The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Nairobi

Kofi Annan was to push Sunday for peace and talks in Kenya as mediation efforts hit further hurdles after a surge in the death toll from ethnic clashes in the country's west to nearly 100. On Saturday, the former UN chief said unrest sparked by President Mwai Kibaki's disputed reelection had led to "gross and systematic" human rights abuses, after visiting the violence-wracked Rift Valley and calling for a probe. As bodies covered in arrow and machete wounds filled up morgues and hospitals in the provincial capital Nakuru, police said another 17 people had been killed overnight in Nakuru and nearby Tomboroa trading post, taking the death toll since Thursday to nearly 100, including the neighbouring town of Molo. At least 850 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally of police and hospital figures, and some 260,000 displaced across the country since the disputed December 27 election touched off a wave of deadly rioting and ethnic killings.