Violence in Kenya

The death toll has now reached 600. BBC News

Some 250,000 people have fled their homes in clashes between rival political supporters, ethnic groups and the police.

A UN backed panel has described the killings as genocide according to the AFP, but to be honest, it doesn't appear to me to be a correct label, and a American Africa envoy has stated that "Even the worst of what has happened cannot be considered a genocide".

Nonetheless whatever label is put on the violence it is certainly very unpleasant.

Having said that, it is worth comparing the violence to that in Iraq, where if projections based on the October 2006 Lancet report are correct, then approximately 500 people have died a day in Iraq since the violence began.