'A long way to go in Kenya'

2008-04-17 08:22

Nairobi - Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged Kenyans to support the new coalition government, saying the deeply divided country had a long way to go after a post-election crisis.

Annan, who mediated a power-sharing accord that curbed months of violence, said the newly-appointed 42-member coalition cabinet that was named early this week was a key step in resolving the crisis that rattled the country.

"It is another important step, but we still have a long way to go," the former UN secretary-general told reporters after arriving in the capital to witness the cabinet swearing-in scheduled for Thursday.

"I believe that the next important thing is to mould the cabinet as a cohesive, effective and productive thing that will help steer this nation right.

"We have a lot of work to be done, major reforms to be undertaken and I hope the parliament and all Kenyans will work with the government and the leaders to get it done," Annan added.

50-50 power-sharing deal

The new government was made up of 93 ministers and assistant ministers, but Kenyans had complained that it was too bloated for a nation, where 60% of at least 35 million people lived under a dollar a day.

Annan brokered a 50-50 power-sharing deal between Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on February 28, paving the way for the Cabinet and ending the crisis that claimed at least 1 500 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Odinga's claim that Kibaki rigged the December 27 presidential ballot touched off tribal fightings, revenge killings and police crackdowns that also choked the country's mainstay tourism and agricultural sectors.

Thursday's Cabinet swearing-in had been overshadowed by the killing of at least 19 people mainly in the capital, Rift Valley and Central provinces in an ongoing police crackdown on the politically linked Mungiki sect since Monday.

This sect, which had become a violent criminal network, accused the police of beheading its jailed leader's wife and driver last week, a claim the police denied. Some 230 suspected Mungiki sect members had been arrested since Monday.

- AFP