U.S. forcing Kenya Parties to Talk

The US is reported to be applying some pressure on this one ...

 

Dr. Jendayi FrazerNAIROBI, Kenya — The American government on Saturday took its toughest position yet on Kenya’s disputed elections, calling on Kenya’s president and opposition leaders to meet immediately and saying that the election had been so flawed, it was impossible to know who really had won.

“The United States cannot conduct business as usual in Kenya,” said the statement, written by Jendayi E. Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Kenya, a close American ally, receives hundreds of million of dollars in American aid each year.

Dr. Frazer spent much of the past week in Kenya trying to find an end to a post-election crisis that has killed hundreds of people. But she failed to persuade Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s president, and Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, to even meet.

The two politicians have blamed each other for the violence that erupted after disputed election results were announced last month and each claims to have won the most votes. Several election observers have said that vote rigging occurred on each side but that the government tampered with the vote tallying process to give the president an 11th-hour victory.

“It is imperative for President Kibaki and Raila Odinga to sit together directly and without preconditions,” Dr. Frazer said. “Both should acknowledge serious irregularities in the vote tallying which made it impossible to determine with certainty the final result.”

Dr. Frazer also urged the Kenyan government to lift the recent bans on political rallies and live media coverage of election-related turmoil.

Ngari Gituku, a spokesman for the president’s party, responded, saying, “We won — clean.”

Salim Lone, a spokesman for Mr. Odinga, said, “We’re very pleased that the United States has so clearly recognized that it will not be possible to do business as usual in Kenya as long as the current crisis generated by the deeply fraudulent election is not resolved.”  By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

U.S. Presses Kenya Parties on Talks - New York Times

Calls for New Rallies and Sanctions

Mike Hutchings/Reuters

Raila Odinga, the top Kenyan opposition leader, in Nairobi on Friday as the election standoff with the government intensified.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s opposition leaders on Friday called for three days of nationwide protests next week and urged foreign governments to impose sanctions over the country’s flawed elections last month.

Opposition leaders vowed to hold “mass action” from Wednesday through next Friday, heightening the standoff with the government in a crisis that has pitted ethnic groups against one another and left hundreds dead.

Mediation efforts have so far failed, and ethnic tensions are continuing to rise in some parts of the country. Kenyans are getting worn down by the killings, destruction, travel restrictions and uncertainty. But the opposition and the government seem to be only hardening their positions. Mwai Kibaki, the president, and Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, still have refused to meet.

“The Kibaki side does not want a just solution,” Anyang Nyong’o, an opposition leader, said on Friday. “It is hellbent on clinging to power.”

Alfred Mutua, a government spokesman, responded by saying that opposition leaders “have ashamed our country.”

As for the opposition’s call for a new election and a transitional government, Mr. Mutua said, “The president is not crazy; he is not nuts.”

Opposition leaders say the government rigged the results from the Dec. 27 election. Several election observers have said that although both sides were guilty of some fraud, the government had raised final vote numbers to give itself a victory. The country’s top election commissioner has said that he regrets certifying the election and now does not know who really won.

The result is that Kenya, a country that until last month was considered one of the most stable in Africa, is now steeped in turmoil. One of the most disturbing aspects is a burst of ethnic violence, fueled by longstanding tensions over access to power, wealth and land. More than 450 people have been killed, many hacked to death with machetes and stoned by mobs.

Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, has agreed to lead a panel of African dignitaries to help find a political solution. He said Friday that “political negotiation is not an event, it is a process that can take a very long time, or a short time — all depends on the cooperation of the leaders,” Reuters reported.

Mr. Annan, who is from Ghana, is expected to arrive in Kenya soon, and opposition leaders here said the rallies next week would fortify “the mediation by involving the people.”

“Kofi Annan will see the message loud and clear,” Mr. Nyong’o said. He also called sanctions “necessary,” saying, “It would be irresponsible to trust such a government with resources, knowing it would be used to oppress the people.”

The government has banned all political rallies and live news media coverage of election-related events. Opposition leaders have called for the rallies to be peaceful, but most major protests have degenerated into bloodshed.

On Friday, the government urged people to stay away.

“The leaders calling on you as a Kenyan to take to the streets to burn shops and destroy property will not be with you or your family when you have no jobs anymore,” said a government statement. “They will be in their well-protected fortresses eating sumptuous meals and sending their children overseas to study.”

Kenyan Opposition Calls for New Rallies and Sanctions - New York Times  By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and KENNEDY ABWAO Published: January 12, 2008