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Bush to send Rice to Kenya to
boost peace bid (no - NOT food-rice!)
14. 02. 2008
US President George W. Bush said
Thursday he plans to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to
Kenya to support efforts to end violence and help political
reconciliation there.
His announcement came just hours after the United Nations
announced that Kenya's rival parties signed an agreement during
talks led by Kofi Annan aiming to end weeks of political turmoil
that has left more than 1,000 people dead.
"In Kenya, we are backing the efforts of former UN secretary
general Kofi Annan to end the crisis," Bush said in a speech in
Washington ahead of an Africa trip that begins Friday.
"And when we are on the continent, I have asked Condi Rice to
travel to Kenya to support the work of the former secretary
general and to deliver a message directly to Kenya's leaders," he
said.
"There must be an immediate halt to violence, there must be
justice for the victims of abuse, and there must be a full return
to democracy."
Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said the secretary will travel to
Kenya on Monday for several hours to meet President Mwai Kibaki as
well as his rival Raila Odinga who accuses Kibaki of having stolen
the December 27 election.
Rice will separate from Bush when they stop in Tanzania, according
to a senior State Department official who requested anonymity. She
will make a brief round trip from Dar es-Salaam to Nairobi with a
few staff.
During his Africa tour, Bush plans to visit Benin, Tanzania,
Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia on what is likely to be his final trek
through Africa before leaving office in January 2009.
Details of the Kenyan agreement were expected to emerge when Annan
gives a news conference Friday to "outline what was agreed in 48
hours of discussion at a location outside the capital, said a UN
statement in Nairobi.
"Mr. Annan will make available the text of the agreement signed
today between the two parties," it added.
However, Kenya's chief government negotiator Martha Karua said the
crisis talks had not reached a definitive resolution.
Annan had been pushing for a power-sharing agreement to resolve
the dispute over the result of the December 27 presidential
election that unleashed nationwide violence.
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