Tension was also high in the capital’s Mathare slum, a flashpoint of recent clashes, after Opposition youths barricaded roads in new protests against Kibaki’s re-election. Police moved in to break up the roadblocks. But the Opposition plans three days of major rallies from Wednesday in defiance of a police ban on protests.
MPs started arriving in parliament ahead of the arrival of former UN chief Kofi Annan to take over efforts to mediate a resolution to the political unrest which has left at least 700 dead.

Central Nairobi was under a virtual lockdown ahead of the opening of the parliamentary session, with massive police deployment.

Unrest in Parliament

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims he was robbed of the presidency in the December 27 elections, has vowed his Orange Democratic Movement party would sit on the government side of the chamber. “We have done an audit and established that we have majority on the floor of the House,” said a spokesman of the government side.