NEW BID TO BREAK KENYA DEADLOCK !
Kofi Annan has said the two rivals are very close to a deal. Talks aimed at breaking Kenya's political deadlock have resumed a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a power-sharing deal.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for powers to be vested in the new post of prime minister.
He says he was cheated of victory in December's elections - a charge denied by President Mwai Kibaki, who wants to keep his powers.
Violence over the dispute has left at least 1,000 people across the country.
However, most parts of Kenya are now calm.
"I frankly believe that the time for a political settlement was yesterday," Ms Rice said after holding separate meetings with President Kibaki and Mr Odinga on Monday.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for powers to be vested in the new post of prime minister.
He says he was cheated of victory in December's elections - a charge denied by President Mwai Kibaki, who wants to keep his powers.
Violence over the dispute has left at least 1,000 people across the country.
However, most parts of Kenya are now calm.
"I frankly believe that the time for a political settlement was yesterday," Ms Rice said after holding separate meetings with President Kibaki and Mr Odinga on Monday.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is meeting Mr Kibaki separately before returning to the talks, where he is the chief mediator.
Last week he said the two sides were "very close" to a solution.
'Move forward'
The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says that although both sides have agreed the idea of a grand coalition in principle, they appear deadlocked over how it should work in practice.
Ms Rice also said: "It can't be that there is simply the illusion of power-sharing, it has to be real."
President Kibaki's team has not revealed its position, although it has left several cabinet posts unfilled, opening the way for some form of coalition government.
A government negotiator has also said they would be happy to change the constitution - a step that would be needed to create the post of prime minister.
The government has also warned against a foreign solution imposed on Kenya.
But Ms Rice dismissed suggestions from Kenyan ministers that the US was meddling in Kenyan affairs.
"It's Kenyans who are insisting that their political leaders, that their political class finds a solution to the crisis so that Kenya can move forward," she said.
However, foreign diplomats have warned representatives of both sides of dire consequences if they scupper the process.
The US has said that 10 MPs, accused of stirring up the violence, will be banned from entering the US, while some donors have threatened to reduce aid to Kenya.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Labels: Kenya U.S. Violence Deal Crisis Solution Power-sharing Rice Odinga Kibaki Elections Kofi-Annan
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