European governments today threatened for the first time to cut all development aid to Kenya after dozens of people were burnt and hacked to death in the latest series of brutal ethnic killings.

With the death toll for last night alone coming to at least 13 - and with around 150 believed to have been killed in the past four days - details of some of the weekend's worst atrocities began to emerge today.

In one incident, at least 19 members of the Luo tribe, supporters of the Opposition leader Raila Odinga, were burnt to death after members of the Kikuyu tribe, supporting President Kibaki, chased them into a slum and set it on fire.

Other members of the tribe who escaped being set on fire were reported to have been hacked to death. Police reportedly did not intervene.

Expert View

This violence shows that the acute tribal differences have been vastly underestimated

Rob Crilly, Times correspondent in Nairobi

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The tribalism that colours Kenyan life

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BACKGROUND

• FCO issues Kenya travel warning

• 50 die in blazing church as tribal war looms

• ‘We’ve spent three days hiding in our homes’

• British tourists told to stay indoors

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• Analysis: cause of Kenya conflict

• Kenya tourists seek refuge from mob killers

• Kenya leaders meet for first time since election

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• Pictures: Kenya violence

The incident took place in Naivasha, a normally quiet market town 55 miles north west of Nairobi in the Kenyan Rift Valley, and was condemned as "murderous and evil" by Mr Odinga.

Within hours, anti-Government mobs were involved in high-profile clashes with Kikuyu tribe members, with mobs wielding clubs confronting their opponents in apparent moves to take revenge.

In a statement made following a Nairobi meeting with Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, Mr Odinga appeared to fan the flames of the conflict by implicating police in the killings.

"I condemn this murderous and evil act in the strongest terms possible," he said. "What is now emerging is that criminal gangs, on a killing spree, are working under police protection."

In response to an apparent refusal by both Mr Odinga and President Kibaki to dampen down their rhetoric, EU foreign ministers today threatened Kenya with a development aid boycott.

In a statement, they said that Kenya's rival factions had to agree to a power-sharing pact in order to restore stability, and said that - until the factions reach a legitimate solution - the 27-member bloc "cannot conduct business as usual with Kenya".

The statement added that the long-term EU development aid to Kenya - worth about £283.3 million ($563m) over the next five years - was at particular risk unless the crisis was resolved soon.

At the same time, a British minister visiting Nairobi appeared to back their call, saying that both sides had to be clearer in their desire to stop the violence.

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