Two people died and dozens were injured in a stampede at the state funeral of Kenya’s revered opposition leader, Raila Odinga, on Friday as crowds rushed to see his coffin, Doctors Without Borders said.
It came a day after at least three people were killed when security forces opened fire to disperse a crowd that had gathered to see Odinga’s body in a separate ceremony.
Odinga, 80, died from a suspected heart attack at a health clinic in southern India on Wednesday, triggering a huge outpouring of grief for a man known affectionately as “Baba” (father) by many Kenyans.
Friday’s state funeral began calmly at Nairobi’s Nyayo stadium, with President William Ruto telling the crowd that Odinga “walked among us as a man but also charged among us as a movement for change, a movement for justice… for a better and greater Kenya.”
Moments later, a surge of mourners trying to reach the coffin on the pitch turned deadly.
AFP journalists saw people trampled underfoot, leaving some with broken bones or difficulty breathing.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said emergency responders “attended to 163 patients and referred 34 others for further care”.
“Most injuries involved blunt trauma and fractures. Tragically, two lives were lost in the stampede,” MSF said in a statement.
– ‘The father’ –
Arguably the most important political figure of his generation in Kenya, Odinga served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 but never succeeded in winning the presidency despite five attempts.
But he outlasted many rivals and is credited as a major player in returning Kenya to multi-party democracy in the 1990s and overseeing the widely praised constitution of 2010.
“I have freedom of speech because of Raila… I’m here because he is the father,” said Paul Oloo, a supporter at the funeral.
There were also chaotic scenes on Thursday as Odinga’s body was repatriated from India and taken to another stadium on the outskirts of Nairobi to be viewed by mourners.
As huge crowds surged towards a VIP gate, security forces opened fire, killing at least three people, according to prominent rights group VOCAL Africa based on information from the city morgue.
It was not clear if the security forces fired directly into the crowd or used live rounds. Autopsies are due on Tuesday.
– ‘Excessive use of force’ –
AFP met families of the victims at the city morgue on Friday and saw photos of the bodies that appeared to show bullet wounds.
“He was not disorderly in any way but he was shot,” said the brother-in-law of one victim, Vincent Otieno Ogutu.
Another victim was named as Evans Kiche. The third has yet to be identified.
“The excessive use of force against mourners is totally unwarranted,” said Hussein Khalid, head of VOCAL Africa, at the morgue.
“We are calling on the police to exercise utmost restraint… We don’t want to see more deaths associated with this funeral,” he added.
Odinga’s body will next travel to western Kenya, his family’s home region, where more huge crowds are expected on Saturday, before a private burial service on Sunday.
His death leaves a leadership vacuum in the opposition, with no obvious successor as Kenya heads into a potentially volatile election in 2027.
AFP
