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Kenya election: Security tight for Kenyatta inauguration | Kenya election: Security tight for Kenyatta inauguration |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Security has been stepped up in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ahead of the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta for a second term in office. | Security has been stepped up in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ahead of the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta for a second term in office. |
People in festive mood have been pouring into a stadium where more than 20 heads of state or senior ministers are expected to attend. | |
Opposition leader Raila Odinga mocked Mr Kenyatta's "coronation", saying he had not been elected legitimately. | |
He boycotted the re-run of the presidential poll last month. | |
Just under 39% of voters turned out on 26 October and Mr Kenyatta, who officially won with 98% of the vote. | |
The original election on 8 August was held over again after being annulled by the Supreme Court on grounds of irregularities. | |
Who is in Nairobi? | |
Organisers are expecting about 60,000 people to fill Nairobi's Kasarani sports stadium where the inauguration is taking place, with giant screens set up outside for those unable to get in. | |
"I'm sure Uhuru will be able to bring people together and unite them so we can all work for the country," Eunice Jerobon, a trader who travelled overnight from the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet for the inauguration, told Reuters news agency. | |
Police fired tear gas to control crowds trying to enter the venue early on Tuesday. | |
Inside the stadium itself, foreign dignitaries have been taking their seats in a calm, good-humoured atmosphere. | |
Among the foreign leaders expected to attend are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. | |
Why was there an election re-run? | Why was there an election re-run? |
Chief Justice David Maraga said the August election had not been "conducted in accordance with the constitution" and declared it "invalid, null and void". | |
The Supreme Court ruled that the result had been "neither transparent nor verifiable". | |
But Mr Odinga urged his supporters to boycott the second vote because he said no reforms had been made to the electoral commission since the original poll. | |
Correspondents say the election dispute has left Kenya deeply divided. | |
About 50 people are reported to have been killed in violence since the August ballot. | |
How are the opposition responding? | |
Mr Odinga promised to hold a "memorial rally" in another part of Nairobi to honour those killed during the four months of political upheaval since the August vote. | |
"We actually call it coronation other than an inauguration because we don't believe that he's the legitimately elected leader of Kenya," he told the BBC. | |
According to the opposition leader, Mr Kenyatta was elected by "just a small section of the country". | |
Reuters reports that police have sealed off the area chosen for the opposition rally and fired tear gas at people trying to gather. | |
In the opposition stronghold of Kisumu, in the west of the country, local people told BBC News they were not happy with the inauguration. | |
"I am going to peacefully accept and move on but I won't recognise this presidency," said one man. | |
"I don't even think I'd ever go to any government office to seek for services because I know it's a government that has come to office by force, it has killed people to be there." | |
A woman said Mr Kenyatta had not won fairly. | |
"A large part of the country did not vote - Kisumu being a major part that did not vote - and so we feel that it's not time to move on," she said. "It will not be an easy thing to do." |