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Kenya political rivals optimistic about future
2008-03-01 09:23:57
By NAIROBI
Kenya`s power-sharing deal could be made to work, rival leaders said yesterday, boosting hopes a process of reconciliation would now begin after post-election bloodshed.
Political factions met following the signing by President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga on Thursday of a deal setting up a coalition government.
The two men had come under huge pressure from world powers and Kenya`s 36 million people to find a solution to end two months of turmoil and help repair the country`s reputation as east Africa’s business, tourism and transport centre.
Kibaki said the ``process of national reconciliation and healing`` had begun, according to his office. He reaffirmed his support for the agreement and ``expressed confidence that it would be implemented fully in the interest of all Kenyans``.
Odinga said he was confident ``that everyone is going to try and ensure that this coalition will work and succeed``.
Asked what would happen if it fell through, he said: ``In my view that would lead to disintegration of the country.``
Kenya``s shilling currency hit a 45-day high against the dollar buoyed by positive sentiment on the deal, traders said.
Brokers said the main share index rose 3 percent from the end of last week.
``There is certainly a lot of optimism from this, and we hope that towards the end of the second quarter we’ll see a return to the levels of foreign interest we were seeing before,`` said Sunil Sanger, managing director of CFC Financial Services in Nairobi.
Many Kenyans greeted each other with ``Happy New Year``, a reference to the fact those celebrations were delayed by spasms of violence after Kibaki was sworn in on Dec. 30.
But the optimism was tempered by a recognition that the signing was only a first step and the proof would be in the deal`s implementation, due to start when Kenya`s often unruly parliament opens on Thursday.
Some Kenyans were less sanguine about the future, and the chances of healing deep ethnic rifts left by the killings of more than 1,000 people and the displacement of 300,000 more.
``Kibaki and Raila have never slept in the cold hungry and this agreement means nothing to us,`` said Alice Wangui, a woman from the Kikuyu tribe forced to leave her ethnic Luo husband and stay in a refugee camp in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha.
Kenya`s parliament is split right down the middle between Kibaki and Odinga`s allies.
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