Maravi

(TIMES) KK Kenya-bound

KK Kenya-bound
By Times Reporter

AS trouble continues to ravage Kenya, first Zambian Republican President, Kenneth Kaunda, is scheduled to leave for that country, tentatively today, to assess the situation under the auspices of the African Forum. Dr Kaunda’s special assistant, Sunday Musonda, said in Lusaka yesterday that Zambia’s former President was scheduled to lead a delegation of former presidents and other eminent persons to the trouble-torn country.

Mr Musonda said other members of the African Forum expected to travel to the East African country include former Botswana President Ketumire Masire, his counterpart from Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa and former Commonwealth secretary-general, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

The African Forum is an international organisation founded by former African presidents and other prominent people. Former Mozambican president, Joachim Chissano, currently chairs it.

When asked if the African Forum was contemplating to undertake mediation between the warring parties, Mr Musonda said that the delegation was going to assess the situation and after that a way forward would be adopted.

Meanwhile BBC reports that President Kibaki on Thursday called for an end to the unrest and said that once that had happened he would be prepared to speak to the opposition.

“I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement,” Mr Kibaki told journalists at his State House residence in Nairobi.

The EU and US have agreed to push Mr Kibaki and his opposition rival to consider a coalition government, a spokeswoman for the EU’s foreign policy chief said after he spoke to the US secretary of state.

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has claimed its leader, Raila Odinga, is the “people’s president” and has demanded a re-run of the poll.

Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of opposition supporters on Thursday as they tried to hold a banned rally in the Kenyan capital’s Uhuru (Freedom) Park.

Demonstrators poured out of Kibera slum and other shanty towns after dawn but were prevented from reaching the centre of Nairobi by a massive security presence.

The opposition has decided to postpone the event for now and, according to an ODM leader, William Ruto, will try again on January 8.
There were also running battles between police and youths in the coastal city of Mombasa.

In the township of Bombolulu on its northern fringes, police fired live rounds over the heads of a group of demonstrators, who chanted: “No peace!”

And the BBC’s Karen Allen in Eldoret says targeted arson attacks continue in the western Kenyan town, where at least 30 died on Tuesday when a church was set alight.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has flown in to try to mediate in the crisis.

The Nobel laureate was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: “This is a country that has been held up as a model of stability. This picture has been shattered.”

The latest disorder prompted the Nairobi Stock Exchange to close barely an hour after opening.

Supporters of President Kibaki (a member of Kenya’s predominant Kikuyu tribe) and Mr Odinga (from the Luo community) have accused each other of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the post-poll unrest.

Samuel Kivuitu, head of Kenya’s election commission, which declared that Mr Kibaki had been re-elected, has told the BBC he could not say for sure if he had won the poll fairly.

Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA, SUNDAY MUSONDA

posted by MrK @ 1:59 AM