UN: Kenya Political Rivals Sign Deal
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY – 1 hour ago
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Political rivals trying to lead Kenya out of weeks of violence that left more than 1,000 people dead signed an agreement Thursday, a U.N. spokesman said. No details were released and the talks were to continue next week.
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating the discussions, will release a text of the agreement Friday afternoon, said the spokesman, Nasser Ega-Musa.
Annan and the negotiators have spent two days trying to hammer out agreements following a dispute over who won the December presidential election.
A news blackout on the peace talks appeared to be holding; both parties have declined to comment on the discussions.
The talks are being held at a safari lodge in the Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya. Top negotiators said Tuesday that the opposition was proposing sharing power with the government for two years, then holding new elections.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 vote, and domestic and international observers have said was deeply flawed. Odinga and Kibaki have been under pressure to share power as a solution.
The political dispute sparked clashes that killed more than 1,000 people and forced 600,000 to flee their homes. Much of the violence has pitted other groups against Kibaki's Kikuyu people, long resented for their prominence in government and business.
The violence has been shockingly brutal in a country once considered among the most stable in Africa, and the ethnic component to the bloodshed has polarized Kenyans as never before.
The conflict has drawn international condemnation, with several countries threatening to cut aid, impose travel bans or freeze the assets of anyone suspected of inciting violence.
President Bush, who is traveling to several African countries starting Saturday, will discuss the crisis with African leaders to "try to rally the continent to put pressure on the parties for that outcome," National Security adviser Stephen Hadley said in Washington Wednesday. Bush's schedule does not include Kenya.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hu1q9MI4JTHR_27gg8FtQ6zvvFSwD8UQ60000
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By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED, Associated Press Writer
23 minutes ago
NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's political rivals agreed Thursday to write a new constitution within a year as part of a deal to end postelection violence that already has killed more than 1,000 people, a government negotiator said.
In Washington, President Bush said he will dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya to demand an immediate halt to violence that broke out after the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election.
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating in the Kenya crisis, has hammered out a deal between the rival camps, a spokesman said earlier Thursday. But the full details have not yet been released.
"The two parties agreed to write a new constitution," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo told The Associated Press after two days of secret talks were adjourned until Monday.
Kenya's current constitution was crafted in the lead-up to independence from Britain in 1963 and has been revised repeatedly, giving the president sweeping powers. Kenyans have repeatedly said they want a constitution that would reform how their country is run following decades of abuses by successive governments.
Kilonzo did not give details of any other aspects of the agreement, which is likely to be just a first step in negotiations. He spoke just hours after a spokesman for Annan announced the sides had signed a deal but gave no details.
Annan and the negotiators have been holed up in an undisclosed location for two days to try to hammer out agreements following a dispute over who won the election.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the vote, and domestic and international observers have said it was deeply flawed. The election unleashed weeks of violence, killing more than 1,000 people and forcing 600,000 to flee their homes.
The conflict has drawn international condemnation, with several countries threatening to cut aid, impose travel bans or freeze the assets of anyone suspected of inciting violence.
Rice and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer plan to travel on Monday to Nairobi, where they will meet Kibaki, Odinga and civic leaders.
Bush said Rice will 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."
He made the announcement during a speech previewing his six-day trip to Africa. Bush's schedule does not include a stop in Kenya.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_re_af/kenya_election_violence_215;_ylt=An_vbHW8KOXOFlzajE_kgOMV6w8F
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