Kenya Red Cross: 200 people dead in pre-poll chaos

The Kenya Red Cross says more than 200 people have died since January in separate clashes that follow the pattern of pre-election violence that Kenya has experienced in most elections since the early 1990s.

The Kenya Red Cross says more than 200 people have died since January in separate clashes that follow the pattern of pre-election violence that Kenya has experienced in most elections since the early 1990s.

Kenya Red Cross secretary general Abbas Gullet said on Friday that this week's attack by a farming community, which killed more than 52 people of a cattle herding tribe, falls into that pattern.

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Violence occurred before voting in three out of four elections since 1992. In 2007, deadly clashes erupted after the presidential vote in which more than 1,000 people died when a dispute arose on who won the presidential contest.

Kenya will be holding general elections in March. Gullet says if the rate of the current killings continues the deaths will overshadow those in 2007.