Kenyan foes tackle key political issues
February 06 2008 at 09:46AM
Nairobi - Kenya's feuding factions on Wednesday continued negotiating the thorniest issues in a bid to end the bloodletting sparked by disputed elections that has claimed more than 1 000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Fresh violence in western Kenya left 12 dead, nine of whom were shot by police cracking down on gangs of youths who have torched houses and other property, police sources said.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan warned that tough bargaining lay ahead for the government and the opposition who have been trying to talk out one of Kenya's worst crises since independence 44 years ago.
"Today we are tackling the political issues and the controversial elections. I hope we move as expeditiously as possible because we have no time," said Annan, who is leading the talks.
Tough bargaining lay ahead for the government and the opposition
The Red Cross said the death toll from the violence had surpassed 1 000 and that 300 000 had been displaced since the December vote that handed victory to President Mwai Kibaki.
Of the nine shot dead by police on Tuesday, five were killed while trying to set fire to a house belonging to a senior government official in Nyanza province bordering the Rift Valley, a police source said.
Two other people were killed by police when they tried to burn down a restaurant in the same area, which has been the epicentre of the post-election violence.
Weeks of turmoil have delivered a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry, the top foreign currency earner, while tea production and agriculture have also been hard hit.
About 300 business leaders issued a statement supporting Annan's mediation effort and warned that the economy faced a meltdown if the crisis was not resolved quickly.
The turmoil has delivered a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry
Safari resorts and popular beach hotels in Mombasa have lost more than half of their business since the crisis erupted in December, they said, while tens of thousands of jobs have been lost.
In Nairobi, negotiations launched on January 29 between representatives of Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga set their sights on political issues after addressing security and the humanitarian crisis.
One possible solution to end the deadlock would involve a power-sharing deal in which Kibaki would remain as president, albeit with fewer powers, while Odinga would become prime minister, even though the position would have to be created through a constitutional amendment.
The rivals have officially rejected such an arrangement but Annan suggested the negotiations could broach "necessary legislations and laws."
The opposition has refused to recognize Kibaki's victory, claiming widespread rigging. International observers have also cited serious flaws during vote-counting.
Kibaki's tribe, the Kikuyu, suffered heavily in the first wave of violence following the vote at the hands of Odinga's Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, but there have since been numerous revenge attacks.
Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia decided to dispatch their foreign ministers to Nairobi on Wednesday to show support for "government efforts to restore stability," said a foreign ministry official.
But the opposition said the foreign ministers should not meet Kibaki when "the very legitimacy" of his position was in question, said Anyang Nyongo, secretary general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Annan has set a deadline of seven to 15 days to resolve the crisis.
Pressure mounted on the two sides to reach agreement after the US ambassador said a list of names was being prepared in Washington for possible visa bans.
Under the measure, "any perpetrator, supporting or inciting violence, and their families would not be issued visas" to travel to the United States, he said.
The UN ffice of the high commissioner for human rights also said it would send a team to probe alleged abuses since the elections.
UN officials would conduct interviews with members of the government and opposition, as well as with witnesses and non-governmental organisations, it said. - AFP
