Violent separatists seek to derail Pakistan vote

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The graffiti on walls around this Pakistani provincial capital hold a dire warning ahead of this weekend's national elections, "Voting means death." It's a very real threat: Over recent weeks at least six people have been killed and around 40 wounded in bombings and grenade attacks targeting candidates.

Ethnic Baluch separatists who have waged a bloody insurgency trying to win independence for the vast, sparsely populated province of Baluchistan are seeking to derail the vote with a campaign of violence. In large part, their targets have been fellow Baluch, seen by the separatists as traitors for agreeing to participate in the vote.

"Our houses are not safe. Our workers are not safe. Our leaders are directly targeted every day," said Naimatullah Gichki, a senior member of a Baluch party, the National Party. "We are fighting a war, not an election."

Saturday's election has thrown into sharp relief a question that has divided the country's Baluch ethnic minority: Can the community win their rights at the ballot box or is the only solution a violent campaign to break away from Pakistan?

The Baluch have long been alienated by what they see as exploitation by the central government. Wedged between the borders with Afghanistan and Iran, Baluchistan is rich in oil, natural gas and valuable minerals. But it is Pakistan's poorest province and remains extremely underdeveloped, with residents complaining that resource riches have mainly gone to fill the federal government's coffers. The province is Pakistan's largest, making up around 40 percent of its area, but also its least populated, with only 9 million people, about half the population of the city of Karachi. Just over half the province's population is Baluch.

The local government is seen as notoriously corrupt, dysfunctional and not responsive to Baluch grievances. Adding to the misery, paramilitary soldiers and intelligence agents have waged a repressive campaign against separatists in which they are accused of snatching scores of people off the street and either killing them or holding them in secret detention. That has fueled distrust of authorities and support for the separatists, especially among Baluchistan's young middle class.

The area has also been plagued by horrific attacks by Islamic militants on minority Shiites. Afghan Taliban fighters have used the territory's empty, arid landscape as a refuge, and the group's elusive leader Mullah Omar is believed to be hiding here. The province, located on the Arabian Sea, is also vital to coalition forces fighting in landlocked Afghanistan, providing one of two overland routes used to ship NATO supplies to troops there.

Some see the voting for national and provincial assemblies as a possible turning point.

Baluch nationalist parties that boycotted elections five years ago and have been out of power in the province for over a decade have decided to participate in the vote. They are pressing Baluch demands for greater autonomy and a larger share of the province's resources — but they advocate remaining part of the state. The hope is that their victory could lessen support for the violent insurgency.

But the question of whether participation is the solution has even divided families.

Akhtar Mengal, one of the most prominent Baluch leaders, returned from self-imposed exile in Dubai in March to lead his Baluchistan Nationalist Party-M in the election. He acknowledges the difficulties of trying to work through the system, especially given the army's power in the province.

"The state has ruled Baluchistan not as a province, but as a colony," he told The Associated Press. "Unless they change their behavior, I don't think the problems here will be solved in 100 years."

His brother, Javed Mengal, who remains in the United Arab Emirates, is an outspoken supporter of independence, and officials accuse him of leading one of several groups that have been staging gun and bomb attacks against security forces, government officials and even civilians for years.

Javed's son, Noordin, denies he or his father back insurgents. But they see no hope elections can help Baluchistan.

"We don't trust the Pakistani military because they have always deceived us and we have only been left with bloodshed and misery," said Noordin, speaking by phone from the UAE. "This is a controlled democracy, and elections in the past haven't resulted in any meaningful change for the people."

The Mengal family isn't the only one divided by the conflict. One of the most powerful separatist leaders, Hyrbyari Marri, has a brother who is running in the election from the Pakistan Muslim League-N party.

Baluchistan's residents have had a tense relationship with Pakistan's central government since the country achieved independence from Britain in 1947. The province has experienced five violent rebellions since then.

In the 1990s, the participation in politics by the two main Baluch nationalist parties helped keep a lid on separatist violence. But when military strongman Pervez Musharraf came to power in Islamabad in a 1999 coup, he sought to sideline the secular nationalists, implementing election rules that favored Islamist parties. Those parties went on to form the provincial government in 2002.

In 2005, the latest separatist rebellion erupted, and Musharraf launched an army campaign to crush it. But the use of force and widespread abuses by security forces only fueled the insurgency. Human Rights Watch has said hundreds of people have been "forcibly disappeared" since 2005, while Baluch activists put the number in the thousands. The United Nations sent a team to investigate the issue last year and found no evidence that anyone in the government has been punished for the alleged abuses.

The two main nationalist parties responded to Musharraf's tactics by boycotting the 2008 elections. That vote brought in the current provincial government, seen as unabashedly corrupt. Islamabad nearly doubled development funds for Baluchistan in 2010, but officials were accused of pocketing millions of dollars rather than spending it on the province.

Javed Baluch, the owner of a small grain shop in Quetta, said he believes nationalist leaders like Akhtar Mengal can help sap the strength of the separatist by convincing people that Baluchistan's problems can be addressed through politics rather than force.

"He would persuade those people who have taken up arms to come down from the mountains and work with us for the prosperity and progress of the province," said Baluch.

But not everyone is convinced. Mengal's critics have spread claims that he returned from exile after striking a secret deal with the military — allegations denied by his party. Mengal spent nearly two years in jail during Musharraf's rule and left the country after he was released in 2008.

The performance of the nationalist parties in the election could come down to whether voters are brave enough risk separatist attacks to head to the polls, especially in insurgent strongholds in the province.

"People are scared due to these blasts, but there is no other way for us than to go to the polling station and cast our vote," said Mohammed Ashraf, the owner of a small sandal shop in Quetta.

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Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this report.

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Venezuela: Violent protests in Chavez home state

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Violent protests have broken out in the provincial capital of the home state of the late President Hugo Chavez. Police have fired tear gas and plastic bullets at protesters demanding a recount of Sunday's contested presidential election.

National Guard troops and police in riot gear turned back about 2,000 backers of opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in the southwestern state of Barinas. Opposition leaders reported 30 arrests Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Capriles' supporters also protested in provincial capitals including Merida and Maracay, denouncing what they call the illegitimate victory of Chavez heir Nicolas Maduro.

In Caracas, Maduro said he would not permit an opposition march that Capriles called for Wednesday in the capital. His chief prosecutor, meanwhile, said seven people had been killed in protests.

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Violent protest in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A march to demand a recount in Venezuela's contested presidential election turned violent Tuesday in the home state of the late President Hugo Chavez as the government blamed the opposition candidate for violent disturbances it said had claimed seven lives and left 61 people injured.

In a televised broadcast, Justice Minister Nestor Reverol accused the candidate, Henrique Capriles, of numerous crimes including insurrection and civil disobedience.

Government officials have been alleging since Monday that Capriles is plotting a coup, and President-elect Nicolas Maduro announced that he was prohibiting an opposition march scheduled for Wednesday in the capital.

In Washington, meanwhile, the Obama administration said it was refusing to the accept the official results of Sunday's vote without a full recount given the closeness of the result: a margin of 50.8 percent to 49 percent favoring Maduro, the chosen successor of Chavez, who succumbed to cancer last month.

In Chavez's home state of Barinas, police fired tear gas and plastic bullets at protesters heeding the Capriles' call for protests by marching on the provincial headquarters of the National Electoral Council.

Chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega said 135 people had been detained in protests. Opposition leaders reported 30 arrests Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Capriles' supporters also protested in cities including Merida and Maracay;.

In the capital, Caracas, Maduro said he would not permit an opposition march that Capriles called for Wednesday. His chief prosecutor, meanwhile, said seven people had been killed in protests.

Maduro blamed Capriles personally.

"You are responsible for the dead we are mourning," he said, calling Capriles "the defeated candidate."

Reverol said one of the dead was a man in the capital who was shot dead by opposition supporters. He said the other shooting deaths, in the states of Sucre, Tachira and Zulia, were being investigated.

The prosecutor, Ortega, said those killed were humble members of the working class.

Capriles issued a message on Twitter blaming the government that he says stole the election.

"The illegitimate one and his government ordered that there be violence to avoid counting the votes," he said. "They are responsible!"

Maduro was certified the winner of a presidential election Monday amid questions about his ability to lead after he squandered a double-digit lead in the race despite an outpouring of sympathy for his party following Chavez's death.

On Monday, thousands of students briefly clashed with National Guard troops who fired tear gas and plastic bullets while people across the nation banged on pots and pans to reject the National Electoral Council's ratification of Maduro's victory without a recount.

Late Monday, Maduro announced he had met with a newly created "anti-coup" command at the military museum that holds Chavez's remains.

He accused opposition protesters of attacking government clinics and the house of electoral council President Tibisay Lucena, without offering details.

Government leaders and military leaders have closed ranks around Maduro despite his weak showing Sunday.

But a hint of discontent emerged in two Twitter messages by Diosdado Cabello, the National Assembly president who many consider Maduro's chief rival within the "Chavismo" movement.

He expressed dismay after the electoral council president announced the election results.

In the first, he called for a "profound self-criticism" within Chavista ranks. In the second, he wrote: "We should look for our faults under the rocks if we have to."

Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst with the London-based consulting firm IHS Global Insight, said members of the ruling socialist party "realize that Maduro is not the man to guarantee continuity of the Chavista movement."

Cabello expressed disbelief at Capriles' strong showing, asking why "sectors of the poor population would vote for their exploiters of old."

That might not be such a mystery.

Among Venezuela's problems are crumbling infrastructure, persistent shortages of food and medicine, and double-digit inflation. The nonprofit Venezuelan Violence Observatory estimates Venezuela's homicide rate last year was 73 per 100,000 people, among the world's worst.

With such a narrow victory, Maduro has little political capital to make the difficult choices some of those problems require, said Risa Grais-Targow, Latin America analyst for the Eurasia Group.

Price and currency controls imposed under Chavez have failed to stem inflation or the flight of dollars and are strangling private firms. But lifting them abruptly could bring economic turmoil and hurt the poor.

Grais-Targow said Maduro will likely focus instead on expanding the myriad of social programs that cemented Chavez's popularity. But that has become increasingly difficult to balance with the need to spend on redressing Venezuela's other problems.

The state-oil company that gave billions of dollars to fund social programs is saddled with mounting debt and declining profits. Critics say the company has failed to invest in boosting oil production, which has fallen for years even though Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves.

Throughout the campaign, Maduro blamed Venezuela's frequent power blackouts on sabotage by government enemies and said food shortages are caused by hoarding by the private sector. So did Chavez before he died, but Sunday's election results showed that a growing numbers of Venezuelans are no longer buying it.

Maduro, a former bus driver who rose to become foreign minister and vice president under Chavez, offered no ideas of his own for resolving the country's problems. He did suggest at the news conference Monday night that a Cabinet shake-up was in the works, though he quickly added that he would ratify Vice President Jorge Arreaza, Chavez's son-in-law, in his post.

Chavez swiftly sidelined those who openly questioned him during his 14 years in power.

Maduro's narrow victory has given him less ability to maintain unity in a movement held together largely by loyalty to the charismatic Chavez.

Its factions include former soldiers like Cabello who joined Chavez in a failed 1992 coup. Maduro comes from the ranks of leftist political and labor groups that united to help elect Chavez president in 1998. Chavez's relatives, led by his brother Adan, form another bloc.

"His legitimacy comes from the fact that Chavez named him as his successor and other factions were forced to accept it," said Grais-Targow. "But he faces this landscape where the other main figure, Diosdado Cabello, could elevate his role and have more power. There are also governors who have bases of support and could pose challenges."

Still, the powerful state political apparatus built by Chavez is standing with Maduro.

Four of the five directors of The National Electoral Council are pro-government. The Supreme Court is stacked with Chavista sympathizers, as are inferior courts. The National Assembly is also controlled by Chavistas.

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Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda, Frank Bajak and Christopher Toothaker contributed to this report.

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Violent start to Kenya vote: Police die in attack

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A pre-dawn attack on police in Kenya early Monday killed several officers hours before Kenyans began casting votes in a nationwide election being held five years after more than 1,000 people died in election-related violence.

Police in the coastal city of Mombasa reported a 2 a.m. attack by a gang of dozens; early reports indicated several officers — perhaps four or five — and several attackers were killed. Police didn't immediately confirm a death toll.

The country's leaders have been working for months to reduce election-related tensions, but multiple factors make more vote violence likely. The police said late Sunday that criminals were planning to dress in police uniforms and disrupt voting in some locations.

In addition, intelligence on the Somali-Kenya border indicated Somali militants planned to launch attacks; a secessionist group on the coast threatened — and perhaps already carried out — attacks; the tribes of the top two presidential candidates have a long history of tense relations; and 47 new governor races are being held, increasing the chances of electoral problems at the local level.

Perhaps most importantly, Uhuru Kenyatta, one of two top candidates for president, faces charges at the International Criminal Court for orchestrating the 2007-08 postelection violence. If he wins, the U.S. and Europe could scale back relations with Kenya, and Kenyatta may have to spend a significant portion of his presidency at The Hague. Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, also faces charges at the ICC.

Long lines began forming early across the nation. In Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, some 1,000 people stood in several lines at one polling station before daybreak. Voter Arthur Shakwira said he began standing in line at 4 a.m. but left the queue over confusion about which line to stand in. Nearby, Amos Achola said he arrived at the polling station at 2 a.m. and was one of the first to vote.

Kenyatta, a Kikuyu who is the son of Kenya's founding president, faces Raila Odinga, a Luo whose father was the country's first vice president. Polls show the two in a close race, with support for each in the mid-40-percent range. Eight candidates are running for president, making it likely Odinga and Kenyatta will be matched up in an April run-off, when tensions could be even higher.

Most voters in Kibera, like Achola, support Odinga.

"I think he wins but if he doesn't win I'll abide by the outcome," Achola said. "The other guy is also a Kenyan. If Kenyatta wins I'll accept it but I won't like. But I don't want violence."

New technology — in part to prevent the allegations of rigging that haunted the 2007 vote — appeared to slow down early voting. At the Mutomo Primary School in Gatundu, where Kenyatta is expected to cast his ballot, voting officials seemed overwhelmed by the finger-print technology. The election worker behind the computer looked nervous and sometimes scratched his head.

The first person to vote, an eldery woman, cast her ballot at 6:25 a.m., 25 minutes after the polls opened.

In Mombasa, police boss Aggrey Adoli said that police were attacked at 2 a.m. by a marauding gang while on patrol. He didn't immediately confirm a death toll but reporters at the scene said police indicated that up to five officers and several attackers were killed in a fight that involved guns and machetes.

A late Sunday attack in the city of Garissa, near the Somali border, killed two people, including a Red Cross paramedic and a driver. Officials said a candidate for parliament had been the target but was not hit.

Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Ahmed Maalim said Sunday that officials intercepted communications that indicated terror attacks were planned. Maalim said soldiers are patrolling the region to prevent attacks from al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group. He said 300 specialized troops known as GSU are patrolling the Dadaab refugee camp, where more than 400,000 Somalis live.

In the weeks leading up to Monday's vote, described by Odinga as the most consequential since independence from the British in 1963, peace activists and clerics have been praying that this time the election is peaceful despite lingering tensions.

Odinga's acrimonious loss to President Mwai Kibaki in 2007 triggered violence that ended only after the international community stepped in. Odinga was named prime minister in a coalition government led by Kibaki, with Kenyatta named deputy prime minister.

Some 99,000 police officers will be on duty during an election in which some 14 million people are expected to vote.

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Associated Press reporter Daud Yussuf in Garissa contributed to this report. Rodney Muhumuza reported from Gatunda.

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Violent start in Kenyan election; police killed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Five years after more than 1,000 people were killed in election-related violence, Kenyans on Monday will begin casting votes in a nationwide election seen as the country's most important — and complicated — in its 50-year history.

Clerics across Kenya gave sermons dedicated to peace on Sunday, and urged the country to prove wrong the "prophets of doom" who predict violence. But violence began early Monday, with police in the coastal city of Mombasa reporting a 2 a.m. attack by a gang of dozens; early reports indicated several officers — perhaps four or five — were killed.

The police issued an alert late Sunday that criminals were planning to dress in police uniforms and disrupt voting in some locations.

In addition, intelligence on the Somali-Kenya border indicated Somali militants planned to launch attacks on the polls; a secessionist group on the coast threatened — and perhaps carried out — attacks; the tribes of the top two presidential candidates have a long history of tense relations; and 47 new governor races are being held, increasing the chances of electoral problems at the local level.

Perhaps most importantly, Uhuru Kenyatta, one of two top candidates for president, faces charges at the International Criminal Court for orchestrating the 2007-08 postelection violence. If he wins, the U.S. and Europe could scale back relations with Kenya, and Kenyatta may have to spend a significant portion of his presidency at The Hague.

Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, also faces charges at the ICC.

Kenyatta, a Kikuyu who is the son of Kenya's founding president, faces Raila Odinga, a Luo whose father was the country's first vice president. Polls show the two in a close race, with support for each in the mid-40-percent range. Eight candidates are running for president, making it likely Odinga and Kenyatta will be matched up in an April run-off, when tensions could be even higher.

Near the Somali border, Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Ahmed Maalim said Sunday that officials intercepted communications that indicated terror attacks were planned, including explosive attacks and kidnappings. "They are planning to interrupt the elections, but we will not allow them do so," he said.

Maalim said soldiers are patrolling the region to prevent attacks from al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group. He said 300 specialized troops known as GSU are patrolling the Dadaab refugee camp, where more than 400,000 Somalis live.

In Mombasa, police officer Aggrey Adoli said police were attacked by a marauding gang while on patrol.

At the Nairobi Chapel, an evangelical church in the capital, three pastors took turns Sunday praising the attributes of some tribes, drawing cheers from the congregation. The Kikuyus were praised for being entrepreneurial, the Luos for valuing education, and the Kalenjins — Ruto's tribe — for their loyalty.

"Tomorrow we celebrate our cultural diversity as a nation," Nick Korir said in his sermon.

"We ask you to shame all prophets of doom," a cleric at an evangelical church in Nairobi called Mavuno told a packed congregation. "This is a country we are all proud of despite the divisions that people talk about. There is a Kenya after tomorrow."

In the weeks leading up to Monday's vote, described by Odinga as the most consequential since independence from the British in 1963, peace activists and clerics have been praying that this time the election is peaceful despite lingering tensions.

Odinga's acrimonious loss to President Mwai Kibaki in 2007 triggered violence that ended only after the international community stepped in. Odinga was named prime minister in a coalition government led by Kibaki, with Kenyatta named deputy prime minister.

The candidates held their final rallies Saturday, a day of political attacks and denials following published comments in the Financial Times attributed to Odinga that election violence could be worse than 2007-08 if the vote is rigged.

The Financial Times on Sunday said that its story, because of an editing error, "may have left the incorrect impression" that Odinga "would not respect the result of a free and fair presidential election. We are happy to be able to clarify this point."

Some 99,000 police officers will be on duty during an election in which some 14 million people are expected to vote. Kenyans will also be electing new lawmakers, governors and other officials.

Kenyatta, 51, the son of Jomo Kenyatta, the country's founding president, is one of the country's wealthiest men. He studied at Amherst College in the U.S. before returning home to become a businessman and later his father's political heir.

In 2011 Forbes magazine listed him as the wealthiest Kenyan, worth at least $500 million, although he was dropped from a subsequent list because his personal wealth was hard to separate from that of his close relatives. The Kenyattas are said to own hundreds of thousands of acres of prime land across the country, a controversial point in a nation where millions do not own even a small plot of land.

Gladwell Otieno, a Kenyan who runs a think tank called The Africa Center for Open Governance, said it would "be difficult for (Kenyatta) to claim that he can do much" to tackle Kenya's historical land problem. But despite the baggage of wealth and the ICC charges, Kenyatta's team has done a good job of marketing him as "a youthful candidate" of hope, Otieno said.

"Our main concern has been the fact that he is indicted at the ICC," Otieno said. "A government led by him would immediately be paralyzed."

Odinga, 68, who has been prime minister since 2008, believes he was cheated out of victory in the last election. Odinga's refusal to accept the results in 2007 helped fuel tribal tensions, with many here seeing Kibaki's win as another example of the Kikuyus' overly broad influence.

A win by Odinga would make him the country's first Luo president, a feat never accomplished by his father, Oginga Odinga, who was Kenya's first vice president and himself a hero of the anti-colonial movement. The elder Odinga fell out with Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, straining Kikuyu-Luo relations for decades.

In a rally Friday in Kisumu, Odinga's hometown and the biggest Luo-dominated city, Odinga repeatedly used words like "freedom" and "change" to emphasize the epochal moment it would be for his people if he wins.

"Be prepared for freedom," he said. "This country is at the verge of total liberation."

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Associated Press reporter Daud Yussuf in Garissa contributed to this report.

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