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Kenyan 'tough' talks continue
06/02/2008 12:28 - (SA)
Nairobi - Kenya's rival sides on Wednesday continued tough talks to end weeks of bloodshed triggered by disputed elections as the opposition threatened street protests over a foreign ministers' meeting.
Police warned that it would not allow the protests, saying they would jeopardise efforts to restore order in Kenya, which descended into ethnic violence after the December polls.
As fighting claimed 19 more lives in western Kenya, negotiators named by President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga were tackling the core political issues in talks led by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.
But the opposition said a planned meeting between regional foreign ministers with Kibaki in Nairobi would be tantamount to recognising him as head of state and vowed to hold protests.
"The very legitimacy of Kibaki's position as president is in itself in question at the mediation talks," said Anyang Nyongo, the secretary-general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Tuesday.
Situation returns to normal
The government had banned protests and police had opened fire and used teargas against demonstrators since the December elections that the opposition claimed was rigged.
The foreign ministers of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda were to begin two days of meetings in Nairobi on Wednesday, a foreign ministry official said.
"They (people) are on stand-by. They will demonstrate when the meeting starts," warned an opposition official, who asked not to be named.
National police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said: "As the situation returns to normal, Kenyan police is urging the public to keep order and to endeavour to promote good relations wherever they are."
"We are urging the citizens of this country to avoid situations that could risk the normalcy achieved," he said, adding: "We will not allow demonstrations."
19 people killed
Annan had on Tuesday said the opposition would not go ahead with the protest threat, saying it ran against a pledge by both sides to refrain from provocative statements.
Annan said: "We have discussed the issue of the statement that was issued and I think there is a clear understanding that it should not have been done and that there would be no mass protests."
A police commander said on Wednesday that 19 people were killed in fighting since Sunday in the Trans Nzoia area of Rift Valley, which had been the epicentre of the post-election violence.
Twelve people died in western Kenya on Tuesday, nine of whom were shot by police cracking down on gangs who had torched houses and other property, police said.
The Red Cross had put the death toll from weeks of violence at more than 1 000 and said 300 000 people had been displaced, many of whom lost their homes that were razed to the ground in ethnic clashes.
The turmoil had delivered a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry, the top foreign currency earner, while tea production and agriculture had also been hard hit.
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