WASHINGTON — Within hours of Thursday’s power-sharing deal between Kenya’s rival leaders, the State Department issued a rare statement from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, praising the pact and citing the United States for providing “intensive support” to bring it about.

Indeed, while Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, spent weeks in Kenya negotiating the agreement, many foreign policy experts also credit the Bush administration for putting action behind its talk of the need for democracy in Africa.

In Kenya, that meant pressing President Mwai Kibaki, whose supporters, many policy experts say, were most to blame for December’s disastrous elections and the ensuing fallout.

After almost two months of watching Kenya’s rival factions battle in ethnic-fueled violence that left more than 1,000 Kenyans dead, President Bush dispatched Ms. Rice to Nairobi. Ms. Rice let it be known that the United States would not look kindly on Mr. Kibaki’s actions and pointedly called for him to compromise, saying, “The time for a political settlement was yesterday.”

Mr. Kibaki bristled at the outside interference, but yielded.

“I think Kenya was a wake-up call for the United States,” said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, who has been openly critical of the administration’s response to flawed elections in Africa. In the end, Mr. Roth said, “Rice did play a constructive role in Kenya, and this agreement is a wonderful step forward.”

Mr. Bush and his aides make the argument that in Africa, the administration has outpaced its predecessors, quadrupling foreign aid, pushing aggressive programs on H.I.V. and AIDS and pushing strongmen toward elections.

But in recent months, a growing chorus of critics have said that when it comes to democracy in Africa, the administration has been all talk. They argued that deeply flawed elections in Ethiopia and Nigeria — results that were, in some way, endorsed by the United States — showed the administration putting stability above justice. Kenya, they said, was the latest example.

In a scathing commentary in several African publications in February, Jeffrey D. Sachs, a special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called the initial response to the Kenyan elections “distressing.”

By assigning blame to both sides of the elections fracas, when most independent observers said Mr. Kibaki was more to blame, the administration was tilting in favor of Mr. Kibaki, Mr. Sachs said in an interview.

Human Rights Watch was equally critical. In a report on Jan. 31, Mr. Roth said, “The U.S. government has embraced democracy promotion as a softer and fuzzier alternative to defending human rights.”

In Ethiopia, where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has become a strong ally of President Bush, the United States did little to chastise Mr. Zenawi after elections in 2005 during which 200 demonstrators, bystanders and policemen were killed. Hundreds of opposition members were jailed. Many of the independent news outlets were shut down.

Next came Nigeria, where, after much hemming and hawing, President Olusegun Obasanjo finally gave up his effort to change the Constitution so he could run for a third term. But the elections were, by most accounts, a mess: Observers pointed to voting centers that never opened, yet nonetheless reported 90 percent turnout. In some polling places, the police watched while poll workers stuffed boxes with ballots marked for the ruling party.

The results, naming Mr. Obasanjo’s successor in the governing People’s Democratic Party, Umaru Yar’Adua, the winner, were announced hours before counting had finished in several states.

The State Department said it was “deeply troubled” but it urged Nigeria to sort out things on its own, and the administration accepted Mr. Yar’Adua as Nigeria’s new leader.

“There seems to be on the part of this administration a confusion that leads them to the conclusion that support of rigged elections is consistent with stability,” Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in February.

At first, it seemed as if the administration would follow the same playbook with Kenya’s elections, on Dec. 27. The first results to be counted were for Parliament, where the party of President Kibaki was soundly defeated. The opposition alliance, led by Raila Odinga, won about 100 seats; Mr. Kibaki’s party won 30.

Yet Kenya’s electoral commission declared that in the separate presidential vote, Mr. Kibaki had won. Violence immediately erupted, and turned quickly into ethnic retaliation. Ms. Rice sent Jendayi E. Frazer, an assistant secretary of state, to Nairobi a few days after the election.

Mr. Sachs and other critics have complained that Ms. Frazer was too accommodating to Mr. Kibaki, by declaring that the vote probably could not be reassessed by an independent tally; by saying there had been vote-rigging on both sides, so Mr. Kibaki might have won; and by not acknowledging an independent exit poll that showed a clear victory for the opposition.

State Department officials take issue with that characterization. A senior official said that Ms. Frazer was in no position to tell who had won the election, and that it was not the role of the United States to make such a judgment. The official said the primary concern of the Bush administration after the election was that “people were dying.”

“The priority,” Ms. Frazer said in an interview, “was to stop the violence.”

But the violence did not stop, and as Mr. Bush made preparations for a presidential trip to Africa, he announced that he was dispatching Ms. Rice to Nairobi. Her task, the State Department said, would be to “deliver a message directly to Kenya’s leaders and people: There must be an immediate halt to violence, there must be justice for the victims of abuse, and there must be a full return to democracy.”

For the first time, the mediation teams returned to a table together, a day after a historic power sharing deal was signed.

The Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) negotiators agreed on key proposals to seek long-term solutions to the political crisis.

But Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister, Ms Martha Karua, the lead PNU negotiator was absent from the talks, Friday, for the first time.

But her Foreign Affairs counterpart, Mr Moses Wetangula, downplayed her absence, saying: “What is important is that we had a quorum. She is engaged elsewhere.”

The teams agreed on the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an independent committee to review the December 27 presidential election.

“The Independent Review Committee will be formed before March 15, together with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We will be discussing the form and composition of the committees when we resume on Monday,” said Wetangula.

Comprehensive constitutional reform, electoral, legal and judicial reforms, land reforms, devolution, inequity, police reforms and tackling unemployment and poverty were also discussed.

The teams agreed to form a team of experts, both local and international, to come up with modalities for a faster constitutional review.

Mr William Ruto, a member of the ODM negotiation team, said experts would report to them by March 15.

“The negotiators felt that constitutional review was very urgent and we cannot run away from delivering a new constitution because it is what will anchor most of the issues,” said Ruto.

“The talks were fairly easy because the big issues are out of the way,” he added.

But a source privy to the talks said the negotiators failed to agree on the mode of reviewing the Constitution.

“Whereas ODM felt the Constitution could be reviewed by experts and passed by Parliament, PNU insisted on a referendum, invoking the law of precedence by citing the ruling by (Justice Aaron) Ringera,” the source said.

In 2005, Ringera ruled that only Kenyans could undertake the enactment of a new constitution, through a referendum.

Later, Mbooni MP, Mr Mutula Kilonzo said key recommendations were arrived at, including a referendum. “We will try to isolate and avoid divisive issues and build on what unites us,” he said.

Another agenda was the issue of land and the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs). “The resettlement of IDPs was also our focus because we want them to go back soon,” he said.

He suggested that when Parliament reconvenes next Thursday, it might defer debating the President’s speech and prioritise the enactment of agreed issues. “We might prioritise to debate the deal to put Kenya back on track,” he said.

Details of the dramatic events leading to the signing of a peace deal that ended two months of Kenya’s political turmoil emerged on Friday as the country sprung back to life. The deal, which took two days of intense diplomacy by chief mediator Kofi Annan and Tanzanian

President Jakaya Kikwete, was struck after the two protagonists — President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga — ignored the views of hard-liners in their camps to give Kenyans a coalition agreement that would see the Opposition share power with the government.  At an exclusive meeting in Harambee House, both leaders ceded ground to arrive at a power-sharing agreement that created the position of a prime
minister who will exercise some authority on government.

Sources said that Mr Annan decided to deal directly with President Kibaki and Mr Odinga after realising that the two may not have been getting accurate briefs on the progress of the negotiations from their teams.

It is not yet clear what may have prompted President Kibaki’s change of heart over his earlier stated stand on the creation of a PM’s post which he had emphasised only hours before the deal was sealed on Thursday.

However, a source close to the President said on Friday: “A time comes when a leader must take the hard decisions on his own and what happened yesterday (Thursday) was one such moment. The President rose above party interests to make a decision for Kenya.”

The revelations came as the peace talks resumed at the Serena Hotel on Friday, but without Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua, who leads the PNU four-member team to the talks.

Her colleague at the talks, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula said the minister was engaged in another assignment. Other members of the PNU team are Education minister Sam Ongeri and Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo.

The ODM team at the talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the December presidential election results is led by the party’s deputy leader Musalia Mudavadi, and MPs William Ruto, Dr Sally Kosgei and James Orengo.

Mr Annan resumed the talks to start work on what is commonly known as Agenda Four on long-term resolutions which includes comprehensive constitutional review within a year.

The Saturday Nation tried to reconstruct the events that led to the peace agreement and established that there may have been outside forces behind the success.

Sources say that last Sunday, two days after suspending the talks, Mr Annan was set to travel to Kampala to meet with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. It is not yet known what he was to discuss with him, but he seems to have decided not to make the trip at the last minute.

It would seem he got a signal that the days ahead would produce a deal. Two days later, President Museveni addressed the East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha, where he said: “In the pre-colonial Uganda there was a joke about one of the clans whose members built a hut but did not leave space for the doorway only to discover the mistake when the house was complete. The recent problems in Kenya, tragic as they were, nevertheless, illustrated this point of short-sighted political architecture.”

Wiggle room

Perhaps he was suggesting that Kenyan politicians, without specifying which ones, were digging themselves into a position in the talks which was leaving them no wiggle room, and that was short sighted.

He then said that Kenya’s crisis, which had caused shortages in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan, DRC Congo and some parts of northern Tanzania had shown that the region was interdependent: “Kenya and the concomitant difficulties throughout the whole region have shown that the head cannot be independent of the neck; the neck cannot be independent of the chest; the chest cannot be independent of the abdomen; the abdomen cannot be independent of the limbs; and vice versa. Of course, you can have amputees and cripples. They, however, do not lead a full life. Their potential is diminished to the extent of the loss of parts of their bodies.”

Later the same day, President Kikwete flew to Nairobi to join the Annan mediation effort. When President Kikwete arrived, he assured Kenyans that there would be a deal.

The next morning, President Museveni was addressing an investors’ meeting in Kampala, and confidently told the meeting that President Kikwete was in Nairobi, and the Kenya crisis was going to resolve.

Both President Kikwete and President Museveni seem to have known that a deal was possible, and the Tanzanian leader seems to have brought a message that dramatically broke the deadlock once he met President Kibaki and Mr Odinga. What that message was, remains a mystery.

What is clear though is that the whole process was greatly helped by Mr Annan’s diplomacy of meeting the two principals separately.

Add this to President Kikwete’s persuasion that the PM’s post will not take away the executive powers that President Kibaki enjoys in the Constitution.

Indeed it took the tact of the diplomat of many years, Mr Annan, to move faster than the eight men and women he had been given from PNU and ODM to negotiate to move the talks a notch higher - to Harambee House.

Away from the lieutenants, Mr Kibaki, Mr Odinga, Mr Kikwete, Mr Annan and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa engaged themselves in what is being described as “frank, candid and soul-searching” discussion of the Kenyan political crisis.

It is understood that President Kibaki was initially apprehensive about the creation of the job that would necessitate an amendment to the Constitution, and thereby erode the executive powers he wields under Section 23.

President Kikwete’s role at the highest level of the talks was threefold: First, as the Africa Union chairman his presence was the voice of the continental body that is backed by the European Union, Britain and the US.

Second, Mr Annan needed a president of a country that has a premier, to explain to another president whose country has lived with none for 45 years to understand that it can work.

Feuding principals

Thirdly, as a former Foreign minister of his country he had what it requires in diplomacy to deal with feuding principals and communicate in a language that should not offend either side.

It is understood that President Kikwete brought out the relevant sections in the Tanzanian constitution and showed his counterpart explaining that whatever the ODM was asking for was less powerful than his PM.

What the ODM wanted was for the premier and his two deputies to be recognised under Section 17 of the Constitution which spells out who constitutes the Cabinet so that it includes the new positions.

Then, ODM wanted the powers of the PM to be specified in the Constitution which President Kibaki accepted.

By Moses Njagih
Nairobi
Central Kenya leaders welcomed the deal between President Kibaki and the ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga.

Terming it as an act of statesmanship, the leaders were unanimous in their praise for the deal, saying it would bring peace and tranquillity.

MPs, Mr Peter Gitau (Mwea), Mr Emilio Kathuri (Manyatta) and Mr Nemesyus Warugongo (Kieni), and Nyeri mayor, Mr Joseph Thairu, said the agreement was a major achievement in healing a bleeding nation.

Kathuri and Gitau, however, said they would wait for a briefing from the President. Kathuri said it was time for Kibaki to give the Government side direction before the State opening of Parliament next Thursday.

“The President must give us direction on the way forward in passing the necessary laws to bind the agreement. But the deal reflects that Kibaki and Raila are statesmen,” said Kathuri.

Gitau said the agreement would solve the crisis that had threatened to tear the nation apart.

“Kenyans can now see light at the end of the tunnel. I am optimistic that the agreement will hold and help end political turmoil that threatened peace and tranquillity that Kenya has enjoyed,” he said.

Warugongo said Kenyans had waited for the leaders to act in the interest of the nation, and they had done so in the agreement.

“It is the only thing that would have solved the crisis and stop the killings and post-election violence,” he said.

The mayor said with a deal reached, the two leaders should now visit the regions affected by post-election violence and help restore peace.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga will take the post of prime minister under a power-sharing deal with President Mwai Kibaki intended to bring to an end two months of violence and political turmoil that have cost Kenya its reputation for stability.

Tourism, the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner worth nearly $1 billion last year, has all but collapsed since television footage of violent mobs on the rampage was beamed around the world.

Beach resorts on the Indian Ocean coast and safari operators inland are begging for customers, while the Kenyan currency, the shilling, has fluctuated wildly before bouncing back after Odinga and Kibaki signed their deal on Thursday.

The violence erupted after Kibaki was sworn in as president after Dec. 27 elections that Odinga said were rigged, a charge Kibaki denied. More than 1,000 people were killed and 300,000 forced to flee their homes.

Odinga said that now that the dispute over the elections had been resolved, calm had returned to the country and people could start going back to work in the coming days.

Soothing international nerves might take a little longer, the Orange Democratic Movement leader told Reuters in an interview at his party headquarters in Nairobi.

“It’s going to require quite a bit of campaigning internationally to restore the confidence of the international community in Kenya. Because it is also going to depend on how fast the coalition government gets to work,” Odinga said.

‘TURN THE CORNER’

“But I know that it is possible to campaign successfully and that within six months we should be able to turn the corner and to see that tourism is back ... and also investor confidence in the country generally is restored.”

Parliament meets on Thursday to ratify the power-sharing plan mediated by former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan.

Odinga said the country would require international help with reconstruction after the upheavals of the last two months.

“Reconstruction is going to require quite a bit of funding, which is out of reach of this government, so we are going to need some assistance from our international friends,” he said.

He was grateful to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for offering to convene an international aid donors’ conference and hoped other countries would follow suit.

Odinga, whose fractious relationship with Kibaki will be put to the test when he starts work as prime minister, said he would be responsible for carrying out reforms and making sure the government runs efficiently.

This would mean attacking bureaucracy and corruption with a view to winning back confidence locally and among international aid donors and investors, Odinga said.

It would also be necessary to hold meetings with leaders of Kenya’s polarised ethnic communities to start the process of reconciliation.

“We are also going to need public lectures in order to inculcate the values of unity among our people,” he said.

Tribal difference had been exacerbated by discrimination in giving people jobs in the public sector and this too would have to be addressed, Odinga said.

We acknowledge the tragic conditions that affect your country, and remain deeply aware of the heightened vulnerability that women suffer with regards to sexual violence and rape at times of civil and political unrest, and we therefore align ourselves fully to all initiatives aimed at the finding of a peaceful solution, guaranteeing women’s full and equal participation in all peace-building, reconstruction and development initiatives.

We share the concern of Solidarity for African Women’s Rights, expressed in their communiqué on the conflict situation in Kenya, regarding the need to respect and adhere to all relevant commitments regarding women’s rights and gender empowerment made in regional and international instruments.

We support all the initiatives of women and women’s organisations in Kenya that are aimed at the cessation of hostilities and a return to peace and democracy.

We further encourage and laud all your efforts to create a united front of women in finding solutions to the problems of conflict and violence.

We assure you of our deepest support, solidarity and commitment during this time of protracted turmoil, and we trust that you will closely examine all existing instruments, to extract and benefit from their applications.

We write to you as the South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) aware of our common humanity and shared human values, and wish you the necessary strength to enable you to participate in building a meaningful and lasting peace process, with women at its centre.

Sincerely

Dr. Brigalia Bam
Chairperson SAWID

CC.
Ms. Thoko Mpumlwana
Deputy Chairperson SAWID

Preamble:

The crisis triggered by the 2007 disputed presidential election has brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions within Kenyan society. If left unaddressed, these divisions threaten the very existence of Kenya as a unified country. The Kenyan people are now looking to their leaders to ensure that their country will not be lost.

Given the current situation, neither side can realistically govern the country without the other. There must be real power-sharing to move the country forward and begin the healing and reconciliation process.

With this agreement, we are stepping forward together, as political leaders, to overcome the current crisis and to set the country on a new path. As partners in a coalition government, we commit ourselves to work together in good faith as true partners, through constant consultation and willingness to compromise.

This agreement is designed to create an environment conducive to such a partnership and to build mutual trust and confidence. It is not about creating positions that reward individuals. It seeks to enable Kenya’s political leaders to look beyond partisan considerations with a view to promoting the greater interests of the nation as a whole. It provides the means to implement a coherent and far-reaching reform agenda, to address the fundamental root causes of recurrent conflict, and to create a better, more secure, more prosperous Kenya for all.

To resolve the political crisis, and in the spirit of coalition and partnership, we have agreed to enact the National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, whose provisions have been agreed upon in their entirety by the parties hereto and a draft copy is appended hereto.

Its key points are:

* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.

* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.

* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.

* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.

* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.

* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.

* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution.

Having agreed on the critical issues above, we will now take this process to Parliament. It will be convened at the earliest moment to enact these agreements. This will be in the form of an Act of Parliament and the necessary amendment to the Constitution.

We believe by these steps we can together in the spirit of partnership bring peace and prosperity back to the people of Kenya who so richly deserve it.
Alert Net

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has followed closely, and with growing concern, the violence that has engulfed Kenya in the aftermath of the Presidential elections held at the end of December 2007.

The African Commission is very concerned that the violence has led to the destruction of property and loss of life, and generated thousands of internally displaced persons, as well as refugees now seeking shelter in neighbouring countries. The Commission is particularly concerned by the developments, which have had a very deleterious effect on the human rights situation in the country.

The Commission calls upon all stakeholders to exercise the utmost restraint, and to work together to end the violence, to resort to dialogue to resolve their differences, and to end the unnecessary suffering .

In particular, the Commission is concerned about the allegations of rape against women, and calls upon the authorities in Kenya to protect women and children who are always at greater risks in such situations.

The Commission also urges the authorities in Kenya to work with human rights defenders to protect those at risk and to allow the media to carry out its work.

The Commission further calls upon the Government of Kenya, as well as the international community, to provide the necessary assistance to all those affected by the unrest.

On behalf of the African Commission, I would like to reiterate that, under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, government, as government, has the ultimate responsibility to observe, promote and protect the human rights of all those within its borders.

* H. E. Mr. the President of the Republic of Kenya
* H. E. Mr. the Chairperson of the AU
* The International Media / Press
* Mr Raila Odinga

Banjul , 29 January 2008

He said that further information on the deal between Mwai Kibaki, the president, and Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), would be given at 4pm (1300GMT). Annan had suspended talks on Tuesday after negotiators for either side could not agree on a deal. Primary in disagreements was the level of power to be assigned to the prime minister. The crisis ignited after disputed presidential elections on December 27, which the ODM claimed was rigged.
More than 1,500 people were killed in the rioting and tribal clashes which followed.
Al Jazeera

Prof Mibey spoke as the community around the university resolved to keep off the university’s academic programmes. A meeting between the district security committee and the local community decided to uphold peace and ensure that learning activities run smoothly. At a meeting held at the university’s pavilion, and chaired by the chancellor, Prof Bethuel Ogot, participants agreed that effective learning could only take place in a safe environment. “We are glad that we have reached such an agreement,” Prof Mibey said. He urged the local community to be thankful for the numerous employment opportunities the institution had brought to them.

Local councillor David Maritim said the community had resolved to work with the university administration to ensure the safety of the students and prevent such acts of violence from recurring. “We as the community, are major stakeholders in the interests of this institution. We must work hard to ensure that it is safe for all of us since our own children are also learning in it,” Mr Maritim said. He also dispelled rumours that there was a group of armed youth that had been tasked to attack university staff and students from other communities. “The University is now safe for everyone. We urge all students and staff to report back as quickly as possible to ensure that normal learning resumes,” he added.

Uasin Gishu DC Bernard Kinyua urged the community and students to work as a team to ensure peace is maintained. Student leader Ekwuam Naboss urged students who had not reported to do so quickly since they were lagging behind in their studies. “They should come back so that they can catch up with their colleagues,” he said. Prof Ogot blamed a section of the university’s academic staff for fuelling rumours about the security situation in the university and calling for its closure. “It was unfortunate that some of our staff went around claiming that the security situation at the university can’t permit learning to take place,” Prof Ogot said.
Daily Nation

The statement came a day after Annan suspended the talks as the negotiating teams failed to reach a compromise. Addressing the Press, Annan said the matter lay in the hands of the two principals: President Kibaki and ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga.  The EU urged for what it termed constructive dialogue in a spirit of compromise. “At this critical stage in the dialogue, the presidency strongly urges the parties to redouble their efforts to engage constructively in a spirit of compromise to secure a legitimate political settlement,” said the EU.

The French Embassy holds the EU local presidency. Twenty-four European missions also warned: “Those identified as being involved in undermining the search for a political settlement will face the consequences of their actions”. “We cannot emphasise enough the responsibility that Kibaki and Raila have personally towards the talks,” they said.

We strongly encourage both sides to redouble their efforts to reach an effective power sharing agreement for the sake of the country,” said the statement signed by Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Japan and European diplomatic missions in Kenya including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden.

The missions said they noted with great concern a statement by Annan that the negotiating teams had made no progress towards reaching an agreement on governance.

On Wednesday, they noted in the statement forwarded to newsrooms, “We continue to support the efforts of the Annan-led talks to assist Kenya’s leaders in finding a political solution that is acceptable to Kenyans and which addresses the longer term, underlying issues”.

The international community further said it recognised that some difficult decisions would have to be made and that many of the long-term issues would take time to work through a satisfactory conclusion.
East African Standard

ODM leadership immediately dismissed the statement that the position of PM could be created under the present Constitution, saying it was unacceptable and reminiscent of the trashed Memorandum of Understanding Kibaki trashed at the beginning of his presidency. The trashing of the 2002 agreement, in which the Liberal Democratic Party and the National Alliance Party were to share positions, caused a political falling out within the Narc Government. ODM on Wednesday insisted they wanted a strong premiership founded in the Constitution with legal backing and which draws its powers from Parliament.

ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga, said the party was only interested in a power-sharing agreement or a transition Government that would embark on reforms immediately. Raila, who spoke at Pentagon House in Lavington, said: “We are not merely interested in power-sharing for the sake of it. We want a transitional government that will embark on legal, institutional and constitutional reforms. We will share power in a government that is reform geared.” He said only comprehensive reforms of the institutions, legal and constitutional would alleviate recurrence of the problems witnessed in January and this month.

Raila said the party would not put any roadblocks in the way of mediation process, adding that he had fruitful discussions with Annan and former Tanzanian President, Mr Benjamin Mkapa, at Pentagon House. Raila’s sentiments on the PM position were backed by party Secretary-General, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, who said: “ODM is not interested in a coalition Government built on quicksand, but that which has legal and constitutional backing.” “The establishment of offices of PM and two deputies must be through a constitutional provision,” he said. Nyong’o said under the current Constitution, the President had powers to hire and fire any minister. “When the President directs sacking of a minister it takes effect immediately…this is what ODM cannot accept in this power-sharing agreement.”

A lawyer who sought anonymity said under Section 18 of the Constitution, the President has powers to allocate portfolio and appoint a Vice-President and other ministers. The lawyer said the Constitution only recognises the President, VP, and other ministers without specific reference to the office of the PM. “This means the PM’s office under the present Constitution is not significant at all,” he said. The lawyer also took issue with the President’s promise to undertake reforms in a year. “What constitutional reforms can Kibaki undertake in 12 months when he had five years and failed to do so? What would warrant the hurry?” he asked.

Nyong’o said Kibaki’s proposal for a coalition would neither satisfy Kenyans nor ODM in its quest for justice.
East African Standard

The Milimani camp was set up on the grounds of a local church group after the post-election violence erupted in Kenya. It has been a temporary home over the past six weeks to some 9,000 displaced people.

Camp director Joshua Osewe of the local Maseno South Evangelical Church Diocese explains that the camp is a transition point for people who are returning to their ancestral homes after being driven from their communities mostly in central Kenya.

“These people are confused. They are desperate and they need a lot of counseling sessions. [For] These people there was that trauma [due to] the experiences they had,” said Osewe.

Stories swirl through the camp of atrocities suffered by the latest arrivals. Osewe describes how one woman arrived in camp carrying the head of her husband in a sack. Others saw loved ones cut into pieces by machete wielding mobs or burned inside their houses.

The people in this camp are originally from western Kenya and mostly of the Luo ethnic group which largely supported opposition leader and favorite son Raila Odinga. They were driven here in late January by violence that was in reaction to attacks in western Kenya against Kikuyu who largely supported President Mwai Kibaki.

Nicholas Ochieng, in his mid-30s, sits despondently on a plastic chair away from the main group. He fled his home in Nakuru, central Kenya, after his wife and two children were burned to death and all his belongings destroyed. Penniless and alone, he has been in Milimani camp for two weeks.

“Now since I came here at least I’m feeling relieved because I am in my home. There is nobody harassing me. I have some people coming here for counseling and when I have a problem I approach them and tell them what I need. They are helping me,” he said.

But Ochieng moved away from here as a young man. His parents and grandparents died and the family property was sold. He has no where to go.

At first Ochieng says he was very angry but now he is trying to accept what happened.

“I’m trying to get it out of my mind. Something like revenging or something like grudge, it’s out of my mind because even if I think about that it will disturb me so I have to forget everything,” he added.

James Dera leads a team of 40 volunteer counselors at the camp. He says the counselors greet new arrivals as they get off the buses and trucks. He says most of them quickly begin sharing their experiences.

“They are very fearful. They are harboring anger. They are harboring rage, big revenge aspects. They are really depressed. They are really traumatized. [But] Some [others] saw this for their first time. They have nothing to share. They are very quiet,” said Dera.

The counselors first talk to the new arrivals in groups. They identify those who need individual counseling and those who need more intensive, hospital care.

Dera calls his work psychological first-aid. He says these people will need help for a long time. He hopes funding can be found to allow the counselors to visit the new arrivals in their new homes and help them re-integrate into communities which many of them have never known.

Camp Coordinator Osewe says many of these people left the region decades ago. He says the sheer numbers of those returning will strain every aspect of society here.

“The economy of this area will obviously be affected. The school system will be affected. We do not have enough facilities in the schools that we have,” he said. “There is concern for health facilities which may not be adequate.”

He says the communities will strive to accommodate their newly arrived relatives because that is the tradition. But the government and civic groups will have to support the transition or else another potentially volatile group of disgruntled and dispossessed individuals will emerge.
VOA News

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused President Mwai Kibai of rigging the Dec. 27 poll to gain a second term in office, while international observers have also expressed reservations about the vote. The election sparked clashes, frequently along ethnic lines: Kibaki is a member of the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest tribe, while Odinga is a Luo. The Kikuyu are a dominant force in political and economic life, often to the ire of other ethnic groups.

Violence has now declined; but Makhokha’s fears of renewed clashes are shared by many. Over the weekend, about 200 youths were arrested on a ranch in western Kenya—an Odinga stronghold—where they were reportedly undergoing military training with a view to protecting Kibaki supporters.

Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has been mediating in talks between the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) for over a month. However, on Tuesday Annan suspended talks, saying negotiators were simply “turning around in circles”.

The two parties had been discussing a power-sharing government that would include the creation of a prime minister’s post which Odinga looked set to occupy. Talks apparently foundered on various issues, including the extent of powers to be granted to a new head of government, and whether the president should have the authority to fire the prime minister.

The ODM is pressing for a powerful prime minister, against the wishes of the PNU. At present, the head of state in Kenya exercises considerable authority.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Nairobi last week to throw her weight behind a joint government, reaffirmed the need for a negotiated settlement to the crisis, Tuesday.

“I want to emphasize that the future of our relationship with both sides and their legitimacy hinges on their cooperation to achieve this political solution,” she noted, in a statement.

“We will draw our own conclusions about who is responsible for lack of progress and take necessary steps.”

Certain reports have the PNU obstructing talks. The party has come under fire from political analyst Jacqueline Oduor: “The entire country has been on hold, waiting for peace and a way forward, but now there are people denying us this,” she told IPS.

The European Union has also pledged action against those undermining the talks, or fomenting violence.

Accordingly, certain Kenyans could find themselves confronting sanctions such as travel bans, a hindrance for those who journey abroad and have their children educated in Western countries.

For his part, Kenya’s minister of foreign affairs, Moses Wetangula, is quoted as saying that foreign powers were free to “support the dialogue process, but not to impose solutions.”

The opposition had planned to hold demonstrations Thursday to protest against the stalemate in negotiations. But Odinga later announced that the mass action was being postponed, following a request from Annan. Previous marches have resulted in violence.

The former U.N. head held meetings with both Odinga and Kibaki Wednesday in a bid to jumpstart the negotiations. Tanzanian president and African Union head Jakaya Kikwete was also in Nairobi to help press for a resolution of the Kenyan crisis.

The past few weeks have not marked the first instance in which Kibaki and Odinga have found themselves negotiating division of power.

Another power-sharing deal between the two men, reached ahead of the 2002 elections, was to have ensured that Odinga would become prime minister in return for his support of the National Rainbow Coalition, which brought Kibaki to power five years ago.

However, the agreement collapsed.
IPS News

It was a day of intense shuttle diplomacy and building international pressure.

This appeared borne out of concerns that the stalled talks, a seeming belligerence of the protagonists in the disputed and discredited presidential election -Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) - and an uncertain future could touch off another round of bloodletting.

African Union (AU) chairman and Tanzanian President, Mr Jakaya Kikwete, who arrived on Tuesday for a two-day visit, extended his stay in Nairobi, underlining the urgency to restart the stalled talks.

But in announcements made after separate meetings with Annan, who chairs the Panel of Eminent African Persons facilitating the talks, Kibaki and Raila showed gestures that demonstrated some commitment to resolve the impasse.

ODM called off mass action and President Kibaki announced through a Presidential Press Service (PPS), that he was ready to create the post of prime minister and two deputies.

The PPS dispatch suggested that an accord would be reached under what it described as a “Coalition Agreement”, an arrangement, which ODM dismissed as possibly leading to another MoU without a legal backing.

However, the positions on the contentious issues that bogged down the talks, forcing a suspension on Tuesday, continued to linger.

ODM wants what it calls a “real power-sharing deal”. However, PNU has only agreed to “sharing of responsibilities” in Government, which is not the same as “power sharing” and has stuck to doing everything within the confines of the Constitution.

On Wednesday, 27 member States of the European Union (EU) issued a statement as international pressure on Kibaki and Raila piled, saying: “A power sharing settlement is a must.”

Pressure from the EU and US could nudge the leaders to shift ground as the EU echoed another statement issued a day earlier by US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleeza Rice, warning that the US was exploring “a wide range of options” on Kenya and that leaders seen as blocking the process to peaceful settlement would face dire consequences.

“We reiterate the position of many in the international community that attempts to undermine or obstruct such an agreement will not be viewed lightly and those identified as involved will have to face the consequences of their actions,” the statement signed by 24 European missions in Nairobi and headed by France, which holds the local EU presidency, said.

Saboteurs to be punished

On its part, Germany said political leaders who will boycott or derail the mediation talks aimed at solving the political impasse would be dealt with.

German envoy to Kenya, Mr Walter Lindner, issued a warning in Nairobi saying: “We support the Annan-led talks and whoever boycotts or derails the mediation talks will have to face the consequences. This has been our position and we hope a solution will soon be found.”

Earlier, deep apprehension over the suspended talks was expressed by Britain, which suggested that the army be called in for fear that the stalled search for a political settlement could trigger fresh bloodletting.

Mr Mark Malloch-Brown, British Foreign minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, said the Kenya Army was “by far the best option” to any violence.

“We’re going to have to stop the violence,” Malloch-Brown said. “The Kenyan military is by far the best option. The question is: Can the army be brought in a non-divisive way?”

Talking to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, he argued that the army was respected by the public as a genuinely national and multi-ethnic institution.

It was instructive that Kibaki’s meeting with the security chiefs came after this statement by the UK minister.

The President met the Chief of the General Staff Jeremiah Kianga, Police Commissioner, Maj Gen Hussein Ali, NSIS Director-General, Mr Michael Gichangi, Internal Security minister, Prof George Saitoti, and Defence minister, Mr Yusuf Haji.

Details of the meeting were not available, but the timing was read as a check on the level of preparedness of the security apparatus.

In his meetings with Kibaki and Raila, Annan is understood to have told the two that “the differences are bridgeable”.

But in his meeting with Annan, Kibaki dug in on a position earlier spelt out by his mediation team on Tuesday, saying he was ready to share power but within the Constitution.

“President Kibaki noted that the pending issues were not insurmountable and should be adequately addressed under the current Constitution, the Coalition Agreement and the upcoming comprehensive constitutional review,” the PPS dispatch read.

PPS quoted Kibaki telling Annan that the office of Prime Minister and two deputies would be created under the Constitution, even as the country prepared for a comprehensive review within 12 months.

President Kibaki asked that the terms of a Coalition Agreement being discussed be finalised.

“The President said the Coalition Agreement should be used to address the appointment and security of the offices of members of the coalition partners in Government,” reported PPS.

Non-binding deal

But Raila, who met Annan and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa at Pentagon House, said ODM would not accept a deal that was not legally binding.

“We are not interested in entering a transitional government that will not carry out comprehensive, legal, institutional and constitutional reforms to avoid a repeat of the crisis that we have seen in the last two months,” Raila said.

He added: “We want power-sharing that is reform-based, through a transitional government that will be a means to an end, not an end in itself.”

Pentagon members, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mrs Charity Ngilu and Mr Najib Balala, accompanied the Lang’ata MP. ODM liaison person in the mediation talks, Mr Caroli Omondi, was also present.

The party called off mass action indefinitely and Raila asked supporters to allow for peaceful negotiations. The party had earlier called for mass action countrywide citing the slow pace of the mediation.

Speaking at Pentagon House after meeting Raila and his team, Annan remained upbeat: “We held constructive discussions with Government and ODM teams and with President Kikwete. The differences are bridgeable.”

On Tuesday, Annan sent out a passionate appeal to Kibaki and Raila to show goodwill in the talks and resolve the political crisis triggered by the disputed presidential elections, which has left at least 1,000 dead, 300,000 displaced and the economy rattled.

“We all know the fear, trauma of violence and displacement, and the desire for return to steadiness and to restore Kenya’s peace. Kenyans have lost jobs and leaders must think of the people,” Annan said.

When he met Kikwete, Raila stated that the position of prime minister and two deputies be made through appropriate constitutional provisions.

The prime minister, he insisted, shall be accountable to the Cabinet and Parliament and the premier may only be removed from office through a vote of no confidence by the House.

Raila said the PM’s office, if created, should supervise and co-ordinate ministries and the affairs of Government.

He insisted that key provisions of the mediation agreement be entrenched in the constitution.

Last night, a lawyer who sought anonymity cautioned ODM against the proposed Coalition Agreement, saying it amounted to MoU similar to the one that was dishonoured under Narc regime.