Friday, February 08, 2008
Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said there had been signs of compromise from both sides in talks to end the crisis but they needed to move further.
"They will have to shift. They will shift," Annan said of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga in an interview with BBC radio.
Visiting East African foreign ministers threw their weight behind Annan on Friday after the Kenyan opposition accused the bloc of trying to launch separate talks to undermine him.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues from the regional IGAD bloc, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said they were visiting to show solidarity with Kenyans over the bloodshed and endorse Annan's mediation efforts.
Seyoum said that since Annan was acting under an African Union mandate, IGAD and all nations on the continent have to submit to its authority.
"We said proliferation of initiatives have not helped anywhere and they are not either to help here in the Kenyan case," Seyoum told a news conference after they held talks with Kibaki, opposition officials and Annan.
IGAD's member nations have had bad experiences on the receiving end of multiple peace initiatives, he said, referring to Somalia, Sudan and the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict.
Kenya holds the rotating chairmanship of IGAD and has goodwill in the bloc for its peace efforts in Somalia and Sudan.
The turmoil in Kenya has also uprooted some 300,000 people, many living in squalid conditions and fearful of returning home, which Seyoum called "unacceptable".
TALKS GRIND ON
To assess the situation, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, flew into the country on Friday for a three-day visit.
"I think what we are looking for is to keep the pressure on all sides," Holmes told reporters.
Kenya's feuding parties have already agreed on principles to stem violence and help refugees, but they are now stuck on the original bone of contention -- who won the December vote.
Annan said he was not ready to contemplate failure. "I'm not ready to give up now, and the team working with me are of the same spirit," Annan told the BBC. "We cannot afford to fail."
The signals for the violence had been around for a long time, he said, which showed a failure of political leadership which any ambitious politician would want to put right.
"The people are traumatised. They are angry. They are upset with their leaders, and if anyone remains recalcitrant and difficult, I don't think the population will accept it. The average citizen of Kenya will know who to blame," he said.
Both sides have accused each other of rigging the ballot -- triggering unrest that laid bare rifts over land, wealth and power dating from colonial rule and since stoked by politicians.
Kenya has become used to playing peacemaker in a volatile region, and the violence following the ballot has shattered its image as a peaceful trade, tourism and transport hub.
U.S. officials said on Thursday that Washington had threatened travel bans on several Kenyans accused of orchestrating bloodshed. The U.S. embassy gave the figure as 10 people, while the State Department said it was eight.
"There is roughly an equal number for both sides of the political spectrum," U.S. embassy spokesman T.J. Dowling said in Nairobi.
(For special coverage from Reuters on Kenya's crisis see: http ://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/)
(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Peter Graff in London)
(Writing by Daniel Wallis and Bryson Hull; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Source: Reuters, Feb 08, 2008