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Kenya feuding sides set to meet
05/02/2008 09:58 - (SA)
Nairobi - Kenya's feuding sides were on Tuesday set to discuss disputed elections that sparked the ongoing crisis in which more than 1 000 people had died and 300 000 had been displaced across the country.
The talks resume a day after Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's chief apartheid-era negotiator, pulled out after the government rejected his bid to help broker crisis talks, accusing him of favouring the opposition.
Former United Nations chief and talks mediator Kofi Annan said he was still searching for a mediator, but warned that the current phase of talks was expected to be tough since it ventured into politics, the crux of the dispute.
On Tuesday "we begin our work on the political issues. The crisis arising out of the December 2007 elections, that is going to take hard negotiations, understandably give and take", said Annan.
Three bodies found in bush
But the focal point of most of the recent violence, the Rift Valley in western Kenya, remained tense after 74 people died over the weekend in attacks between ethnic Kisiis and Kalenjins. Of those, about 20 Kalenjins died in clashes with police.
The bodies of three people were found on Monday in the bush in western Kenya, said police, from wounds apparently inflicted by arrows.
About 4 000 Kikuyus, the group which had dominated Kenya's politics and business since independence in 1963, had fled their homes near the Rift Valley town of Eldoret over the past three days, said a Red Cross official.
"The movement continues," said the official.
Ramaphosa, a former trade unionist who became a wealthy businessman in post-apartheid South Africa, denied he had business dealings with opposition leader Raila Odinga as claimed by the government.
Kibaki's re-election 'triggers turmoil'
But he acknowledged that he had failed to win the trust of both sides.
"I thought that I should withdraw and go back to South Africa so that I do not become a stumbling block," he told reporters.
Talks between representatives of the rival leaders resumed at a Nairobi hotel after a roadmap for negotiations was reached on Friday to end weeks of turmoil triggered by Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.
Negotiators presented a series of proposals to promote reconciliation including holding joint peace rallies and setting up a South African-style truth commission.
Annan said:"There are no band-aids. We are looking at the root causes to reduce tensions and reach results that will stand the test of time."
Talks were set to continue on Tuesday. Annan had set a deadline of seven to 15 days to resolve the Kenya crisis in which more than 1 000 people had been killed since elections on December 27.
"The numbers are very overwhelming ... in about 50 camps throughout the country ... we have spent 200 million shillings in helping them (displaced people)," said an official.
- AFP
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