By Robert Otani
Nairobi - A dispute over ownership of a plot of land in a slum has sparked violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that threaten to escalate into a holy war.
Two Christians, a man and woman, have been killed and a mosque and a Catholic church have been burnt down since the first skirmishes began on Wednesday.
The Christians were burnt to death when thousands of Muslims torched their houses on Friday in the sprawling slum area of Mukuru, where Christians had burnt down a mosque on Wednesday.
| 'There is a shift to devastating religious clashes' |
The Muslim group then headed for an adjacent middle-class area. There they burnt down Our Lady Queen of Peace church building while two of its priests watched helplessly.
Since Thursday, riot police and the crack paramilitary General Service Unit have tried in vain to end the religious violence. President Daniel arap Moi's public call for an end to the fighting has also been ignored.
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Christian and Muslim leaders claimed on Friday that the torching of the mosque on Wednesday and the church building on Friday were part of a wider government scheme to incite religious clashes between Christians and Muslims.
They said the aim was to frustrate the Ufungamano constitutional reform initiative, which is led by clerics and opposition politicians.
The initiative is an alternative to the rejected constitutional reform effort organised by the ruling Kanu party and its alliance partner, the National Development Party.
In a statement read for them by the Reverend Mutava Musyimi, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, the church leaders said: "We suspect there is a scheme to shift from the ethnic clashes of the past to equally devastating religious clashes."
They were referring to the tribal clashes that marred the 1992 and 1997 general elections and which critics believe where instigated by the government to disrupt the polls.
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