NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Kenya to support efforts to reach political reconciliation, said Kenya's opposing factions must form a "grand coalition" that provides "real power sharing."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks Monday to the press alongside Kenya crisis mediator Kofi Annan at a local hotel in Nairobi.
Rice was meeting with President Mwai Kibaki Monday afternoon and was expected to meet later with opposition leader Raila Odinga.
The country erupted in ethnic violence after its December 27 presidential vote, in which President Mwai Kibaki kept his post. His opponent, Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga, blasted the results, saying the election was rigged, and he and his supporters declined to recognize the election as valid.
Sec. Rice, who arrived in Nairobi for a brief visit Monday morning, told reporters she would "emphasize the positive" when meeting with President Kibaki and Odinga.
"There needs to be a governance arrangement that would allow real power sharing that could allow a coalition, indeed, a grand coalition, so that Kenya can be governed," Rice said.
"To President Kibaki, I will say power sharing means real power sharing and the United States, as a friend of Kenya, expects that power sharing to take place to show that you can make the electoral and constitutional reforms that frankly should have been made several years ago," Rice said.
Rice said she would tell Odinga that while the United States understands there were problems with the elections, he is going to have to "get along" and support "a coalition government that is going to have to make sure that the country can function."
Rice's first meeting was with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan who is there mediating talks between the two groups.
"What must be foremost in the mind is that it's not about individual politicians, but about the people of Kenya," Annan said after his one-hour meeting with Rice.
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Annan said Friday that major progress is being made in forging a political deal that will end the crisis.
He said mediators "have defined a reform agenda of a new government" and have made strides toward making constitutional and electoral reforms and building a truth and reconciliation commission.
Earlier Friday, a senior official from Kenya's opposition party says its camp is "frustrated with the pace of the negotiations" to settle the political crisis in Kenya.
The official, from the Orange Democratic Movement, said the government mediation team has not put details of a "power-sharing agreement" on the table and could be "stonewalling Kofi Annan to tire him out."
That assertion was given some weight by a Kenyan TV report that the government mediation team on Thursday asked for a seven-day recess from the negotiations. The report said Annan told the mediators they had to continue their work.
Alfred Matua, spokesman for the government, told CNN that "those statements are incorrect" because the government team has come up with three political framework options.
The Orange Democratic Movement said it proposed a separation of powers plan with a prime minister and the president retaining significant powers.
CNN's David McKenzie contributed to this report
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