African Union Asks Annan to Broker Truce in Kenya

Nairobi, Jan. 1oth. (Int Herald Tribune) - With no sign of a breakthrough in the Kenyan political crisis, it appeared that a high-profile mediator may be flying in to help: Kofi Annan. The African Union announced Thursday that Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, was taking over the role played by John Kufuor, the chairman of the African Union who is president of Ghana. Kufuor spent two days in Kenya trying to broker a truce between the government and opposition leaders to end the crisis, which erupted after flawed elections last month and has so far claimed hundreds of lives. Kufuor failed to get the two sides to even meet, but he insisted all was not lost. "Both sides agreed there should be an end to the violence," he said, "and they also agreed there should be dialogue." Annan will lead a panel of African dignitaries who will arrive in the coming days to try to bring the two sides together, Kufuor said. There was no immediate comment from Annan about the new role.

Many diplomats here are pessimistic that a solution will be found anytime soon because neither President Mwai Kibaki nor Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, is budging. Both claim to have won the presidential election on Dec. 27. Western observers have said there is widespread evidence that the president's party interfered with the vote tallying process and rigged the results to stay in power. Kibaki has moved ahead with unilaterally naming cabinet members, something that opposition leaders called a "slap in the face" and that American officials called disappointing. On Thursday, opposition leaders said Kibaki refused to sign an agreement that had been approved by the World Bank and that recommended a transitional government and an investigation into the election results. World Bank officials in Kenya did not return phone calls. Alfred Mutua, a government spokesman, said that the document had been prepared by World Bank officials and that the president rejected it because it was "meant to favor certain groups."

Both the government and opposition leaders, who have blamed one another for the surprise burst of bloodletting in the relatively stable country, are now also pointing fingers over the lack of progress in negotiations. "The government had offered dialogue which was to be facilitated by President John Kufuor, but Orange Democratic Movement leaders have not been responsive," a government statement said, referring to Odinga's political movement. Salim Lone, a spokesman for Odinga, said that "the government was obviously never serious about negotiations. To tell you the truth, we're getting discouraged," Lone said.

Tensions are still running high in some places in Kenya. On Thursday, the police tear-gassed dozens of women protesting in Nairobi, the capital. They shouted, "Kibaki is a thief!" and "Shame on you!" On Wednesday, Kibaki toured a charred swath of western Kenya where ethnic fighting has killed more than 150 people and driven tens of thousands from their homes. Most victims were Kikuyus, the ethnic group of the president, who have been killed by mobs in the past two weeks. As the president stood at a podium in a place called Burnt Forest, where many homes have indeed been burned, smoke curled up from more houses that had just been set on fire.
by Jeffrey Gettleman
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