China on Friday provided 1 million US dollars and another 2 million dollars worth of building materials to Kenya to help the country recover from the consequences of the post-election riots.

"The Chinese government and its people are very sympathetic to the tens of thousands of Kenyans rendered homeless in the riots," Chinese ambassador Zhang Ming said, noting that China has provided humanitarian aid to the East African country soon after the riots flared up in January.

To show its support to the Kenyan coalition government, which has done a great deal in restoring social economic order and resettling refugees, China has decided to send this new batch of aid to Kenya, the ambassador said during a meeting with Kenyan Finance Minister John Michuki.

Michuki expressed his gratitude to China, saying the donation would further strengthen the friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Disputes over the result of the December general election triggered widespread riots and ethnic violence that killed at least 1,200 people in Kenya. More than 300,000 others were displaced.

With the mediation efforts by the African Union, the two major political parties in Kenya agreed to a power-sharing deal and formed a coalition government in mid-April.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)