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Kenyan groups get ready to battle 2012 election

Kenyan groups get ready to battle 2012 election

Rival Kenyan ethnic groups, who clashed after the 2007 elections, are rearming in preparation for the 2012 poll, the BBC says, after it discovered arms dealers selling sophisticated weaponry in the Rift Valley area. Now there are fears that villagers will swap spears for machine guns yet again. The government says it is tackling the influx of illegal arms, but it has been heavily criticised for failing to punish those responsible for election violence two years ago which killed some 1,300 people . The news comes as the International Criminal Court says it is likely to try a handful of "big men" behind the previous post-election crisis. Former UN chief Kofi Annan led talks that created a unity government last year, but big powers are struggling to get the Kenyans to bring the instigators of violence to book. Annan says prosecutors in The Hague should handle the biggest offenders, while a local tribunal should try the smaller fish.

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