Burials at last for Kenya victims

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Victims of a church arson attack which came to symbolise the ferocity of last year's post-election violence in Kenya are finally being laid to rest.

The 36 bodies have been stored in a mortuary in the western town of Eldoret since the January 2008 mob burning.

Attempts by the authorities to bury them earlier this year in mass graves were thwarted by their families.

Relatives of the victims are attending a ceremony on the grounds of the church where the burials will take place.

President Mwai Kibaki is among the mourners at the ceremony, which is being broadcast live on Kenyan television.

The funerals were delayed amid problems identifying the dead and a dispute over where they should be interred.

Individual graves

In January the authorities tried to bury the bodies in a mass grave in a public cemetery without notifying the relatives.

Furious families rushed to the graveyard and forced officials to dig up 10 of the bodies buried thus far and return them with the rest to the morgue.

At first we were bitter but we don't feel bitter anymore and we are just ready to lay our beloved to rest Survivor <a class="" href="/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7901609.stm">Kenya's ethnic divide continues</a>

A member of the organising committee for the burials, herself a survivor of the arson attack, told the BBC's Network Africa programme, that each victim will have their own grave.

"At first we were bitter but we don't feel bitter anymore and we are just ready to lay our beloved to rest," she said.

"According to the peace and reconciliation there's peace in the area."

Eldoret is in the Rift Valley, which was hardest hit by weeks of bloodshed after the disputed December 2007 poll.

Last month, the high court in Kenya threw out a case against four men accused of involvement in the arson attack.

The judge blamed shoddy police work and a poor prosecution case against the only suspects ever charged with murder over the deaths.

Violence erupted after the December 2007 presidential poll amid accusations that then opposition leader Raila Odinga was being robbed of victory by the incumbent, Mr Kibaki.

A peace deal between the political rivals resulted in a coalition government and an end to the disorder, which left 1,500 dead.