STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton spent time this weekend at the scene of the latest violence in Kenya's volatile Rift Valley.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)
OFEIBEA QUIST: Ma'am, what's your name please?
M: My name is Pamela Rasare.
QUIST: What's your message to the political leaders now from both sides? Because you know that Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary general, is trying to mediate in the conflict.
M: They sit down and talk together and discuss all of this issue because of them. Why (unintelligible) not sit down and square all these things instead of (unintelligible), we are suffering.
QUIST: Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who's trying to broker peace in the Kenyan conflict, toured the Rift Valley on Saturday. He deplored the violence.
M: We saw gross and systematic abuse of human rights of fellow citizens. And it is essential that the facts be established and those responsible held to account.
QUIST: Meanwhile, humanitarian workers who are trying to help tens of thousands of displaced people are even worried about their own safety in Naivasha, which exploded on Sunday. Abbas Gullet is head of the Kenya Red Cross.
M: This morning, I travel on the road to Naivasha because we are setting up a camp in Naivasha for the last two days for people coming in to Naivasha. And my staff were this morning quite frightened, who said they will go out because there were roadblocks everywhere in Naivasha town and that whole highway.
QUIST: The police claim to have restored order in the Rift Valley. Provincial Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan insisted they had the situation under control as he boarded an army helicopter to fly over the region.
M: The situation is tensed in the town of Nakuru. Things are tense, but I'm sure we'll be able to overcome it. Of course, people have been burning houses and they're now going for each other's throats, basically, on the basis of their tribe and all these kind of things. It is part of the post-election violence. And we are not taking it lightly. We've been able to contain the situation in many part of the province.
QUIST: Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News.