Wangui Kanina

Time is running out for a peaceful settlement of Côte d'Ivoire's crisis, Kenyan premier Raila Odinga said on Friday.

Provisional results on Thursday show that Kenyans voted in favour of a new constitution in a referendum that could reshape the political landscape.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party won three parliamentary seats on Thursday after by-elections that went peacefully.

Kenyans voted on Wednesday for five parliamentary seats that will decide who holds the majority, a test of stability in the East African nation.

A Kenyan Cabinet minister and assistant minister died on Tuesday along with two others in the crash of a light plane near the Masai Mara game reserve.

Kenya Airways said on Friday its 2007/08 annual profit after tax fell to 3,9-billion Kenya shillings from 4,1-billion due mainly to the impact of the East African nation's post-election crisis. ''The events post-election had a negative impact on our revenue, especially between January to March,'' said Titus Naikuni, the chief executive officer.

Foreign investors buying Kenya's Safaricom stock will pay a 0,5 shilling premium per share over the five Kenya shillings that domestic investors will be paying, the government announced on Wednesday. The offering generated over ,25-billion in bids from established institutional investors, Kenya's privatisation commission said.

Kenya swore in a power-sharing government on Thursday to soothe fury over a disputed election that plunged the East African country into a bloody crisis. ''Our people are now in the process of reconciliation,'' President Mwai Kibaki said at the ceremony, nearly four months after the December 27 poll that triggered extreme violence.

Kenya's Parliament on Tuesday unanimously passed the first of two laws required to enact a power-sharing deal designed to end the country's bloody post-election crisis. In a 200-0 vote, the legislature approved the constitutional amendment making positions in the Cabinet for a prime minister and two deputies.

Kenya's new Parliament sought on Tuesday to speed up legislation ratifying a fragile power-sharing deal intended to guarantee the peace after a post-election crisis that killed more than 1 000 people. Members of Parliament proposed procedures so that two Bills could be approved within a five-day limit.

President Mwai Kibaki commemorated on Thursday the 1 000 people killed during Kenya's post-election crisis and urged Parliament to enshrine into law a power-sharing deal intended to keep the peace. Kibaki opened Kenya's 10th Parliament with a minute's silence first for two slain legislators then for all the victims of violence.

Kenya's new government and opposition clashed in Parliament for the first time on Tuesday in a bad-tempered session reflecting deep bitterness over the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki. Despite demands for urgent action to end a crisis in which hundreds have been killed, opposition and government legislators argued for an hour.