Kenya death toll hits 1,000

Nairobi: The death toll has risen to 1,000 in Kenya's post-election bloodshed as the political opponents began their toughest negotiations thus far, said the Red Cross on Tuesday.

Fighting in west Kenya in recent days between rival ethnic gangs had increased the number of deaths, the Red Cross said.

"One thousand plus have died since the conflict started," Red Cross head Abbas Gullet told a conference in Nairobi.

Most of the deaths have come from cycles of ethnic killings, police clashes with protesters, and looting.

Some 304,000 Kenyans have been displaced by the crisis, the Red Cross said, though that figure was likely to rise.

The internal humanitarian crisis is a shock to Kenyans, more used to receiving refugees from neighboring hot-spots like Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. The troubles have also badly damaged Kenya's image as a stable and promising economy.

Under the mediation of former UN chief Kofi Annan, the government and opposition agreed on Monday on principle to stem the violence and help those displaced.