February 01, 2008	Friday	Muharram 22, 1429

NAIROBI, Jan 31: Kofi Annan suspended on Thursday crisis talks aimed at ending Kenya’s political crisis after an opposition lawmaker was shot dead by a policeman, triggering further clashes which killed at least two.

“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,” the former UN chief told reporters in Nairobi.

The talks were the first between the camps of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga since December polls which the latter claims he won.

Police said David Kimutai Too from Odinga’s opposition Orange Democratic Movement was killed in the western town of Eldoret, making him the second MP to die in three days.

They described the incident as a crime of passion unrelated to the recent political violence.

But violent demonstrations soon followed in the western town killing at least two and in nearby Kericho and Kisumu, with police firing tear gas on protesters who were blocking roads and lighting fires.

“Two people were killed in Eldoret in the demonstrations but police are trying to establish what happened,” a police commander said, after earlier reporting six injured in battles with protesters.

Demonstrators razed part of Nyagacho slums in the outskirts of Kericho, which is near the hometown of the slain lawmaker.—AFP