Biddho.com Eritrea - Rising To The Challenges! - Kenya rejects US pressure over power-sharing deal

Home

News

Kenya rejects US pressure over power-sharing deal

Written by Administrator

Sunday, 17 February 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — The Kenyan government Sunday issued a veiled warning to the United States not to put "a gun to anybody's head", on the eve of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to push for a power-sharing deal.

Rice is due in Nairobi on Monday for meetings with President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose dispute over who won the December 27 presidential election plunged once stable Kenya into violence in which more than 1,000 people have died.

"We encourage our friends to support us, to encourage us, but not to make any mistake by putting a gun to anybody's head and say 'either or' because that cannot work," Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told reporters.

US President George W. Bush called for a power-sharing deal at the start of his Africa tour on Saturday and said he was sending Rice to Kenya to support Kofi Annan's mediation, which appears deadlocked over a proposed coalition government.

While Wetangula did not specifically mention the United States, he said: "Those who support us should avoid judgmental language that tends to appear like we are being told 'you must do this or you must do that'. We will find a solution, and as Kenyans and we are committed to that."

Kibaki's camp has balked at a power-sharing deal, saying in talks led by Annan that it was willing to include opposition members in government, but under the strong executive leadership of the president, according to a government official.

After initially welcoming Kibaki's re-election, the United States backtracked in the face of mounting evidence of flaws in the presidential poll and is now pressing Kibaki to agree to a coalition with Odinga.

During a visit to neighbouring Tanzania, however, Bush on Sunday took pains to specify that the United States did not want to "dictate" a solution to Kenya's crisis but wanted to "help move the process along."

The statement came after talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who holds the rotating chair of the African Union.

The United States considers Kenya a strategic ally in the fight against militant extremists and a key player in resolving conflicts in neighbouring Somalia and Sudan.

Negotiators for Kibaki and the opposition moved from a Nairobi hotel to a secluded safari lodge in southern Kenya last week to finalise details of a deal that Annan said was only days away.

But the former UN secretary general emerged from talks on Friday to announce that no final deal had been reached and that "the last outstanding issue" remained power-sharing in a new government.

Negotiations are due to resume on Monday, with Annan to meet separately with Kibaki and Odinga ahead of a new round of talks the following day.

US officials have stressed that Rice will support, and not upstage, Annan's embattled mediation when she holds meetings with Kibaki and Odinga to deliver the message that a power-sharing deal is the way out of crisis.

Launched by the African Union, Annan's mediation is seen as Kenya's best hope for a political solution to move beyond the violence in which Kenyans have been killed by machete-wielding mobs, burnt in churches and driven off their land.

More than 1,000 people have died and 300,000 uprooted in the carnage that erupted after Kibaki, 76, was declared the winner of the vote that Odinga, 63, maintains was rigged.

The violence has tapped into simmering resentment over land, poverty and the dominance of the Kikuyu, Kibaki's tribe, in Kenyan politics and business since independence from Britain in 1963.

As calm appeared to take hold over the country in the past week, the United States and Britain have turned up the pressure on Kibaki, fearful that a collapse of the Annan talks could re-ignite the violence.

Washington and London have threatened visa bans, an assets freeze and other sanctions.

Bush presses Kenya to compromise

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania: The United States President, George Bush, has begun a six-day, five-nation tour of Africa with a warning to Kenya's Government that it needs to agree to a power-sharing arrangement with the opposition to settle a post-election upheaval that has torn the country apart.

He arrived in Tanzania on Saturday to a red-carpet welcome, and met Tanzania's President, Jakaya Kikwete, to discuss Africa's political crises before signing a nearly $US700 million ($771 million) grant to help stimulate economic growth.

Mr Bush hopes to use the trip to highlight success stories in Africa and the programs he has launched to fight disease, poverty and illiteracy. But he was immediately confronted with the latest crisis to challenge stability on the continent, and defended his record of resolving conflicts.

"We've been plenty active on these issues, and we'll continue to be active on these issues because they're important issues for US security and for our interests," Mr Bush said after landing in his first stop, Benin. He said he would send the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to Kenya today.

"The key is that the leaders hear from her first-hand that the US desires to see that there be no violence and that there be a power-sharing agreement that will help this nation resolve its difficulties," Mr Bush said. A senior Administration official later told reporters that it wanted to use the Rice visit to press the Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, to compromise with his opposition. The official expressed frustration that Mr Kibaki seemed to assume unqualified US support.

Kenya is the most urgent of several crises flaring in Africa. Others have overtaken Chad, Darfur, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The United Nations Security Council devoted nine of its first 16 meetings this year to conflicts in Africa, even before its emergency meeting on Friday on Eritrea.

Mr Bush is also scheduled to visit Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia - countries chosen as models of promoting reforms, moving toward democracy and fighting AIDS and malaria. He defended his attention on the positive. "When you herald success, it helps others realise what is possible," he said.

Comments

Add New

RSS

Only registered users can write comments!

Last Updated ( Monday, 18 February 2008 )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

>> Download MP3 Song - "Egermenalo" by Wedi Tikabo

Victory To The People of Somalia!

RTL - „Steffi Graf - Legende, Mutter, Helferin. Die Reportage zum RTL-Spendenmarathon“

President Isaias Afwerki's Letter to the UN Secretary General

Meeting the Challenge - Biddho Tours through Europe

Freedom!

EXPIRED - WOYANE and UNMEE!!

The Algiers Agreement is explicit that the parties are bound to honor the Commission�s decisions

Letter dated Nov. 30'07 from the Legal Adviser to the President of Eritrea to the president of the UNSC

Ethiopia rejects "virtual" border with Eritrea

Ethiopia - Meles Zenawi calls final and binding demarcation decision `legal fiction�!

From `legal nonsense� to `legal fiction�.

Who is the Blackmailer?

Ban-Ki Moon: Messenger versus the Message

ERITREA - ETHIOPIA: Security Council�s Moment of Truth

Seven Years After Algiers

DEMARCATION IS COMPLETE - TSZ EXPIRES

With effect from midnight tonight (30.11.2007), the demarcation of Ethio-Eritrean boundary will be as complete as any demarcated interstate boundary would be, if not better defined.

STATEMENT ON UNMEE�S �RELOCATION� FROM ERITREA

Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations

Eritrea - Statement on UNMEE's "Relocation"

Eritrea - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UNMEE - United Nations Misson for the Exploitation of Eritrea

Ambassador John Bolton Blows UNMEE’s Transparent Cover

UNMEE-Another Failed UN Peacekeeping Mission

In Defence of Eritrea

>> Visit Alenalki Special Coverage "Hzbawi Mekete"

EEBC Files

EEBC Documents

>> EEBC Press Release OF 30 NOVEMBER 2007
>> EEBC STATEMENT OF 27 NOVEMBER 2006
>> LIST OF BOUNDARY POINTS AND COORDINATES

Overview Map (PDF / Graphik)

>> International Boundary between the State of Eritrea
and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Victory! Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea won the men's world half marathon championship for the third time

EEBC ruling of 2002 indisputable!!

Algiers Agreement of Eritrea and Ethiopia is implemented!! EEBC ruling of 2002 indisputable!! All the chapters in the process have now reached a legal conclusion! President Isaias Afwerki. VIVA ERITREA!