Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times,A homeless family in Kenya wakes to another day in a park.
More than 250,000 people so far have been left homeless by the violence and many are living in shelters or in public parks.
The president and the opponent accusing him of stealing the election may meet, bringing hope for an end to their power struggle and the deadly violence it has spurred.
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 8, 2008NAIROBI, KENYA -- Three days of shuttle diplomacy by the top U.S. diplomat on African issues had failed Monday to get the two rivals for the Kenyan presidency to the negotiation table, but there were signs that they were inching toward talks.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the election, called off a protest rally of his supporters planned for today in order to allow mediation of the crisis by the African Union.
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Later Monday, Kibaki, who was sworn in to a second term on Dec. 30 after the disputed elections, invited Odinga to meet with religious leaders on how to stop postelection violence and forge reconciliation. An aide to the opposition leader later told the Associated Press that Odinga would be willing to attend the Friday meeting, but only as part of the African Union mediation.
In the last week, demonstrations by Odinga's supporters have been accompanied by looting, violence and the burning of churches. The postelection protests also have brought an increase in tribal killings.
Kenya faces what one newspaper headline Monday called the country's "darkest week" as Kibaki and Odinga struggle for control. Their impasse has fed the violence and instability in a nation that had been a success story in a volatile region of Africa.
Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. diplomat, said Monday that the deep distrust between Kibaki and Odinga was one of the main barriers to reaching a political solution to their dispute.
"What we have said is that dialogue is necessary. . . . I think both are prepared to talk. I think what they both need is some confidence," said the U.S. assistant secretary of State. "They don't trust each other very much. They're not certain."
Frazer said Kenyan electoral and political institutions needed to be reformed.
Kenyans "have been cheated by the leadership of Kenya and their institutions," Frazer said. "The political leaders have to stop the violence, and they have to reform the institutions."
African Union Chairman John Kufuor, the president of Ghana, was scheduled to fly to Kenya today to broker negotiations.
"We want the mediation to take place in a peaceful environment -- that is why the rallies have been canceled," Odinga told journalists Monday.
The dispute has pitted Luos and other tribes that support Odinga against Kibaki's dominant Kikuyu tribe, seen by others as having enjoyed the fruits of power too long.
The government said Monday that nearly 500 people had died in tribal violence over the disputed Dec. 27 election, and 255,000 had fled their homes. But Odinga said the death toll could be 1,000.
In the streets of Odinga's stronghold in the Nairobi slum district of Kibera, there was confusion among his supporters Monday as news broke that today's protest rally had been canceled.
"We know that if he says there is no rally, there must be a reason," said Edward Oloo, 32, who lives deep in the slum district.
Odinga has called repeated protests to pressure Kibaki. The demonstrators were stopped from rallying in a Nairobi park by riot police firing tear gas, water cannons and, at times, bullets.
But the protests make a volatile tool: Odinga's supporters in Kibera said the clashes with police and the lack of a political compromise from Kibaki left them angrier than they were a week ago.
"We are being trampled, and we don't like it," said John Lallo, 62, who added that he has never had a job. "We are more angry than we were. We're worried about our security and the future of our children."
"It's just like a cold war now," said another Odinga supporter, George Modigo, 35, also unemployed. "There's nothing going on; there are no jobs. We are not earning any money."
The Luo men sleep outside in the streets in fear of attacks by Kikuyus, who live in a neighboring part of Kibera.
But the lanes in Oloo's area were calm Monday: Women sold fish, vegetables and charcoal by the road, and small stalls were open.
Odinga's supporters echo the distrust their leader has of Kibaki, and their sense that a power-sharing deal would just be a way to cheat Odinga out of power.
Kibaki "is not trustworthy," Modigo said. "You make a deal with him, and he just changes it."
Charles Abanga, 37, another unemployed supporter of Odinga, said: "It's a political issue, and if it can't be solved amicably, there will be war."
robyn.dixon@latimes.com
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