GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations appealed on Friday for a further $150 million (76 million pounds) to help hundreds of thousands of Kenyans left destitute by recent post-electoral violence.
The U.N. has already received $38 million of the $42million it initially sought for Kenya in January, ElisabethByrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) said.
"The appeal has been revised and increased to extendthroughout the whole year. We need $150 million to help peoplein need following Kenya's crisis," she told a news briefing.
At least 1,200 people were killed and hundreds of thousandswere left homeless following President Mwai Kibaki's disputedre-election in December.
The added U.N. aid would help 500,000 people directlyaffected by that turmoil, as well as 840,000 people at riskfrom drought, Byrs said.
Kenya's opposition suspended talks earlier this week withKibaki's party and police fired tear gas to scatter oppositionsupporters protesting against deepening deadlock over apower-sharing cabinet.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Charles Dick)
