NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The European Union said it was providing financial assistance to the Kenyan government to ensure 2013 elections are peaceful.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met with Kenyan leaders this week. Before her trip, she described Kenya as "a staunch ally" of the European Union. She called on Kenyan leaders to "forestall a repetition of electoral violence" that gripped the country following 2007 elections.
The International Criminal Court in January charged four high-ranking Kenyan officials with crimes related to conflicts that erupted after the elections. More than 1,000 people were killed in fighting between supporters of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and those of rival Raila Odinga.
Ashton during her visit with Odinga, prime minister under a power-sharing deal with Kibaki, committed $2.8 million to fund the activities of the country's independent electoral commission, Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation reports.
"We will support efforts to ensure peaceful elections through our observer mission and development of electoral commission," she was quoted as saying.
Demonstrations in Mombasa turned deadly Tuesday after an Islamic cleric tied to al-Qaida was killed in a drive-by shooting. The cleric, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, was described by the U.N. Security Council as the ideological leader of a Kenyan group allied with al-Shabaab in neighboring Somalia.
