KENYA:Any outside attempt to force through a political deal in Kenya would be a mistake and the solution to the postelection crisis lies with Kenyans, Moses Wetangula, Kenya's foreign minister, said yesterday, writes Katie Nguyen and Joseph Sudah in Nairobi.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is due in Nairobi today to support mediation efforts led by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
"We encourage our friends to support us and not to make any mistake of putting a gun to anybody's head and saying 'either-or' because that cannot work," Mr Wetangula told reporters.
"Even if we get visitors to help us in any way possible, the answer to the problem in Kenya lies with Kenyans themselves."
Later, a White House spokeswoman said Dr Rice did not expect her visit to forge a deal, nor would she be offering incentives to encourage the feuding sides to strike a pact.
"Secretary Rice doesn't expect, I don't think, to come away with a final deal," the spokeswoman said. "But I do think . . . they are inching their ways closer and they need a little bit of help to get there."
Mr Annan is trying to end a dispute over the re-election of the president, Mwai Kibaki, that erupted into bloodshed, killing 1,000 people and leaving 300,000 homeless.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga says he was robbed of victory by his former ally Mr Kibaki. Mr Kibaki maintains he won the December 27th vote fairly.
The crisis affecting an ally in the West's fight to counter al-Qaeda has dented Kenya's democratic credentials, driven tourists away and disrupted supplies of food and fuel to countries in the region.
Mr Kibaki's team has resisted what it views as outside attempts to interfere in the affairs of a country that gained independence from Britain in 1963.
"We have many examples where hurried, rushed agreements . . . have collapsed as soon as they are signed, before the ink has dried," Mr Wetangula said.
On a tour of Africa, US president Bush said he did not want to dictate how to bring an end to Kenya's political violence, but wanted only to help push along Mr Annan's mediation.
On Saturday, Mr Bush threw his weight behind a powersharing deal to end a stand-off over which man won the election.
A survey in the Sunday Nation said 61.3 per cent of Kenyans favour a "grand coalition", an idea advocated by Mr Annan. Of those, 31.3 per cent said it would resolve the crisis because power would be shared equally.
Of the 38.7 per cent against a grand coalition, 23.3 per cent said it would not work because both parties were power-hungry. A further 20.2 per cent said the differences between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga would make it impossible for them to work together.
US officials have threatened to sanction any individuals seeking to obstruct peace moves. Earlier this month, Washington threatened to bar entry to the United States to eight unnamed politicians and business leaders accused of stoking violence.
Britain's envoy to Kenya, Adam Wood, was admonished by Mr Wetangula for saying the government did not reflect the will of the Kenyan people. - (Reuters)