Kenya rivals continue with talks
2008-03-04 08:36
Nairobi - Kenyan rivals were on Tuesday to push ahead with talks on a new deal to share power and tackle root causes of the strife, a day after more than a dozen people were killed in the volatile Rift Valley region.
The negotiations were focusing on reforms to address historical injustices that entailed electoral, institutional, constitutional and judicial issues, as well as land reforms at the heart of tribal unrest.
Other issues included measures to address poverty, unemployment, inequity and corruption, and installing a more transparent government.
The negotiators, guided by Nigerian former foreign minister Oluyemi Adeniji who replaced former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, were expected to end the talks after laying a framework on the way forward.
"The major issues are really out of the way. We are confident that we will wind up the discussions ... tomorrow," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo said on Monday.
15 people killed in Rift Valley
No key agreement was expected from this phase of talks.
A separate panel was preparing a bill on the creation of the post of a prime minister to be presented to parliament after it reconvenes on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Kenyan newspapers pressed for action after 15 people were killed in the Rift Valley region on Monday, the first major violent act since President Mwai Kibaki and opposition chief Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing deal last Thursday.
"This must stop. The government cannot allow this to continue ... The political crisis created room for criminals to cause mayhem under the guise of settling electoral scores. This may get worse unless urgent action is taken to rein in the militias," the Daily Nation said in an editorial.
"This country has suffered; too much blood has been shed, families and property destroyed and the last thing we want to hear is about more killings," the Nation added.
Odinga's claim that Kibaki stole the December 27 presidential elections touched off widespread violence that claimed at least 1 500 lives and displaced hundred of thousands of others.
The post-poll crisis, which had affected the economy, had tapped into simmering resentment over land, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence in 1963.