Post Election 2007 Violence in Kenya: Feb 16, 2008

Bush starts Africa trip with call for Kenya deal

Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:10am EST

By Tabassum Zakaria and Samuel Elijah
COTONOU, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush began a visit to Africa on Saturday with a call for a power sharing agreement in Kenya to end the post-election conflict there that has killed 1,000 people.
Bush, whose five-nation trip does not include Kenya, is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi on Monday to back mediation efforts between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his opponents by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.

U.S. officials stressed that Rice's trip was intended to back, not upstage, Annan's efforts in Kenya. But they warned the United States was ready to sanction any individuals who sought to obstruct the peace moves in the East African state.
"Kenya's an issue ... that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help with the Kofi Annan initiative," Bush told reporters after arriving in Benin on the first stop of his six-day tour, his second to the world's poorest continent.

Rice's mission was "all aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power sharing agreement," Bush said after holding talks with Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi in a brief stopover at Cotonou airport.