By Duncan Miriri and C. Bryson Hull
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's president and opposition leadersigned a deal to create a power-sharing government on Thursday,hoping to end a post-election crisis that plunged the countryinto its worst turmoil since independence.
After a month of often bitter negotiations interspersedwith violence around the east African country, President MwaiKibaki and rival Raila Odinga inked an agreement and shookhands to a roar of applause.
"We have a deal," mediator Kofi Annan said. "Compromise wasnecessary for the survival of this country ... they kept thefuture of Kenya always in their sights and reached a commonposition for the good of the nation."
Kibaki and Odinga were under intense pressure from theinternational community and Kenya's 36 million people to find asolution to forestall more violence and help restore thecountry's reputation as a stable, prosperous regional anchor.
Kibaki's disputed re-election in a December 27 votetriggered ethnic clashes that killed at least 1,000 people andforced 300,000 more to flee their homes.
Under the deal, a new prime minister's position will becreated for Odinga, who has sought that job since he firsthelped elect Kibaki in 2002. He claims the president reneged ona deal to give him the job after that vote.
The deal will also give cabinet posts based on each party'sstrength in parliament and create two deputy prime ministers'jobs, one for each side of the coalition. Odinga's OrangeDemocratic Movement (ODM) has the largest number of seats.
Later, Kenya will undertake a full review of theconstitution, a 45-year-old document which many Kenyans havepushed to change since the 1990s since it gives the presidentnearly unchecked authority over the affairs of state.
Many Kenyans want a new charter to help address rifts overland, tribe and wealth that have plagued the nation sincebefore independence from Britain in 1963.
'NEW CHAPTER'
Thursday's talks brought Odinga and Kibaki to the sametable for the first time in a month, after an exasperated Annansuspended negotiations on Tuesday and said the two leaders hadto strike a deal themselves.
"As a nation there are more issues that unite than divideus. We've been reminded we must do all in our power tosafeguard the peace that is the foundation of our nationalunity ... Kenya has room for all of us," Kibaki said in hisspeech afterward.
Kibaki ordered parliament to convene next Thursday to passa constitutional amendment to push through the changes.
A beaming Odinga said after the signing: "We have opened anew chapter in our history, from the era of confrontation tothe beginning of cooperation."
"We should begin to ensure that Kenyans begin to celebrateand love each other, that we destroy the monster that is calledethnicity," he said.
Shortly afterward, riot police fired several canisters ofteargas at rowdy Odinga supporters celebrating just nearpresident's downtown office where the signing took place.
In his opposition stronghold Kisumu, on the shores of LakeVictoria in western Kenya, residents took to the streetscelebrating and ululating over the deal, witnesses said.
The immediate effect on Kenya's economy was not clear asmarkets had closed, but the shilling currency had strengthenedin anticipation of a deal this week.
"The closer you get to a resolution, the better. Thequestion is now the magnitude of the damage done to companiesand the economy," said Matthew Pearson, head of Africanequities research at Renaissance Capital Management in London.
'COMMON SENSE PREVAILS'
The crisis exploded after Kibaki was sworn in on December30 and Odinga claimed the election was rigged.
Kibaki said he won fairly and blamed his rival for incitingviolence and unrest instead of going to court to challenge theresult -- the closest in Kenya's post-independence history.
Protests turned into riots and looting sprees met with aforceful police response and simultaneously, ethnic attacks byopposition backers on Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe exploded and laterunleashed reprisal killings that left at least 1,000 dead.
The United States, Britain and the European Union applaudedthe deal, which they had pushed very hard to get finished asquickly as possible.
"We are pleased ... It allows the Kenyan people to moveforward with a very basic issue of governance," U.S. StateDepartment spokesman Tom Casey said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "common sense hasprevailed ... Real leadership, patience and tolerance isnecessary to ensure that the agreement sticks."
(Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina, Jack Kimball,Daniel Wallis, George Obulutsa and Bryson Hull in Nairobi,Adrian Croft and Sebastian Tong in London, and Susan Cornwellin Washington; Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Giles Elgood)
(For in depth coverage on Reuters Africa Web site:http://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/ )
