Tuesday, February 05, 2008

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 5 (Reuters) - South Africa said on Tuesday Kenya's government deserved contempt for its objections to a prominent anti-apartheid figure nominated as a mediator in the east African country's bloody conflict.

Business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa, proposed by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to lead long-term negotiations to end the Kenya crisis, pulled out on Monday after Nairobi complained he had business links with opposition leader Raila Odinga.

"The South African government strongly rejects the erroneous argument by the (Kenyan) government that Mr Ramaphosa could not be an honest broker," the deputy foreign affairs minister said.

"The reasons given by the (Kenyan) goverment are rejected with the contempt they deserve," Aziz Pahad told reporters, according to the South African Press Association.

Ramaphosa has denied links to Odinga.

A widely respected figure in South Africa, Ramaphosa was the chief negotiator for the African National Congress (ANC) in talks that led to the end of apartheid in 1994.

Reservations about him by the government of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki -- which has been reluctant to accept outside mediation -- seems to have caused a major row with Africa's economic powerhouse.

Annan is negotiating with teams representing Kibaki and Odinga to try to end post-election violence that has killed at least 1,000 people and find a lasting political solution. (Reporting by Phumza Macanda; editing by Barry Moody and Matthew Jones)

Source: Reuters, Feb 05, 2005

wareer gooye @ 2/5/2008 8:48 PM EST  this kibaki is doing a monkey business, he is accusing  the mediator for doing business with odinga  what is the matter with this guy ,can he accept the true that he stoled the vote, i think kibaki is scares  if he give up the president that he will be killed or taking to a jail that is end of it and  by the way who cares about jareer killing another jareer we as a somaali killed each other for no reason so let this jareer do the something  that we did

nomadic-soomaal @ 2/5/2008 4:00 PM EST  How come they cant allow mediator with significant contribution to the lives of ordinary S. Africans, when they "allegedly" mediated us in the DOOFAAREEY camp, with contempt. I cant forget the times when the Kenyan mediators acted as the president of Somalia and they keep giving press conferrences. It is your time baby