African Union head meets Kenya's feuding parties.

                                               (Nairobi, January, 09 2008 Ceegaag Online)

African Union chief John Kufuor met Kenya's president and opposition leader on Wednesday to try to break a political impasse behind post-election turmoil that has killed about 500 people.

Kufuor, the president of Ghana, first met President Mwai Kibaki at his State House office and residence, then went straight to a hotel for talks with Raila Odinga.

He says he was cheated of winning the Dec. 27 vote by fraud.

The crisis has dented Kenya's reputation for stability in a turbulent corner of Africa, hurt key economic sectors like tourism and tea, and tainted Kibaki's previous reputation as a gentlemanly leader with a penchant for P.G. Wodehouse novels.

Long used to receiving refugees from neighbouring hot-spots like Sudan and Somalia, Kenya now has more than a quarter of a million of its own internally displaced people, many the victims of fighting between different ethnic groups.

In a statement after their meeting, Kibaki's office said the president assured Kufuor he was initiating dialogue and "would continue to reach out to Kenyan leaders."

Kibaki has implied he could bring opposition figures into government and invited Odinga to a face-to-face meeting on Friday. But the opposition leader has declined, saying such a meeting would be a "sideshow" without an international mediator.

"There can be no lasting solution without justice," Odinga said after meeting a visiting group of former African leaders.

Kufuor made no public comment after his meetings.

Kibaki's naming of 17 ministers late on Tuesday sparked more violence around east Africa's largest economy.

Kenya's main paper, the Daily Nation, said the appointments -- which included a defeated presidential candidate and several figures hated by the opposition -- may "poison the atmosphere".

"It will be seen as a sign of bad faith ahead of the discussions about to begin," the newspaper said.

FOREIGN PRESSURE

Within minutes of the cabinet announcement by Kibaki, hundreds of rioters built burning barricades and stoned cars in Kisumu, a western stronghold of the opposition.

In Nairobi, opposition supporters also came out in the slums, some of them brandishing machetes.

"They are going wild. They are very angry about the new cabinet," said Onyango Apudo, a boxer living in the Mathare shanty-town. At least three people died in the flare-ups.

Kibaki made his first public foray on Wednesday since his disputed re-election, visiting thousands of refugees in the Burnt Forest area, near Eldoret in west Kenya, one of the areas worst hit by ethnic killings.

Speaking on a hastily erected wooden stage draped in Kenya's national flag, Kibaki told a crowd of several thousand displaced people that he would catch those behind the violence.

"The government will arrest them and charge them in court -- they know who they are," he said, to cheers.

He urged people not to fear "backward, savage people" and promised assistance to rebuild homes and re-start agriculture.

Officials say 486 people have died in election-related violence. But aid workers put the figure at more than 500, and the opposition say the toll could be nearer 1,000 from clashes between police and protesters, ethnic fighting, and looting.

International pressure for a negotiated solution is growing.

Washington says the presidential vote count was "obviously flawed" while London calls it "plagued by irregularity".

Possible scenarios being touted include a power-sharing arrangement or a fresh election.

But there is deep distrust between Kibaki and Odinga, a former political prisoner and wealthy business owner who helped Kibaki win a 2002 poll but was sacked from government in 2005.

Stoking opposition ire, Kibaki kept several controversial figures in his new cabinet, including former hardline Internal Security Minister John Michuki who moved to the roads ministry.

His naming of Kalonzo Musyoka as vice-president, perceived by many as a bid to bring his Kamba tribe on board, prompted some attacks on that group.

Source: Reuters

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