Post Election 2007 Violence in Kenya: Kenya's Parliament to Meet on Tuesday

there is some progress in Kenya?

Kenya's Parliament to Meet
As Opposition Plans Protests

By SARAH CHILDRESS
January 14, 2008 1:48 p.m.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Kenya's sharply divided Parliament is scheduled to meet Tuesday for its first session since flawed elections last month. Meanwhile, opposition leaders have called for mass demonstrations this week, dimming chances a simmering political standoff will ease anytime soon and raising the prospect of more violence.

Early last week, President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga made some tentative steps towards reconciliation after flawed voting late last month disintegrated into widespread violence and ethnic killing. But both sides have since reversed course, and Kenyans are hunkering down again.

Amid the standoff, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected here Tuesday or Wednesday to help broker talks between the two sides.

Associated Press

Displaced Kenyans waited for aid to be distributed outside Kenya's Air Force barracks in Nairobi Monday.

Election officials declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner of the vote. Challenger Raila Odinga says polling was rigged, and demonstrations by his supporters fanned violence, which has so far displaced about 250,000 and left an estimated 600 dead, perhaps many more. The international community has denounced the results as flawed.

Mr. Odinga's party says it plans to send its 99 elected lawmakers to the opening session of Parliament Tuesday. But last week, party leaders said they will take their seats on the government's side of the chamber, a dig at Mr. Kibaki's leadership and a provocative move that raises the possibility of shoving matches, or worse, inside a house of government. Along with minor parties that have sided with him, Mr. Odinga controls 103 seats, compared to Mr. Kibaki's 61.

The opposition has also called for three days of nationwide protests beginning on Wednesday. Two previous rallies, scheduled for Uhuru Park, a large meadow in Nairobi, were banned by the government and ended in sporadic clashes with police.

The largely peaceful election was supposed to secure Kenya's reputation as a model for democracy on the continent. The country was enjoying a booming economy -- the largest in East Africa -- and served as a business and transportation hub for the region. As a spot of calm in the midst of its war-torn neighbors, Kenya also played an important peacemaking role.

The two sides appeared to be inching closer to a resolution last week, when they agreed to negotiate through an international mediator after a visit from the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer. Ghanaian president and current African Union chairman John Kufuor flew in to meet with both parties, but failed even to bring the men into the same room. Mr. Kibaki then announced the appointment of half his cabinet, infuriating Mr. Odinga and his opposition allies.

The dispute has pitted the two men's tribes against each other, inflaming long-held animosities. Mr. Odinga, a Luo, campaigned on the notion that Mr. Kibaki had funneled more resources to his own tribe, the Kikuyus. If he won, Mr. Odinga promised to right that imbalance, endearing himself to many Luos and members of other tribes, such as the Kalenjins, who are frustrated by the country's growing income gap.

Mr. Odinga now says he cannot negotiate with Mr. Kibaki as long as he considers himself president; Mr. Kibaki maintains that he was fairly elected.

Outside Kenya's big cities, the thousands of Kikuyus who were driven from their homes and had their businesses looted and torched, are clustered in camps on the outskirts of towns. Those who drove them out -- mainly Kalenjins and Luos -- live in fear of reprisals.