Kenya's opposition calls off street protests
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's opposition on Wednesday calledoff street protests to try and force a power-sharing deal,while President Mwai Kibaki said he would create the primeminister's post that his rivals have been seeking.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga and Kibaki have come underpressure from at home and abroad to compromise over Kibaki'sdisputed re-election in a December 27 vote, which sparkedethnic violence that killed 1,000 people and displaced 300,000.
Fears of further violence grew when Odinga's OrangeDemocratic Movement (ODM) last week said they would take to thestreets again, exerting the last real leverage they have overpolitical talks between government and opposition negotiators.
"We ... are committed to the talks. We have postponed untilfurther notice any actions planned for tomorrow," Odinga toldreporters, after meeting with mediator Kofi Annan who had askedhim to call off the demonstrations.
Previous protests after Odinga accused Kibaki of riggingthe election, which the president denies, degenerated intolooting and rioting, and provoked an often fatal policeresponse.
Exasperated that discussions had reached deadlock, theformer United Nations chief on Tuesday suspended them and toldOdinga and Kibaki that they would have to make the decisionsthemselves. He met both on Wednesday.
After meeting Annan, Kibaki in a statement said "pendingissues were not insurmountable".
And although the government negotiating team has put theidea forward, Kibaki himself said for the first time that "theoffice of prime minister, and two deputy prime ministers wouldbe created under the current constitution".
The focus of the talks had shifted toward the nature of apower-sharing deal to give Odinga a prime minister's position,and other ODM members cabinet jobs. But the sides have differedon how to enact those changes and to what extent.
Kibaki "cautioned on the dangers of piecemeal amendments tothe constitution" and said Kenyans would undertake acomprehensive review of the document in the next one year.
The government says Kenya's laws and current constitutionmust guide any deal now. The opposition is demanding changesnow, without a nationwide vote on them.
'BRIDGEABLE'
Annan said he believed the two sides could strike a deal.
"Issues that divide the parties are bridgeable ... withpolitical will," Annan told reporters after his meetings. "Thesolution must be found in the mediation room."
The crisis that exploded after Kibaki was sworn in onDecember 30 amid Odinga's claims the vote was rigged seriouslyhurt Kenya's reputation as a stable, prosperous nation in aturbulent corner of Africa.
It also laid bare schisms over land, wealth and tribe thathave festered since before independence from Britain in 1963,which have been aggravated by politicians in the decades since.
Since the early 1990s, Kenyans have been clamouring for achange to a 45-year-old constitution which most agree gives thepresident vast powers without any real checks and balances.
The stalled negotiations also prompted criticism from theUnited States and European Union, in the latest diplomaticpressure to force a rapid resolution to a crisis in an Africannation viewed as critical to the continent's stability.
European Union aid chief Louis Michel said there was noalternative to a political solution to Kenya's crisis butadded: "Individuals who obstruct the national dialogue processor who encourage violence will have to face the consequences.The European Union is determined to take all appropriatemeasures."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressedfrustration at the Kenyan leaders' failure to end theirpolitical standoff and said Washington would take action if asolution was not reached.
Rice, speaking during a trip to China on Tuesday, said: "Wewill draw our own conclusions about who is responsible for lackof progress and take necessary steps." She did not elaborate.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, in Kenya in hiscapacity as the African Union chairman, also made the roundstrying to push through a deal and said he was extending hisstay.
(Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Giles Elgood)
(For in depth coverage on Reuters Africa Web site:http://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/ )