'Half-way deal' reached in Kenya

Boniface and Sheila Shimanyula stand on the balcony of their two room apartment overlooking the Mathare slum on Thursday. Boniface is a Luhya from the west of Kenya who supported the opposition and Sheila is a Kikuyu from the president's tribe. PHOTO: EPA

Kenya's rival parties have agreed to change the Constitution and bring the opposition into government in what was described yesterday as a "half-way deal" to end turmoil that has left more than 1,000 dead.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan was to announce yesterday details of the accord signed by negotiators for President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose dispute over the December presidential election exploded into violence.

Talks led by Annan are to resume on Monday when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives to deliver a message to Kenya's leaders that "there must be a full return to democracy."

Nairobi's Daily Nation newspaper carried the headline: "Annan's team strikes half-way deal in talks," while the Standard sounded a more pessimistic note: "48 hours later ... and no deal yet."

Kenya descended into violence when Kibaki, 76, was declared the winner of the Dec. 27 vote that the opposition said was rigged. International observers also found flaws in the tallying of ballots.

According to the Kenyan Red Cross, more than 1,000 people have died in rioting, tribal clashes and a police clampdown while 300,000 people have been uprooted, shattering Kenya's image as one of Africa's most stable countries.

Annan has been pushing for a power-sharing deal that would bring together the government and the opposition to oversee reforms and pave the way for fresh elections, possibly in two years.

But during crunch talks, Kibaki's camp balked at proposals for "power-sharing," saying it would only go so far as to appoint opposition members to a government under the strong executive leadership of the president, a top government official said.

The opposition had been pushing for the appointment of Odinga as prime minister with full powers as head of government, a post that would require changes to the Constitution.

The parties agreed to launch a one-year constitutional review that could address many of the grievances that fueled the violence -- which appears to have subsided over the past seven days.

But the constitutional review would be conditional on first striking a deal on the makeup of the new all-inclusive government, said the official, who asked not to be named. Talks on that point appeared to be bogged down in disagreement.

"We are still talking and we have not agreed conclusively," said Martha Karua, minister for justice and constitutional affairs who is also the government's lead negotiator.

The text of the agreement signed by the two sides was to be released yesterday.

Kibaki has been under international pressure to make concessions, with the US and Britain threatening visa bans and other sanctions if the mediation fails.

US President George W. Bush announced ahead of a five-nation Africa tour that he had asked Rice to travel to Kenya to support Annan's mediation efforts.

Rice is due to hold talks with Kibaki and Odinga, meet with leaders of civil society and of the business community in Nairobi on Monday.

Former colonial power Britain angered Kibaki's camp when High Commissioner Adam Wood said London did not recognize the government "as presently constituted."

The former UN chief had been holed up with the two negotiating teams at a safari lodge in southern Kenya since Tuesday to try to finalize a deal away from the media glare.

At the request of the African Union, Annan launched his mediation mission on Jan. 29 in a bid to end the violence that saw Kenyans hacked to death by machete-wielding mobs, burnt in churches where they had sought refuge and driven off their land.

The turmoil has laid bare tribal rivalries as well as simmering resentment over land issues and wealth disparities in Kenya, long considered a model of stability in Africa.

Kenya's world-famous safari resorts and beach hotels have suffered a bruising loss of business while the country's economic upswing, with growth at seven percent, could soon flatten out.