The announcement of Kenya’s new coalition Cabinet has been delayed indefinitely over disagreements on its composition, both sides said on Saturday. "The widely expected announcement tomorrow [Sunday] of a new Cabinet that all Kenyans were so keenly awaiting has been delayed," Orange Democratic Movement spokesperson Salim Lone said.
Kenyan papers and political watchdogs on Friday criticised the size of a coalition Cabinet announced a day earlier, saying 40 ministers were a colossal waste of money in a country with widespread misery. Newspapers said the cost was unreasonable for Kenya, a nation where about 60% of the population lives on less than a day.
Kenya’s feuding political factions on Thursday announced the deadlock over a coalition government had been broken and that the new line-up would be announced on Sunday. The breakthrough came after a meeting between President Mwai Kibaki and prime minister-designate Raila Odinga amid weeks of bitter wrangling.
Kenya’s opposition on Wednesday accused the government of trying to spoil a power-sharing deal by seeking to vet new Cabinet ministers. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition chief Raila Odinga are at odds over the shape and size of a coalition Cabinet created under a pact to solve a post-election crisis that degenerated into ethnic violence.
Kenyan police on Tuesday fired tear gas at demonstrators protesting against the proposed size of a coalition government, as pressure mounted on the president and prime minister-designate to name a Cabinet. President Mwai Kibaki and future prime minister Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing deal last month but have been wrangling over who will get key ministries.
It’s the mecca of world-class distance running: Kenya’s Rift Valley. Everywhere I looked, knots of star runners jogged over the hills, disappeared into forests, sprinted toward the horizon. The glorious views and high altitude added to the intoxication.
Kenya’s political rivals traded accusations on Thursday over who is to blame for the deadlock in plans to create a unity government and end the country’s post-election crisis. The share flotation of top cellphone operator Safaricom — the largest IPO ever in East Africa — has also become an issue in the wrangling, officials and analysts say.
Nearly three months after the worst massacre of Kenya’s post-election violence, children’s shoes and charred clothes remain in the ashes of a rural church where about 30 people were burned to death. Wreaths of dried-out flowers lie where a mob set fire to the Assemblies of God building with 100 or so terrified villagers cowering inside.
Church leader Wycliffe Masibo describes seeing an elderly member of his flock whipped to death during a Kenyan army search for militiamen in his remote mountain village. Having made all the men lie on the floor, soldiers kicked and hit them, demanding they tell them where guns were kept.
Seventeen people were killed in Kenya’s Rift Valley region over the past 36 hours, where cattle theft has fanned tribal animosity, bringing the toll to 25 in three days, police said on Thursday. Cattle raiders killed 12 villagers and police retaliated, killing five of the attackers in the Baringo district.
Kenyans on Wednesday hailed the passing of laws needed for a power-sharing deal to end a deadly post-election crisis but worried about bitter debates ahead as discussion turned to sharing out posts. The rare conciliatory mood among the country’s lawmakers elated many Kenyans. But there were few illusions about the difficult days ahead.
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.
World leaders had to accept some blame for the violence that rocked Kenya after a disputed December election, killing more than 1 000 people, the international Human Rights Watch group said on Monday. It accused police of causing ”hundreds” of deaths by using excessive force during the two-month crisis.
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.
Kenya’s fragile power-sharing deal to end a bloody post-election crisis suffered a setback on Monday as a row broke out over the role of prime minister in the proposed coalition government. President Mwai Kibaki and his rival, Raila Odinga, signed the pact last month to end political turmoil that left hundreds of people dead.
Kenya is determined to make a success of a power-sharing deal designed to end a bloody two-month political crisis that has claimed 1 500 lives, Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Friday. Kenya plunged into its worst post-independence crisis after opposition leader Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of rigging December elections.
President Mwai Kibaki commemorated on Thursday the 1Â 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.
The Kenyan government sanctioned violence following last December’s disputed presidential elections, the BBC alleged on Wednesday, but Nairobi strongly denied the claims. The BBC quoted sources alleging that meetings were held at the official residence of President Mwai Kibaki between a banned militia group and high-ranking government figures.
Kenyan rivals were on Tuesday to push ahead with talks on a new deal to share power and tackle root causes of the strife, a day after more than a dozen people were killed in the volatile Rift Valley. The negotiations are focusing on reforms to address historical injustices that entail electoral, institutional, constitutional and judicial issues.
Fresh attacks claimed at least 15 lives in Kenya’s Rift Valley region overnight, police said on Monday, while rival political leaders worked out details for reform under last week’s power-sharing accord. ”A total of 15 people died: six burned in their houses, six hacked with machetes and three shot dead,” a police commander said after the attack.
Mediator Kofi Annan said on Saturday he was giving up day-to-day responsibility for reconciliation talks in Kenya after securing a deal to end its worst crisis since independence. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a coalition government pact on Thursday intended to bring to a close two months of violence.
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/ 29 February 2008
Kenyans moved to put one of their country’s darkest chapters behind them on Friday after the president and opposition leader agreed to power-sharing aimed at ending a bloody post-election political crisis. President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga signed the deal setting up a coalition government on Thursday.
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/ 28 February 2008
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement on Thursday intended to end a post-election crisis that left 1 000 people dead. Crowds of onlookers clapped as the two rivals inked a deal at a televised ceremony to set up a coalition government.
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/ 28 February 2008
Mediator Kofi Annan said Kenya’s government and opposition had reached agreement on a power-sharing deal at talks on Thursday to end the country’s deadly post-election crisis. ”We have come to an understanding on the coalition agreement,” Annan told reporters.
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/ 28 February 2008
Mediator Kofi Annan launched a new bid on Thursday for a political compromise to end Kenya’s post-election crisis, bringing the country’s feuding leaders to the same table for the first time in a month. The opposition had threatened to hold mass street protests on Thursday, but called them off after meeting Annan.
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/ 28 February 2008
African Union chief and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete pushed ahead on Thursday with talks to end the Kenyan political crisis. Kikwete chaired talks between President Mwai Kibaki, opposition chief Raila Odinga and former United Nations secretary general and chief mediator Kofi Annan in a fresh bid to resolve the two-month crisis.
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/ 27 February 2008
Kenya opposition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday called off street protests that had been set to press the government to strike a power-sharing deal to end the country’s post-election crisis.
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/ 27 February 2008
Britain on Tuesday said that the Kenyan army is now ”by far the best option” to stop a sectarian bloodbath as peace talks in Nairobi between the government and opposition were suspended. Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan suspended talks between the government and the opposition negotiating teams after it became clear they were going nowhere.
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/ 26 February 2008
A new round of talks to end Kenya’s political crisis started on Tuesday with no clear sign of an agreement on power-sharing and with the opposition threatening to resume nationwide protests. The talks being mediated by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan had come to a standstill on Monday.
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/ 26 February 2008
Two months of violence in Kenya have split the country along ethnic lines and there is a risk of further clashes if the political crisis is not resolved quickly, a top United Nations official said on Monday. Exhausted by a post-election crisis that has killed more than 1Â 000 people, most of the 36-million Kenyans want a quick political deal.
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/ 25 February 2008
Talks to end Kenya’s political crisis reached a standstill on Monday and negotiators from both sides said President Mwai Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga must now make the hard decisions on sharing power themselves. Negotiating teams met early on Monday to try to finalise agreement on ending post-election turmoil.
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/ 25 February 2008
Kenyan leaders were due on Monday to resume power-sharing talks to end the political crisis in the East African state that has sparked violence which has claimed more than 1 000 lives. The negotiations on a power-sharing deal have stalled on the term and powers of a would-be prime minister, a position that currently does not exist.