Condoleezza Rice comes to Kenya

Rice with Kibaki

Rice with Kofi Annan

The following excerpts (as well as the above photos) are from the Daily Nation:

At different forums during her shuttle diplomacy one-day visit to Nairobi (Monday, February 18), Ms Condoleezza Rice met separately with President Kibaki, Mr Odinga and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is leading the mediation talks.

“The time for a political settlement was supposed to be yesterday and it (agreeing on a coalition) has to be urgent. The leaders (President Kibaki and Mr Odinga) have to come together and there is need to have a power sharing arrangement for the country to move forward,” she said.

She acknowledged that Kenya was an independent country governed by independent people and that the international community was only reciprocating by caring for a friendly nation.

“What we hear is the insistence by the Kenyan people that the political crisis and the violence must come to an end. We are not dictating a solution to Kenyans,” she said.

The US official was categorical that Washington and the international community had stepped in to show their concern about the ghastly state of affairs and to demonstrate their solidarity with thousands of Kenyans who were suffering.

She explained that as a member of the international community, there were certain standards which Kenya was obliged to observe and one of them was to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis and stop the violence.

“We should, as one international community, observe certain standards that have been set. We object to the use of the word ‘dictate’. It is the Kenyans people who are insisting on an end to the crisis and the international community is coming in to assist; to help,” she said.

The US top diplomat was, however, categorical that the power sharing arrangement should not be an illusion.

“The parties forming the coalition must have responsibilities and authority. The power sharing cannot be an illusion or imaginary; it has to be real,” she stated.

President Bush, she said, spoke to Mr Annan on Sunday night and assured him of US support for the ongoing negotiations to find a way out of the political crisis in the country.

President Kibaki, the envoy said, should take “last step” and agree on governance as Kenyans “want to move forward.”

Kenyans, she said, want the Government to return to “business of governance.”

On his part, Mr Annan rebuffed leaders who have been telling the
international community to stop interfering with Kenya following the disputed last presidential elections results.

“The international community is engaged; they are engaged because of their friendship for Kenya and they are here because of their solidarity with the Kenyan people and we’re all working together to ensure that we get the right results and that Kenya becomes a stable, prosperous country and the haven it has been in this region for all the countries. No one is here to dictate, but we are here in solidarity,” he said.

President Bush was criticised by PNU leaders following his proposal at the weekend that Kenya embraces a power-sharing arrangement between PNU and ODM.

Other foreign missions have also been accused of trying to impose solutions on Kenyans with Ms Karua and Mr Wetang’ula saying Kenya was not a colony but a sovereign state and that it should be left alone. The ministers said it is only Kenyans who will find a solution to the current crisis and that it should be as per the Constitution.

But Mr Annan yesterday said the search for a solution was not an individual or political party issue but Kenyans.

“People are tired, they have been traumatised and some live in fear and want the issue resolved,” the chief mediator added.