U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, whose father was from Kenya, on Wednesday called for an end to the violence in the country that was triggered by an electoral dispute.
The Illinois Senator, campaigning to become the first African-American president of the United States, stated via radio that he was "deeply troubled" by the violence in Kenya.
"The instability and tragic violence pose an urgent and dangerous threat to the people of Kenya, and to Kenyan democracy," Obama said.
Violence has flared in Kenya after Mwai Kibaki was re-elected as president in the latest election which opposition leader Raila Odinga claims was rigged. At least 250 people have been reported killed during four days of violence.
Obama urged Kibaki, Odinga, and all Kenyan leaders to "call for calm, to come together, and to start a political process to address peacefully the controversies that divide them."
"The way forward is not through violence -- it is through democracy, and the rule of law," he said. "To all of Kenya's people, I ask you to renew Kenya's democratic tradition, and to seek your dreams in peace."
The first-term senator has been criticized by his rivals for being inexperienced in foreign affairs.
Obama also spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about Kenya's turmoil, his communications director Robert Gibbs said.
His statement will be translated and broadcast in Swahili to East Africa on Thursday.
Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a White American mother, visited his ancestral village in Kenya's remote west in 2006.
His strongest rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, also seeking the Democratic nomination for the November U.S. presidential election, on Wednesday called for an independent investigation into alleged irregularities in Kenya's presidential elections.
"Given numerous reports of serious irregularities, an independent investigation of last week's election would aid the efforts to resolve the conflict and end the violence," Clinton said.
She also urged "all sides to call on their supporters to halt the violence and to work together in a spirit of unity and compromise."
During the campaign, Clinton has been emphasizing her foreign policy experience, citing her eight years at the White House as First Lady.
Source: Xinhua
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