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Annan hopes for Kenya deal sometime this week

"We are very close. We are moving steady ... We are on the water's edge and the last difficult and frightening step, as difficult as it is, will be taken."

Kofi Annan, special envoy to Kenya

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan hopes Kenya's bitterly divided leaders will sign a deal this week after taking the "last difficult and frightening step" toward a power-sharing government.

Annan said on Friday at the end of a third week of tough negotiations that a deal was "very close" to end weeks of turmoil that have left more than 1,000 people dead since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi tomorrow to shore up Annan's effort to negotiate a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga on the makeup of a new government.

In meetings with the two leaders, Rice has been asked by US President George W. Bush to deliver a message that "there must be a full return to democracy" in Kenya.

Bush arrived in Benin yesterday -- his first stop on his Africa tour -- before traveling to Tanzania, which holds the presidency of the African Union. He will then go to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.

"We are very close. We are moving steady," Annan said on Friday in Nairobi. "We are on the water's edge and the last difficult and frightening step, as difficult as it is, will be taken."

Annan said the rival parties had agreed to a broad reform agenda to review the constitution, improve electoral laws, bolster human rights, among other measures, to "address the root causes of the crisis."

But he said that "the only outstanding issue" remained the makeup of a coalition government. The parties were consulting with their leaders before sitting down again with Annan on Tuesday.

"In summary, we have defined the reform agenda for a new government and are now discussing the how and the mechanisms required for their implementation," Annan said.

Kenya descended into crisis when Kibaki, 76, was declared the winner of the presidential vote, which opposition leader Odinga, 63, maintains was rigged. Independent observers also found flaws in the vote count.

The Kenyan Red Cross said that more than 1,000 people have died in rioting, tribal clashes and police raids since the vote and 300,000 people have been uprooted, shattering Kenya's image as one of Africa's most stable countries.

During talks this week at a secluded safari lodge in southern Kenya, Kibaki's camp agreed to allow opposition members into government, but only under the strong executive leadership of the president, said a government official.

The opposition has pushed for the appointment of Odinga as prime minister, with full powers as head of government.

Annan wil meet Kibaki and Odinga tomorrow to "appeal to them to give instructions to their negotiators to really have the courage and make a deal."

In an apparent swipe at the government, he said there were "calculations" made that "by dragging it out I will be frustrated and will leave."

"I will stay as long as it takes to get the process at an irreversible point," he said. This would be achieved when "a new government is established."

The sides also agreed to set up an independent commission no later than March 15 that would investigate "all aspects" of the disputed elections and present a report in three to six months, Annan said.

The rival leaders have been under heavy pressure from the US and the UK, which have threatened visa bans, an assets freeze and other sanctions.

"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," Bush said last week.

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