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TechnoratiNobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu began meeting with Kenyan opposition officials, including Raila Odinga, on Thursday as crowds were gathering to protest the presidential election result.
(Photo: AP Images / Sayyid Azim)South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu, center, arrives for talks at the residence of opposition leader Raila Odinga, in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. In a bid to help ease the crisis in Kenya, Tutu flew to Nairobi and met Odinga. Speaking to reporters afterward, he said Odinga was ready for 'the possibility of mediation.' Tutu gave no details but said he hoped to meet Kibaki as well. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kibaki had no plans yet for such a meeting. Though both sides say they are ready to talk, the Odinga and Kibaki camps have mostly traded accusations that the other is fueling ethnic violence. Odinga says he will not meet with Kibaki unless the latter concedes he lost the presidency, something Kibaki is unlikely to do.
Peace talks with Tutu began in hopes of ending the violence that has resulted in over 300 deaths and as many as 75,000 people internally displaced, according to the Kenyan government. Meanwhile, the public rally by Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement was postponed to next week when government forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds, according to The Associated Press.
“We’ve come to express our solidarity with the people of Kenya to express our sympathy at the carnage that has happened, hoping that we will be able to encourage the leadership to take action that would stop that carnage,” Tutu said, according to CNN.
Violence sparked by last weekend’s presidential election results erupted from the slums of Nairobi and quickly spread to coastline resorts. Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki won according to the government, but opposition leader Odinga accused his opponent of rigging the votes.
The political conflict spread to violence among common citizens who are divided by tribal affiliation moreso than party affiliation. Kibaki is from the largest ethnic group in Kenya, the Kikuyu tribe, while Odinga is a member of the Luo tribe, a smaller but still major group.
The fighting has been strictly carried out along ethnic lines, with one presidential candidate’s tribe attacking the other. The violence has also exposed Kenya’s long struggle with tribal tension.
Prior to the election-sparked violence, Kenya has been one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa.
The European Union and the United States have refused to congratulate President Kibaki, expressing concerns about accusation of electoral fraud. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Odinga by telephone Wednesday and planned to also talk to Kibaki to urge an end to the political conflict and violence, according to AP.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is contacting the leadership in Kenya, the African Union and other concerned parties, said a statement from his spokesman, according to CNN.
“The secretary-general reminds the government, as well as the political and religious leaders of Kenya, of their legal and moral responsibility to protect the innocent lives of people, regardless of their racial, religious or ethnic origin, and he strongly urges them to do everything within their capacity to prevent any further violence,” the statement said.
While Archbishop Tutu is talking to Odinga’s party, it is not immediately known if he will also hold talks with incumbent President Mwai Kibaki’s party.
In addition to the South African Archbishop, the World Council of Churches’ general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, has also offered to “support the process of dialogue and reconciliation.”
Kobia, a Kenyan, has urged the two sides to put aside their “partisan postures” and begin negotiation in “good faith” to reach a non-violent solution to the electoral dispute.
“Now is the time to put the interests of the nation and the surrounding region above other concerns,” Kobia said.
The WCC head also called on churches in Kenya to do their part in encouraging respect for “human life” and seeking reconciliation between ethnic groups. He also appealed to international churches to provide humanitarian aid to Kenyan communities affected by the violence.
“The violent perversion of public life in Kenya at present cannot be accepted in a New Year or at anytime,” the WCC general secretary declared.
“After the immediate measures are taken, and while the current troubles are still fresh in the nation’s mind, it will be necessary to have a frank and thorough appraisal of underlying constitutional and electoral issues that have damaged previous Kenyan election as well as this one,” he advised.
Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement said Thursday it will again attempt to hold a protest rally next Tuesday despite the government ban on such gatherings. The party’s officials expect at least a million people to attend.
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