UN Appeals for $42 Million to Assist Victims of Kenya Violence

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $42 million to assist victims of post-election violence in Kenya. From U.N. headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

Holmes says the U.N. hopes the situation in Kenya normalizes soon.

"What we want is a return to normality, a political solution as soon as possible, and also as I said last week, every effort to be made by all the leaders concerned - political, religious, whoever they may be - to prevent violence, to extend protection to civilians of all kinds, and to stop any kind of downward spiral of ethnic or other violence which may be very difficult to reverse once its stopped," said John Holmes.

Many parts of Kenya have seen violence following the announcement of the December 27 presidential election results. More than 600 people have been killed in post-election violence, a quarter of a million have been driven from their homes and another 6,000 have fled to neighboring Uganda.