U.S. wants Kenyan crisis solution "yesterday"

NAIROBI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice told Kenya's feuding parties on Monday to hurry up with apact to end a post-election crisis that has killed 1,000 peopleand dented their nation's global status.

"The time for a political settlement was yesterday," Ricesaid after meeting separately with President Mwai Kibaki andopposition leader Raila Odinga during her one-day visit.

"The current stalemate and the circumstances are not goingto permit business as usual with the United States or with anyother part of the international community."

Dispatched to Kenya by President George W. Bush during hisAfrica tour, Rice was the most senior U.S. official to visitsince the disputed December 27 vote triggered protests andethnic conflict that also displaced more than 300,000.

"They need to have a power-sharing arrangement ... Thereneeds to be a coalition," she said, echoing the line beingpushed by mediator and former U.N. boss Kofi Annan.

Odinga says Kibaki, for whom he once served in cabinet,stole the 2007 election through fraud.

Kibaki's team says its man won fairly and points to theofficial declaration by the election board.

The election crisis took the lid off grievances betweendifferent communities over wealth, land and power that dateback to British colonial rule and have been aggravated byKenyan politicians since then, especially at election time.

"KENYANS IMPATIENT"

Government officials have become increasingly prickly overforeign pressure. On the eve of Rice's visit, Foreign MinisterMoses Wetangula warned that nobody should "make any mistake ofputting a gun to anybody's head."

But Rice, noting she had been "especially moved" listeningto Kenyan civil society and business representatives, said thepressure was coming from within not abroad.

"Kenya is a friend. Kenya is also an independent and proudcountry ... So this is not a matter of dictating a solution toKenyans," she said. "What I hear is the impatience andinsistence of Kenyans that this is resolved."

Both sides of Kenya's political divide have agreed to anindependent review of the contested ballot -- but not what todo about it or what form a shared administration might take.

Having missed Annan's target for a deal by last week,negotiators are due to resume talks on Tuesday.

Government officials have said the only power-sharing beingconsidered is giving opposition members ministries in Kibaki'shalf-filled cabinet.

After meeting Rice, Odinga gave a news conference outlininghis Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party's proposals for anew position of prime minister, shared executive authority, anda fresh presidential election within two years.

"This is not a love affair. It's something they must do, asthe whole world is telling them," Odinga said, when asked ifKibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) would agree.

Earlier, Kibaki's office issued a statement after hismeeting with Rice, saying he remained committed to dialogue and"will continue looking for an amicable solution".

Though emphasis at the moment is on a possiblepower-sharing deal, many Kenyans also want solutions tocomplicated, underlying issues such as wealth inequalities,land policies, and the need for constitutional reform.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis and Duncan Miriri;Editing by Giles Elgood)

(For special coverage from Reuters on Kenya's crisis see:http ://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/)

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