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German foreign minister compares
notes on power-sharing with Kenyan officials
AP
07. March 2008
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's foreign minister compared notes with
senior Kenyan officials Friday on his country's governing «grand
coalition» of rivals, an exchange that came as Kenya's politicians
prepare to implement their own power-sharing agreement.
One of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's deputies
traveled to Kenya during talks between the country's political
rivals earlier
this year to detail how the left-right alliance of Germany's
biggest parties, the result of an indecisive 2005 election, works.
«I am glad that we were able to make a small contribution» in
offering information on the coalition, Steinmeier said after
meeting Friday with Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Moses
Wetangula and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
He noted that, in Germany, «political partners who were opponents
in the election campaign manage to get together on ... common aims.
Wetangula said that «we learned a great deal» from the German
setup.
An agreement reached last week calls for President Mwai Kibaki and
opposition leader Raila Odinga to share power. Both had claimed
victory in a Dec. 27 presidential election.
Their dispute unleashed weeks of bloodshed in which more than
1,000 people were killed, and which exposed divisions over land
and economic inequality.
The two Kenyan officials were in Berlin in part to visit an
international tourism fair, in an effort to attract back tourists
scared away by the recent unrest.
«The good news is that Kenyans are now out of the woods, that they
are able to tell their German friends to come home,» Musyoka said.
«I am glad that Kenya is once again on a good path,» said
Steinmeier.
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