Kenya police fire at mourners and 2 die as violence erupts at viewing of body of ex-Premier Odinga

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police opened fire Thursday, killing two people as they tried to control a crowd of mourners gathered for a public viewing of the body of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, an influential politician who died a day earlier in India, officials said.

The country’s head of police operations, Adamson Bungei, confirmed the shooting at the 60,000-capacity soccer stadium in the capital, Nairobi, where the viewing was to take place ahead of the funeral over the weekend.

“We have at least two deaths for now,” Bungei told The Associated Press, describing what happened as a “confrontation.”

It was not immediately clear what had ignited the violence.

Thousands of mourners had escorted Odinga’s body from the country’s main airport, many walking for 29 kilometers (18 miles) to the stadium. Odinga died on Wednesday in India at the age of 80, after collapsing during a morning walk. Efforts to resuscitate him at a hospital in India’s Kerala state were unsuccessful.

As the chartered plane with Odinga’s body landed on Thursday morning in Nairobi, it was given a water cannon salute, with firetrucks creating an arch of water over the aircraft.

Tensions first spiked during a planned ceremonial reception by close family and top leaders at the airport as mourners demanded to view the body. Later, crowds walked alongside the military vehicle carrying Odinga from the runway while waving twigs.

At the stadium, tensions rose when a crowd surged and tried to breach a pavilion where the casket was placed, prompting police to fire live bullets and tear gas.

Mourners fled toward the stadium gates, and a stampede erupted, leaving an unknown number of people injured. Meanwhile, President William Ruto, members of the Odinga family and other dignitaries at the stadium remained locked inside a room for safety.

After calm returned, the public viewing took place hours later outside the stadium gates.

Odinga was a respected and significant figure in Kenya, a veteran politician lauded by many for his fight for democracy.

“We are in mourning as a country. We loved Baba so much, he was the defender of the people,” said Beatrice Adala, one of the mourners at the airport. Like many, she called Odinga “Baba,” a Kiswahili honorific reserved for a beloved father figure.

Odinga will be given a state funeral Sunday at his rural home of Bondo, in western Kenya. According to his family, he had requested to be buried quickly, ideally within 72 hours, which is unusual for popular leaders in this East African country.

Friday has been declared a public holiday and Kenyans are expected to gather at a different soccer stadium in Nairobi for a state funeral service. Another public viewing will be held on Saturday in the western county of Kisumu, close to Odinga’s rural home.

Ruto, who won the 2022 election against Odinga but later signed a political pact with him to appoint opposition members to the Cabinet, mourned him as “a patriot of uncommon courage, a pan-Africanist, a unifier who sought peace and unity above power and self-gain.” The president also declared seven days of national mourning for Odinga.

Odinga ran for Kenya’s presidency five times over three decades — sometimes with enough support that many believed he might win.

Although Odinga never succeeded at becoming president, for many he was a revered figure and statesman whose activism helped steer Kenya into a vibrant multiparty democracy.

He came close to taking the presidency in 2007, when he narrowly lost to incumbent Mwai Kibaki in a disputed election marred by ethnic violence.

Odinga then served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 in a unity government put together with the mediation of the international community.

In 2017, a court nullified the presidential election — a first in Africa — after Odinga challenged it, but he decided to boycott the subsequent repeat vote, asserting it wouldn’t be credible without reforms.

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AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa