Annan Tries to Spur Kenya Talks

NAIROBI, Kenya: Feb. 27th. (NY Times) - Kofi Annan suspended day-to-day mediation talks in Kenya on Tuesday and said he would now take up the remaining divisive issues with Kenya’s leaders directly. Mr. Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, seems to be growing increasingly frustrated with the pace of the negotiations, which have ground on for more than a month and are intended to solve a political crisis in Kenya that has cost more than 1,000 lives. “We cannot continue on the current basis,” said Mr. Annan, who is shepherding the talks. “It’s important for the leaders themselves to take charge.” Mr. Annan said it was crucial to reach a comprehensive solution and not “a patch-up job.”

Kenya’s troubles started in late December after the national election commission declared Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent, the winner of a presidential election over Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader, despite widespread evidence of vote rigging. The turmoil that followed pitted supporters of Mr. Odinga against those of Mr. Kibaki in brutal battles that spread across the country and split many areas along ethnic lines. Mr. Odinga and Mr. Kibaki are from different ethnic groups, and the election seems to have kicked the lid off simmering political, ethnic and economic issues. Mr. Annan has been meeting nearly every day with negotiators for Mr. Kibaki and Mr. Odinga, searching for a compromise that will calm the country. Mr. Annan said Tuesday that he was not giving up, but that a conclusion would be reached much faster by bypassing the negotiators and speaking with Mr. Kibaki and Mr. Odinga themselves. The two sides have agreed on many points. Last week, the government acquiesced to the opposition’s demand to create a position of prime minister for Mr. Odinga, who claims to have won the election.

But this week the two sides seem to have split over the details of that position, and Mr. Annan said that barely any progress was made Tuesday. The talks seem to alternate between promising and hopeless, and whenever progress is blocked, the two sides start hurling accusations at each other, as they did on Tuesday. The government now claims that the opposition is refusing to budge. From the government’s perspective, it has conceded much. Mr. Kibaki’s team rejects the accusations that the government rigged the elections to keep Mr. Kibaki in power, as some election observers have suggested. Mr. Kibaki’s team believes that offering the opposition posts in the government is a generous compromise. “We tend to feel we have been railroaded,” said Mutula Kilonzo, a negotiator for the government. But the opposition says that the government has been stubborn, and that beneath all the talk it does not want to share power in a meaningful way. “We have been extremely frustrated,” said Musalia Mudavadi, an opposition leader. “There are moments we believe we have made ground, but we realize the following day that there is a reversal.”

The pressure for a deal is increasing. Opposition leaders have threatened to resume nationwide protests on Thursday, and such events have turned bloody before. Foreign powers, like the United States, are demanding that Kenya’s leaders find a political solution fast. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a threatening statement saying, “There can be no excuse for further delay.” “We are exploring a wide range of possible actions,” she said. “We will draw our own conclusions about who is responsible for lack of progress and take necessary steps.”
by Jeffrey Gettleman with Kennedy Abwao contributed reporting.
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