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Australia welcomes power sharing
agreement in Kenya
Government of Australia
29 Feb 2008
I welcome the power-sharing agreement signed between Kenya's
political leaders yesterday. The agreement reached by the leaders
underlines the strong desire of the Kenyan people to reject
violence and find a political solution to the recent crisis.
I commend the unstinting efforts of African mediators led by
former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to bring this agreement to
fruition. Mr Annan and his colleagues have engaged in a month of
gruelling negotiations to bring about this agreement.
The agreement represents a very important milestone but there is
still work to be done. It is now up to the political leaders to
make the agreement work and to devote themselves to the pressing
task of national reconciliation and restoring national unity and
prosperity.
Australia will provide $1.6 million in further humanitarian
assistance to help Kenya in these tasks. Up to 500,000 people
still require humanitarian assistance and our contributions will
help protect vulnerable women and children through UNICEF,
replenish emergency relief supplies through the Red Cross and
promote peace-building activities through Caritas Australia.
Australia's support for Kenya is in addition to the $1 million
pledged earlier this year, bringing our total humanitarian
response to the crisis to $2.6 million.
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