Kenya negotiators return to table
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's feuding parties resumed talkson Tuesday after a torrent of calls from home and abroad tosolve a post-election crisis that has killed 1,000 people andjeopardised the east African nation's reputation.
Foreign powers and the majority of Kenya's 36 millionpeople are impatient for President Mwai Kibaki and oppositionleader Raila Odinga to find a political solution to theircountry's darkest moment since independence in 1963.
Their dispute over who won the December 27 electionunleashed protests and ethnic attacks that have traumatised thepopulation, displaced 300,000 people, and hurt Kenya's image asa stable democracy and peacemaker in the region.
"The time for a political settlement was yesterday," U.S.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of alightning trip to Kenya on Monday to push for a power-sharingaccord as the best way to break the impasse.
Apart from hardliners on both sides, a similar message isreverberating around Kenya from businessmen, clerics,grassroots groups and ordinary citizens, who are increasinglyangry with the political class.
"Where are the leaders who will put selfish gains aside andaccede to the higher commitment to serve and honour a country'scraving for peace?" asked Daily Nation columnist Mildred Ngesa.
KENYA "TRAUMATISED"
Officials from Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) andOdinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) have agreed onprinciples to end violence and help displaced families.
They also agree in principle that the opposition must bebrought into government somehow -- but are stuck on thedetails.
A deadline set by mediator and former U.N. boss Kofi Annanfor a political deal by mid-February has passed.
But the veteran Ghanaian diplomat has promised not to leaveuntil the mediation has reached an "irreversible point".
On Monday, he again urged negotiators to hurry up.
"The people are tired. They've been traumatised. Some livein fear and they want to see this issue resolved," Annan said.
The negotiating teams have been meeting throughoutFebruary, but broke for a long weekend on Thursday after a tripto a secluded luxury safari lodge failed to bring abreakthrough.
While the government is prepared to give ODM somerepresentation in cabinet, the opposition wants a virtual 50:50arrangement with a strong position like a new prime minister'spost for Odinga. It also wants a new election within two years.
Kenyan political pundit Macharia Gaitho said internationalpressure like Rice's visit could force Kibaki to give way.
"But it could also force adoption of a laager mentality,especially if perceptions are reinforced that far from beinghonest brokers, the Western powers are taking sides and tryingto enforce a settlement that favours the opposition," he said.
On the ground, the crisis has produced unprecedentedpopulation flows among communities terrified of more violence.
Thousands of members of Kibaki's Kikuyu group, Kenya'slargest, have been trooping back to their heartland in thecentral highlands.
Many of Odinga's Luo community, and people from othertribes deemed pro-opposition, have also been heading in theopposite direction back to their ancestral homelands.
(For special coverage from Reuters on Kenya's crisis see:http ://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/)
(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing byCatherine Evans)