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Kenyan rivals strike deal to
try and stop violence
Sat 2 Feb 2008
By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's government and opposition struck an
agreement on Friday to take immediate steps to try and end tribal
bloodshed in a five-week-old political standoff in which about 850
people have been killed.
The agreement was brokered by former U.N. head Kofi Annan, leading
an African mediation mission to resolve the standoff that began
when a December 27 poll returned President Mwai Kibaki to power.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga says the vote was rigged.
Annan said the two sides would discuss how to stop the violence,
delivery of humanitarian aid and how to end the political impasse
before tackling a longer term solution in Kenya, East Africa's
biggest economy and a popular tourist spot.
"The first (agenda item) is to take immediate action to stop the
violence," Annan told a news conference, adding that both sides
would get round the negotiating table from Monday.
"But more importantly, the parties agreed that the first three
items (on the agenda) could be handled and resolved within 7 to 15
days," said Annan.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew into Nairobi on Friday
from an African Union summit in Addis Ababa to add his heavyweight
diplomatic clout to his predecessor's efforts.
"The killing must stop," said Ban, echoing the alarm expressed by
world leaders at seeing Kenya, long viewed as a peacemaker on a
volatile continent, plunge into turmoil. Kenya is a key ally of
the West in its efforts to counter al Qaeda.
"You have lost already too much in terms of national image,
economic interest," said Ban.
Senior opposition official Musalia Mudavadi said the two sides
agreed to urge supporters to end the violence.
"We are calling on the public to disband any illegal militia," he
said.
Justice Minister Martha Karua agreed and said steps would be taken
to protect life and property.
Violence was reported in flashpoints in western Kenya on Friday.
"I saw around 20 torched houses ... and two policemen with arrow
wounds. At least 10 people have died from both sides," said a
local journalist, who declined to be named.
More than 300,000 Kenyans are living as refugees because the
violence has forced them to flee their homes.
GENOCIDE ACCUSATIONS
Both sides have traded accusations of genocide in the fighting,
which has often pitted Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe -- long-dominant in
political and business life in East Africa's biggest economy --
and Odinga's Luo tribe against each other.
The unrest has taken the lid off decades-old divisions between
tribal groupings over land, wealth and power, dating from British
colonial rule and stoked by Kenyan politicians during 44 years of
independence.
Kibaki says he is Kenya's elected leader but international
observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to tell
who won.
Earlier on Friday before the Annan-brokered agreement, Kibaki took
an uncompromising line over the turmoil in his country and
diplomats said Africa was divided over the standoff.
Speakers on the first day of the AU summit on Thursday called for
urgent action to stop the violence, stepping up pressure on Kibaki
and Odinga to find a negotiated solution.
But in two speeches on Friday, to the summit and a separate
meeting of the East African regional grouping IGAD, Kibaki
repeatedly attacked the opposition and stuck to positions already
rejected by Odinga.
He said he had been elected by a majority of Kenyans, firmly put
the blame for deaths on Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)
and said the dispute must be settled by Kenya's courts.
Odinga rejects a solution through the courts on grounds that they
are stacked with Kibaki allies and would take years to issue a
ruling.
The 53 member nations of the AU seemed divided over Kenya.
"There are divisions between one group who see themselves in
Kibaki's situation and another that has told him in no uncertain
terms that this is not acceptable," said one Western diplomat,
adding that South Africa was in the latter group.
South Africa says Kenya's crisis will be a disaster for the
continent if not resolved quickly.
The United States and European countries have pledged their
support for Annan's mediation efforts. Donors have said aid
programmes to Kenya are under review.
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