Three people were killed overnight in Baba Dogo and in Kibera slums in Nairobi, but we are determined to restore law and order, said a top police official, on condition of anonymity. He said they were killed by police.

Another five people were killed in Kisumu, in the west of the country, and police said they are investigating who killed them.

Kisumu has been wracked with post-election violence since the disputed December 27 presidential poll. The US ambassador, citing “many factors and underlying grievances”, compared Kenya’s violence to the 1968 race riots in the United States.

At a town hall meeting on Friday for Americans in Nairobi, Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said there was “a lot of cheating on both sides” in the December 27 elections that pitted President Mwai Kibaki against opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Kibaki insists he won the election, but international and local observers say the vote count was rigged. Kibaki’s power has become more entrenched and he appears unlikely to accede to demands he step down. The opposition’s best hope may rest in wrangling a power-sharing agreement that might make Odinga prime minister or vice president.