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World watches every step Kenya makes
2008-02-04 08:44:56
By Guardian Reporter
Peace talks enter the make-or-break stage on Monday even as international pressure for a quick end to the firestorm of destruction, deaths and displacement, intensifies.
It will also be race against time as the parties involved have committed themselves to a programme of action that could end the skirmishes in the next seven and 15 days.
The crucial day could be Wednesday when the negotiators are expected to discuss Orange`s stand that Kibaki is in office through an act of electoral fraud.
From the African Union appointed mediator, former UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan, and his predecessor Mr Ban Ki-Moon, the message is the same - violence and impunity must stop.
The representatives of the parties to the dispute - the Party of National Unity - exhibit mounting confidence in each other and have made an important agreement on the first step.
The talks took a break as violence popped up in the Kisii-Kericho border, triggered mainly by the killing of Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too on Thursday in Eldoret.
Youths burned hundreds of homes in a local market on Friday night, sending residents fleeing.
In Eldoret, a mob ringed the Great Harvest Evangelical Church, where two people were sheltering, and burnt it.
Those inside fled. On Saturday, the death toll of 800 the President gave on Friday rose by six.
The talks weathered its first storm on Friday when the President said ODM should seek legal redress over its claims of a stolen mandate in the presidential election.
President Kibaki also blamed the Opposition for instigating widespread violence.
On mediation, Kibaki noted that the solution does not lie in power sharing, but in a long-term solution addressing the underlying problems.
But on Saturday, the Raila team accused Kibaki of undermining the peace process, but said they would not pull out of it.
The party said its representatives in the Annan talks would raise the issue with the convener.
From Monday, the parties are expected to tackle the disputed presidential election, seen to be the substantive issue in the talks and the trigger of the chaos that has ravaged the land.
The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Team is expected to tackle the emotional issue of the presidential poll this week, after clearing what were considered as preliminary issues like agreeing on the rules of engagement and the mandate of the panel.
On Friday, the team sat late to deal with violence so that tomorrow it discuss the humanitarian crisis that has sprung out of the violence.
Talks on the humanitarian aspects are expected to take not more than a day, but could take two.
By Tuesday or Wednesday, the team is expected to delve into the alleged electoral fraud.
The talks proceed with the weight of the world heavily on Kenya, amid political posturing, seen to be meant to give Kibaki an edge over his opponents, casting doubts on the peace talks.
Under watchful eye
The arrivals and departures by high profile world leaders tell the story of a nation under the watchful eyes of the world.
Mr Ki-Moon jetted in on Friday. On hand to receive him was Annan. With Annan is former South African President Mr Nelson Mandela`s wife, Mrs Graca Machel.
Former Tanzanian President Mr Benjamin Mkapa is still around, weeks after Ghana\'s President John Kufuor came and left.
South Africa`s Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, a businessman who helped negotiate an end to apartheid and was thought to be eyeing the presidency, is expected soon.
Such an array of top world leaders has never converged in Kenya before to help out a nation once taking pride in being island of peace.
One more time, the European Union said it would stand by Annan in his effort to resolve the crisis.
French Ambassador in Kenya Elizabeth Barbier, who is the Head of the EU team, said the EU will ``do everything it can to help Mr Annan in his delicate task``.
Saying the EU is in close contact with Mr Annan and all Kenyan players.
Ms Barbier said she is keen to make sure that ``a legitimate solution can be agreed swiftly and that Kenya can come back to peace``.
``I think that, as Mr Annan said, there are many factors to this conflict. That the announcement of the results of the elections triggered the violence is a fact. If we want peace, Kenyans must address all the issues fuelling the conflict. That is what Mr Annan is trying to do by bringing together the two sides. We urge Kenyan politicians from all sides to quickly find a sustainable and consensual political solution to the crisis,`` she said.
How that stand sits with Kibaki`s position that ODM should go to court over the disputed elections remains unclear.
``In such situations, the accepted rule is to resort to the established constitutional and legal mechanisms,`` Kibaki said.
Kibaki told African presidents and members of the international community that; ``For us in Kenya, the Judiciary has over the years arbitrated many electoral disputes, and the current one should not be an exception.``
On Saturday, in an interview with The Sunday Standard, Ms Barbier said France and the EU fear that the violence could worsen alongside the humanitarian crisis.
She said EU and France believe there has to be a political solution to the dispute.
``The origin of the present crisis lies in the immense disappointment of the Kenyan people in the face of an election result marred by irregularities. The solution is political and must be swift.
Both parties now face a historic responsibility: choose dialogue or bear responsibility for a political and human catastrophe,`` Barbier said.
Barbier said it was also France`s position the United Nations should get involved.
``France reaffirms its confidence in Mr Kofi Annan to pursue mediation.
It also reaffirms its support for the efforts of the African Union and the United Nations Secretary-General to end the violence and find a political solution to the crisis.
In the name of the responsibility to protect, it is urgent to help the people of Kenya. The United Nations Security Council must take up this question and act,`` Ms Barbier said.
Those involved in the talks reported that the hard line positions politicians are taking in public do not exist in the boardroom negotiations and representatives of PNU are open to all ideas.
But they also say that ultimately, it is the support of the world Annan enjoys that will make a difference, especially when the thorny issue of the political causes of the chaos is put on the table.
Emerging stand-off
The weight the world has brought to bear on Kenya played itself out the County Hall last week, when seats had to be rearranged as Kenyans remained glued to their televisions sets, waiting for Kibaki and Raila to arrive, to take their seats and launch the peace teams.
Unknown to the public, a stand-off was emerging between the chief negotiator and Kenya`s Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Muthaura, over who should chair the day`s meeting.
Sources told The Sunday Standard Muthaura insisted that Kibaki be the one to chair the meeting, and ordered the State chair be placed in the middle, awaiting Kibaki\'s arrival.
Muthaura further insisted that Kenya is a sovereign State and would not allow a foreign dignitary to chair a meeting, which the President is attending.
He argued that even diplomatic protocol would not allow that.
The Head of Civil Service is said to have cautioned that if the President would not sit in the middle, with Annan and Raila on both sides, he would not attend.
With Kibaki\'s re-election being the bone of contention, the talks ran into danger of stalling.
In the first meeting, ODM had complained that Kibaki changed his speech and used the occasion to assert that he was the ``duly elected`` Head of State, a position even Annan`s secretariat is said to have been uneasy with.
ODM also complained that in the earlier talks, Muthaura `sneaked in` the presidential public address system, while the leaders had been briefed that they would speak from the same microphone.
Observers believe it is the weight of the world that is solidly behind Annan, which forced Muthaura to back down after the former UN chief threatened to ease off the process.
``Annan told Muthaura that he had spent most of his life in protocol related matters and knew better what is consistent with protocol and what was not. He took Kibaki aside as soon as he arrived at County Hall and explained. That is how Kibaki ended up not chairing the meeting,`` the source said.
The two parties agreed to prioritise ending the violence and tackling the international crisis before embarking on the political issues largely due to pressure from the international community.
Consensus has also built at the talks that speed is of essence. When a member suggested last week that the team spends two weeks discussing the violence, others objected, ignoring party lines.
``There is a realisation that Kofi is not just after coffee on the table. There is a realisation that he comes with tremendous goodwill of the international community and whichever position he takes will be supported across the world,`` a member of the Dialogue and Reconciliation Team said.
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