US pushes for quick peace deal

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Story by NATION Team Publication Date: 2/19/2008
The US has asked President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to cede ground and quickly agree on a power-sharing deal to restore stability to the country.
Ms Rice with mediator Kofi Annan. She later met ODM leader Raila Odinga. Photo/ PETERSON GITHAIGAUS Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga had suggested different forms of coalition arrangements, which she had passed on to the chief mediator for consideration.
At different forums during her shuttle diplomacy one-day visit to Nairobi, Ms Rice met separately with President Kibaki, Mr Odinga and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is leading the mediation talks.
“The time for a political settlement was supposed to be yesterday and it (agreeing on a coalition) has to be urgent. The leaders (President Kibaki and Mr Odinga) have to come together and there is need to have a power sharing arrangement for the country to move forward,” she said at the Muthaiga residence of US ambassador Michael Ranneberger.
Sharing of responsibility
She added: “There needs to be a coalition and sharing of responsibility in the governing of this country.”
However, Dr Rice cleared the air over the involvement of the US and the international community in the political crisis in the country stating that they were not dictating the type of coalition government that wound end the stalemate.
She said she had held meetings with members of the civil society and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) and concluded that it was Kenyans who were calling for a speedy fix to the crisis.
She acknowledged that Kenya was an independent country governed by independent people and that the international community was only reciprocating by caring for a friendly nation.
“What we hear is the insistence by the Kenyan people that the political crisis and the violence must come to an end. We are not dictating a solution to Kenyans,” she said.
The US official was categorical that Washington and the international community had stepped in to show their concern about the ghastly state of affairs and to demonstrate their solidarity with thousands of Kenyans who were suffering.
She explained that as a member of the international community, there were certain standards which Kenya was obliged to observe and one of them was to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis and stop the violence.
Coming to assist
“We should, as one international community, observe certain standards that have been set. We object to the use of the word ‘dictate’. It is the Kenyans people who are insisting on an end to the crisis and the international community is coming in to assist; to help,” she said.
Dr Rice said that her meeting with President Kibaki, Mr Odinga and Mr Annan had revealed that the both sides were ready for some form of a coalition arrangement as a solution to the crisis.
However, she said that the two sides had tabled different forms of coalitions, which she had passed on to Mr Annan for consideration in the mediation talks, which resume today at the Serena Hotel.
“I have heard from the two sides and there are different solutions on how to go forward. I passed on some to Kofi Annan and we expect that he will engage the parties on how to arrive at a coalition. The sharing of responsibilities includes ending of violence,” she said.
She was referring to the different positions that President Kibaki and Mr Odinga separately presented in the meeting she held with them.
It is understood that President Kibaki proposed that he should retain his positions as the Head of Government and Head of State and that any coalition that is formed should be within the provisions of the current Constitution.
Dr Rice held a two-hour meeting with the President at his Harambee House office in the afternoon before heading to Muthaiga to meet Mr Odinga and his team of negotiators.
During the one-hour meeting at the US envoy’s residence, the ODM team is understood to have reiterated that a coalition government in which they shared equal power with PNU was the only solution to the political crisis.
Speaking at 5.20pm, the US top diplomat was, however, categorical that the power sharing arrangement should not be an illusion.
“The parties forming the coalition must have responsibilities and authority. The power sharing cannot be an illusion or imaginary; it has to be real,” she stated.
Dr Rice arrived in the country yesterday morning and went straight into a meeting with Mr Annan at the Serena Hotel to get a briefing on the status of the talks.
Mr Annan is heading the Panel of Eminent African Persons that has been tasked to broker a deal between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
On the panel are also former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa and former South Africa First Lady Graca Machel. Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji from Nigeria was expected to join the Annan talks yesterday and be his assistant.
They took over from Ghanaian President John Kufuor who came in to lay the ground for mediation in the aftermath of the violence that followed the disputed Presidential elections results.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in the violence, and at least 350,000 displaced from their homes and are now living in 41 camps countrywide.
“We came in to join Kofi Annan, who is here on behalf of the African Union and the international community to help the leadership and Kenyans to end the political crisis,” she said.
President Bush, she said, spoke to Mr Annan on Sunday night and assured him of US support for the ongoing negotiations to find a way out of the political crisis in the country.
President Kibaki, the envoy said, should take “last step” and agree on governance as Kenyans “want to move forward.”
Kenyans, she said, want the Government to return to “business of governance.”
During her first briefing at the Serena Hotel, Dr Rice said the election results did not reflect the interests of Kenyans and urged the two leaders to bury their differences and share power.
The diplomat, who is the senior-most US official to visit Kenya after the December 27 General Election said her country wanted to deal with a stable, legitimate Kenyan government that governs and enjoys confidence of Kenyans.”
She warned that it is not going to be business as usual between the US and Kenya if the crisis is not solved.
On his part, Mr Annan rebuffed leaders who have been telling the international community to stop interfering with Kenya following the disputed last presidential elections results.
“The international community is engaged; they are engaged because of their friendship for Kenya and they are here because of their solidarity with the Kenyan people and we’re all working together to ensure that we get the right results and that Kenya becomes a stable, prosperous country and the haven it has been in this region for all the countries. No one is here to dictate, but we are here in solidarity,” he said.
Yesterday, Dr Rice said that she was pleased with the scores of Mr Annan’s mediation and ranked foremost the end to violence and humanitarian assistance. Others were a raft of constitutional, legal and institutional reforms.
She said Kenyans should be told the truth about the flawed Presidential elections, and supported the establishment of an independent review committee to investigate any poll fraud and make public its report.
The committee, which would include foreign electoral experts, will start its work on March 15.
“It is important the truth about the electoral flaws is found. Kenyans need to have an understanding of what happened,” she said.
The reforms, she added, were crucial in ensuring the Kenya returns to the democratic path it has always been associated with in the international community.
“Sometimes when there is a crisis, use it to put the country to a firmer footing. That is the message I passed on to all parties,” she said.
Dr Rice said the international community was concerned about the status of the displaced people and was ready to assist in their resettlement and rehabilitation.
But she warned: “The current stalemate is not going to permit it (the assistance). Kenya has to move forward for this to happen and it requires that it be put on forward footing.”
PNU is represented by Cabinet ministers Martha Karua, Sam Ongeri, Moses Wetang’ula and Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo. Former Vice-President Musalia Mudavadi, MPs William Ruto, Sally Kosgei and James Orengo are on the ODM side.
Dr Rice said she had held discussions with European country colleagues, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union chairman Jakaya Kikwete and they fully supported the Annan talks.
Fully supported
“They are fully supported by the international community,” she said.
On his part, Mr Annan who has been spearheading the talks since January 29, said the negotiating teams had progressed well, but they needed to do more on the “crucial issue of governance.”
“It is extremely important for Kenyans and the people of Kenya to resolve the outstanding issue and move to item Number Four (long term solutions). I hope the next step will be taken soon for the sake of Kenyans and world,” Mr Annan said. He said the international community wanted the crisis resolved as quickly as possible.
President Bush was criticised by PNU leaders following his proposal at the weekend that Kenya embraces a power-sharing arrangement between PNU and ODM.
Other foreign missions have also been accused of trying to impose solutions on Kenyans with Ms Karua and Mr Wetang’ula saying Kenya was not a colony but a sovereign state and that it should be left alone. The ministers said it is only Kenyans who will find a solution to the current crisis and that it should be as per the Constitution.
But Mr Annan yesterday said the search for a solution was not an individual or political party issue but Kenyans.
“People are tired, they have been traumatised and some live in fear and want the issue resolved,” the chief mediator added.