Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Annan meets Raila and Kibaki over deadlock
Talks seeking to end Kenya’s post-election crisis ended in a stalemate on Monday after Government and ODM negotiators failed to agree on the role and powers of the proposed prime minister. And last evening, chief mediator Kofi Annan said it was now up to President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to resolve the deadlock. He said that the negotiators had done their part in the talks and were incapable “of resolving the outstanding issues”. “I am now asking party leaders Raila Odinga and President Kibaki to do theirs,” he said in a statement issued last evening after meeting both Mr Odinga and the President.
Earlier in the day, the Government and ODM negotiators declared that there was no need for more meetings and asked Mr Annan to reach out to President Kibaki and Mr Odinga before the talks can resume. The deadlock also dashed the hopes of Kenyans who had been expecting the two sides in the conflict to strike a deal this week to end the violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed and an estimated 350,000 displaced. And last evening, ODM secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o said the party had given the police a three-day notice for countrywide mass action to begin on Thursday if the talks do not yield results.