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Kenyan leaders pressured to negotiate

Opposition supporters in the Kibera slum block roads with burning barricades on Tuesday after talks to establish a coalition government collapsed. PHOTO :EPA

Kenyan leaders were under pressure yesterday to resume talks on forming a coalition government in a bid to end a devastating political crisis, a day after talks collapsed and hundreds demonstrated to demand a new Cabinet.

The much-delayed unveiling of a national unity government is a key step in implementing a power-sharing deal aimed at quelling the deadly violence that broke out following Kenya’s disputed December polls, killing at least 1,500 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Many Kenyans have already reacted angrily to last week’s announcement that feuding factions had agreed on a 40-member Cabinet — a number of portfolios the country’s wobbling economy can ill afford.

The lengthy disagreement over the attribution of key portfolios has fanned popular anger. On Tuesday hundreds of protesters chanted some of the same slogans heard during opposition marches in the immediate aftermath of the Dec. 27 elections.

Newspapers renewed a call to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga — slated to be prime minister — to agree on the Cabinet composition in the spirit of the power-sharing accord that was mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.

The two leaders have failed to agree on sharing the Cabinet — notably the ministries of justice, interior, foreign affairs, energy and local government.

“The disagreement goes to the question of whether the proposals made by the partners follow the letter and spirit of the national accord and whether any of the parties has backed away from concessions, frustrating efforts to make progress,” the Standard newspaper said in an editorial.

“Consensus is still possible on the most difficult of issues preventing the announcement of a new coalition government,” the daily said.

But Odinga has said he will only resume talks with Kibaki after he replies to a letter sent on Monday demanding dissolution of the current 17-member Cabinet and a 50-50 sharing of Cabinet posts.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the fueding leaders to build a coalition Cabinet.

Churches and civil groups have threatened mass action if the parties fail to reduce the new Cabinet to 24 members, arguing the country could ill afford 40 ministers.
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