Kenya was plunged into further turmoil yesterday, as continued violence over Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election involved angry supporters of the opposition candidate, Raila Odinga. Confrontations with police left at least 135 people dead.

Fears grew that the bloodshed, which marks the worst crisis the East African country has known for decades, would spread into a larger ethnic conflict between Luo, who generally support Mr Odinga, and the Kikuyu tribe of Mr Kibaki. The 76-year-old President was sworn in for a second term on Sunday, despite claims of corruption and vote-rigging.

In the west, where Mr Odinga’s support is highest, looters torched petrol stations and a police post, while about 300 Kenyans — fearing for their lives — fled across the border to Uganda. At least six Kikuyu were hacked to death in the eastern port city of Mombasa, popular with British tourists.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a travel advisory against all but essential travel to the country where an estimated 7,000 British tourists are enjoying the southern hemisphere sunshine. Other nations, including Italy, France, the Netherlands and Portugal issued similar warnings.

The advisory did not seem to concern tourists unduly at several of Nairobi’s upmarket hotels. Several tourists were even seen walking the streets and chatting with helmeted police who bore automatic rifles and truncheons. But others were left stranded by delayed flights at Mombasa airport. A British teacher in the Western town of Kisumu told BBC News 24: “Shops are being looted and there is little food. People are completely surprised by the level of violence.”

The electoral chaos has paralysed the country, normally a beacon of stability in a turbulent region. Some commentators said that it would seriously damage Mr Kibaki’s legacy of a booming economy.

Mr Odinga, who has refused to concede the election, has called a rally for Thursday and urged a million people to take to the streets in what is certain to become a violent showdown with security forces.

Terrified Luo living in areas dominated by Mr Kibaki’s supporters hid behind locked doors, while residents in Nairobi’s burning slums said that they feared for their lives. “They took my phone, they took my money, they took what I had in my pockets,” said Peter Mwau, a resident of the Kibera slum who comes from the smaller Kamba tribe. “I did not talk to them, I just went, they were holding machetes and iron bars. We did not even sleep.”

A curfew was imposed in Kisumu, the main town of western Kenya and opposition stronghold, where police have been given orders to shoot on sight. Witnesses there reported 21 bodies with gunshot wounds lying in a hospital mortuary.

Last night reports from Agence France Presse put the overall death toll as high as 185. Police said 48 had died in Nairobi, and in Kisumu 53 were killed. Mr Odinga’s camp said that most had been killed by police firing live rounds into crowds trying to flee. Authorities used helicopters and armoured cars mounted with water cannons in an attempt to curtail the riots. “We are in an undeclared state of emergency,” civil society groups said in a statement. Mr Kibaki gave warning yesterday that he would “deal decisively” with the rioters.

Regional experts fear Kenya may now slide back into the autocracy of the former President Daniel arap Moi’s era which Mr Kibaki ended in 2002 in a landslide vote, made possible after Mr Odinga stepped aside to unite the opposition.

The Government banned live TV and radio broadcasts and yesterday, as violence mounted across the land, state television aired children’s shows.

Mr Odinga, who lost to Mr Kibaki by only 230,000 votes in a counting process deemed highly suspicious by independent monitors, including the European Union, cancelled plans for a “people’s inauguration” in Uhuru (Independence) Park in Nairobi where Kenyans have traditionally gathered to demand political freedoms. Instead, he called for a mass protest, urging his supporters to wear black armbands. He said: “I am the elected President of the Republic of Kenya and that is the role that I want to exercise if Mr Kibaki would allow me to do so. But if Mr Kibaki does not want to do so, the people of Kenya will make him do so.”

Yesterday a remarkable reversal was made by the US State Department, which on Sunday congratulated Mr Kibaki, a staunch ally in the war on terrorism, on his re-election, when the US Embassy in Nairobi said it was concerned by “serious problems” during vote-counting. Britain reiterated the concerns, with a statement from David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, saying he was “appalled” by the violence and adding that Gordon Brown had contacted leaders to emphasise “reconciliation and unity”.

What happens next?

— President Kibaki will have only 30 supportive MPs in the 210-seat national parliament from which to pick a cabinet of about 20

— Should this parliament convene, it seems likely that Raila Odinga or his supporters in the Orange Democratic Movement will press for an immediate vote of no confidence in President Kibaki, a vote that would almost certainly go against him

— A key role is likely to be played by Kalonzo Musyoka, the former Foreign Minister, whose ODM-K party came third and is likely to hold about 46 seats, more than President Kibaki

— Mr Odinga has few realistic options beyond using his parliamentary majority to force President Kibaki’s Government, and Kenya itself, to a standstill. The courts are considered widely to be tainted by corruption

— There is little chance of reconciliation or power-sharing: Kenya has no prime minister and the vice-presidency is a largely powerless title, so there is no position of prestige that could be offered to Mr Odinga

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