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Annan to talk with Kibaki, Odinga

Displaced Kenyans sit in a field in the Western Province on Tuesday after their homes were burned in fights between rival tribes. The group arrived at another village, where they were asked to wait while the small community prepared their homes to accommodate them. The Massai community has seen their long standing dispute with the Kalenjin tribe over land develop into warfare. PHOTO: AFP

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan suspended day-to-day mediation talks in Kenya yesterday and said that he would take up the remaining divisive issues with Kenya's leaders directly.

Annan seems increasingly frustrated with the glacial pace of the negotiations, which have ground on for more than a month and are intended to solve a political crisis that has cost more than 1,000 lives.

"We cannot continue on the current basis," said Annan, who is spearheading the talks. "It's important for the leaders themselves to take charge."

Annan said it was crucial to reach a comprehensive solution and not "a patch up job."

Kenya's troubles erupted in late December after the national election commission declared Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent, the winner of a presidential election over opposition leader Raila Odinga despite widespread evidence of vote rigging.

The unrest that followed pitted supporters of Odinga and Kibaki against each other in brutal battles that spread across the country and split many areas of the country along ethnic lines. Odinga and Kibaki are from different ethnic groups and the election seems to have kicked the lid off of a set of simmering political, ethnic and economic issues.

Odinga yesterday called off street protests.

"We ... are committed to the talks. We have postponed until further notice any actions planned for tomorrow," Odinga told reporters after meeting with Annan.

Annan has been meeting nearly every day with negotiators for Kibaki and Odinga, searching for a political compromise that will calm the country down. Annan said on Tuesday that he was not giving up, but said that a conclusion would be reached much faster by bypassing the negotiators and speaking with Kibaki and Odinga themselves.

The two sides have agreed on many points. Last week, the government acquiesced to the opposition's demand to create a position of prime minister for Odinga, who claims to have won the election.

But this week the two sides seem to have split over the details of that prime minister position and Annan said that barely any progress was made on Tuesday. The talks seem to be constantly alternating between promising and hopeless and whenever progress is blocked, the two sides start hurling accusations at each other, as they did on Tuesday.

The government now claims that the opposition is refusing to budge. From the government's perspective, it has conceded a lot. Kibaki's team rejects the accusations that the government rigged elections and says that offering the opposition posts in the government is generous.

But the opposition says the government has been stubborn and that beneath all the talk it does not want to share power.
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