Kenyan
rivals see speedy resolution to crisis issues
Mon 3 Mar 2008, 11:54 GMT
Reuters Nairobi {Excerpts]
Kenya's political rivals vowed on Monday to hasten talks to resolve
longstanding disputes over land and wealth behind a post-election crisis
that shattered the country's image as one of Africa's most stable democracies.
Having brokered the deal, former U.N. boss and chief mediator Kofi Annan urged Kenyans to support the agreement and hold their leaders to the promises -- including land and electoral reforms -- made to them.
Annan, who handed over day-to-day mediation to Nigeria's ex-foreign minister Oluyemi Adeniji, had said long-term issues should be resolved within a year, but political negotiators were hopeful they could speed up their work.
"As far as I am concerned we ought to finish this phase, this week," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo told reporters after discussions chaired for the first time by Adeniji. Opposition negotiator Musalia Mudavadi also said he did not expect the remaining phase of the talks to drag on for a year. "We will find a way of moving faster," he added.
Parliament is due to meet on Thursday to pass a constitutional amendment to allow for a coalition government led by President Mwai Kibaki. His opposition rival, Raila Odinga, will take a newly created post of prime minister.
Washington, which sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi to shore up Annan's mediation efforts, has given Kenya $14.7 million in aid.
In a "message of hope" published in the Daily Nation newspaper on Monday, Annan saluted Kibaki and Odinga for agreeing to share power and "in that single act of statesmanship, saved your beautiful country, which was about to self-destruct".