Protests flare up in Kenya
2008-04-08 20:06
Nairobi - Kenya's opposition suspended talks with President Mwai Kibaki's party on Tuesday and police fired teargas to scatter opposition supporters protesting at deepening deadlock over a power-sharing cabinet.
Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga delayed naming the new cabinet on Monday after disagreeing over how to share out ministries and traded blame over who was responsible. The cabinet is central to a deal on ending Kenya's post-election crisis.
Anyang' Nyong'o, secretary-general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), said talks would be suspended until Kibaki's party "fully recognises the 50/50 power-sharing arrangement and the principle of portfolio balance".
As he spoke, Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum was convulsed by the biggest protests since both sides signed a power-sharing deal in February to end turmoil that killed at least 1 500 people after Kibaki's disputed re-election in December.
Shops looted, tyres burnt
Residents said youths looted shops and burned tyres. Some ripped up railway lines connecting the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the region's largest, with Uganda.
"Police are firing teargas and also firing in the air," said witness Justine Mokua.
Protests spread to the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, where police closed in on angry crowds. "They're saying 'No cabinet, no peace'," one witness said by telephone.
"These politics can do real harm to our economy," said Friday Mwafuga, head of trading at Cooperative Bank. "Until this problem is solved, we are in for a rough ride ahead."
N'yongo said the opposition was demanding a partial cabinet already named by Kibaki be dissolved before any more talks took place. He said the opposition would no longer respect an earlier agreement to a 40-member cabinet and wanted it to have 34 posts.
Little room for ODM
But some analysts believe that while Odinga's party is clearly stepping up the pressure to get what it wants, it has little room for manoeuvre.
"They can accept the offices offered, withdraw from the coalition or resort to mass action," said Kenyan political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi.
If they withdrew that would hand all power back to Kibaki, he said, but "mass action does not make sense at this time" because of the bloodshed it provoked in January.