Kenya’s president and future prime minister said on Sunday they had made ”substantial progress” at talks to end an impasse over a power-sharing Cabinet and expected to clinch a deal on Monday.
”We have had a lengthy consultation throughout the day on the formation of a grand coalition government. In this regard we have made substantial progress,” President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga said in a joint statement.
”We appeal to all Kenyans to be patient and assure them that we expect to successfully conclude the consultations tomorrow [Monday].”
The two sides had planned to name the Cabinet on Sunday, but disagreement over the division of ministries scuttled that plan and forced the two leaders to hold the last-minute meeting.
The two sides said they had adjourned the talks until Monday afternoon.
The Cabinet was the key element of a deal brokered in February to end the East African nation’s bloodiest political crisis, a post-election spasm of rioting and ethnic slaughter that killed at hundreds of people and displaced 300 000.
The two leaders have been under heavy local and international pressure to break a month-long deadlock over the Cabinet. — Reuters