KENYA - AU SUMMIT

Kenya's parties agree on plan to stop violence

Friday, February 1, 2008

Kenya's feuding parties agreed on Friday to a four-point framework for talks which could resolve the violent political crisis within 15 days, chief mediator and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said.

NAIROBI, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Kenya's government and opposition
struck an agreement on Friday to take immediate steps to try and
end tribal bloodshed in a five-week-old political standoff in
which about 850 people have been killed.


The agreement was brokered by former U.N. head Kofi Annan,
leading an African mediation mission to resolve the standoff
that began when a Dec. 27 poll returned President Mwai Kibaki to
power. Opposition leader Raila Odinga says the vote was rigged.


Annan said the two sides would discuss how to stop the
violence, delivery of humanitarian aid and how to end the
political impasse before tackling a longer term solution in
Kenya, East Africa's biggest economy and a popular tourist spot.


"The first (agenda item) is to take immediate action to stop
the violence," Annan told a news conference, adding that both
sides would get round the negotiating table from Monday.


"But more importantly, the parties agreed that the first
three items (on the agenda) could be handled and resolved within
7 to 15 days," said Annan.


U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew into Nairobi on
Friday from an African Union summit in Addis Ababa to add his
heavyweight diplomatic clout to his predecessor's efforts.


"The killing must stop," said Ban, echoing the alarm
expressed by world leaders at seeing Kenya, long viewed as a
peacemaker on a volatile continent, plunge into turmoil. Kenya
is a key ally of the West in its efforts to counter al Qaeda.


"You have lost already too much in terms of national image,
economic interest," said Ban.


Senior opposition official Musalia Mudavadi said the two
sides agreed to urge supporters to end the violence.


"We are calling on the public to disband any illegal
militia," he said.


Justice Minister Martha Karua agreed and said steps would be
taken to protect life and property.


Violence was reported in flashpoints in western Kenya on
Friday.


"I saw around 20 torched houses ... and two policemen with
arrow wounds. At least 10 people have died from both sides,"
said a local journalist, who declined to be named.


More than 300,000 Kenyans are living as refugees because the
violence has forced them to flee their homes.





GENOCIDE ACCUSATIONS


Both sides have traded accusations of genocide in the
fighting, which has often pitted Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe --
long-dominant in political and business life in East Africa's
biggest economy -- and Odinga's Luo tribe against each other.


The unrest has taken the lid off decades-old divisions
between tribal groupings over land, wealth and power, dating
from British colonial rule and stoked by Kenyan politicians
during 44 years of independence.


Kibaki says he is Kenya's elected leader but international
observers said the count was so chaotic it was impossible to
tell who won.


Earlier on Friday before the Annan-brokered agreement,
Kibaki took an uncompromising line over the turmoil in his
country and diplomats said Africa was divided over the standoff.


Speakers on the first day of the AU summit on Thursday
called for urgent action to stop the violence, stepping up
pressure on Kibaki and Odinga to find a negotiated solution.


But in two speeches on Friday, to the summit and a separate
meeting of the East African regional grouping IGAD, Kibaki
repeatedly attacked the opposition and stuck to positions
already rejected by Odinga.


He said he had been elected by a majority of Kenyans, firmly
put the blame for deaths on Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement
(ODM) and said the dispute must be settled by Kenya's courts.


Odinga rejects a solution through the courts on grounds that
they are stacked with Kibaki allies and would take years to
issue a ruling.


The 53 member nations of the AU seemed divided over Kenya.


"There are divisions between one group who see themselves in
Kibaki's situation and another that has told him in no uncertain
terms that this is not acceptable," said one Western diplomat,
adding that South Africa was in the latter group.


South Africa says Kenya's crisis will be a disaster for the
continent if not resolved quickly.


The United States and European countries have pledged their
support for Annan's mediation efforts. Donors have said aid
programmes to Kenya are under review.

related links

Special report: Kenya, from democracy to chaos
31/01/08 Kenyan crisis talks suspended
30/01/08 Kenya police get 'shoot to kill' order
29/01/08 Kenyan forces scramble to contain violence
Special report: Kenya, from democracy to chaos
29/01/08 Kenyan opposition politician killed
29/01/08 Rival factions clash again in Kenya
31/01/08 Annan suspends talks over slain opposition MP