives. Mr Were, who represented Nairobi's Embakasai district, won a seat in the 27 December legislative election, which was held at the same time as the presidential vote.
Earlier, Mr Kibaki condemned what he described as the "heinous" killing, but urged Kenyans not to jump to conclusions about who had carried it out. Mr Odinga pointed the finger at the government. "We suspect a foul hand of our adversaries in this," he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
S.ARICAN THIEF'S GETAWAY SPIKED!
A South African suspected thief who impaled his feet on a fence while running away from guards will appear in court once he can walk, police say. Mthandani Nqetho pierced his feet on steel spikes as he was trying to jump the fence on Friday night in Durban. He managed to free one of them, but was unable to release the other and had to hang on until morning when church goers saw him and called the rescue services.
Police say it will be about a week before he can face the magistrate. Police public relations officer Michael Reed told the BBC that Mr Nqetho is under guard in hospital and has been charged with robbery. Captain Greg Bevan, who was part of the rescue team, said Mr Nqetho was in a bad way when he was found. His wrists were swollen from clinging on to the railings for so long.
"People in the crowd gave him a cigarette and grapes until the rescue services arrived," he told the BBC. The BBC's Alice Lander in Durban says bystanders believe he may have been there for about 12 hours. Capt Bevan said officers have previously been called in to rescue thieves - especially those on rooftops.
But they had never dealt with an incident like this, he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
