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Kenya crisis 'at crucial stage'
22/02/2008 21:22 - (SA)
Nairobi - Africa's top diplomat pushed Kenya's feuding parties on Friday to reach a speedy deal after the government agreed in principle to create a prime minister's post to help end a deadly post-election crisis.
"The weekend will be crucial. We hope that next week we'll have something which can be agreed," the newly elected chairperson of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, said in Nairobi.
The opposition has demanded a powerful role as executive premier for leader Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the December 27 poll.
Kibaki's team says he won fairly, and says the opposition instigated riots and ethnic violence that killed 1 000 people, displaced 300 000 and wrecked Kenya's image as a stable business, tourism and transport hub.
The government agreed on Thursday to set up a new post of prime minister. But both sides have yet to thrash out the most contentious issue of how much power it will have.
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has withdrawn an earlier call for Kibaki to resign, but is threatening to resume street protests if its demands are not met.
'A good direction'
"If by Wednesday ... no tangible outcome is achieved from the mediation process, party members are hereby called upon to prepare for immediate mass civil disobedience," ODM MP Ababu Namwamba told a news conference.
Despite the ultimatum, chief mediator Kofi Annan said he was beginning to see "light at the end of the tunnel".
The government has predicted a deal in days.
Ping, elected at an AU summit in Ethiopia earlier this month, is the latest in a succession of high-powered visitors who have pushed Kenyan leaders towards common ground.
"I am confident ... things are moving towards a good direction," he said after meeting the opposition and Kibaki.
Pressure has grown on both sides of the political divide to reach a lasting deal to end turmoil that has horrified locals, neighbouring states and world powers alike.
"The most effective way to get these issues solved is for the leaders to feel pressure from their own people," US President George W Bush said on his way home from an Africa tour where the crisis was on high on the agenda.
Fears of bloodshed
Odinga left Kenya on Friday on a private trip to Nigeria, but that was not expected to have a bearing on the talks.
Although the east African nation has been relatively calm for a fortnight, the ODM protests ultimatum has stoked fears of a resumption of the post-election bloodshed.
Earlier demonstrations often descended into looting and tribal attacks, and were met with a tough police response.
The East African Community (EAC) warned that the unrest has choked supplies of fuel and other goods to landlocked neighbouring states, threatening jobs and economic growth.
- Reuters
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