Kenyan Leader Offers Gesture Amid Protests
President Daniel Arap Moi met with Kenya’s religious leaders Tuesday and agreed on the need for constitutional reforms, a conciliatory gesture in the face of an opposition-backed campaign that has led to bloody clashes between police and demonstrators.
The official Presidential Press Service said Moi and religious leaders agreed on the need to review the constitution “with a view to amending or overhauling it to serve the needs, requirements and aspirations of modern Kenya.”
But it added: “The time and mechanism for effecting these changes will be discussed in subsequent meetings.” It was unclear whether reforms would come before elections scheduled for the end of the year.
Earlier Tuesday, students demanding constitutional reforms and Moi’s ouster clashed with police in Nairobi, the capital.
“Moi must go. We want reforms,” chanted hundreds of students from Kenya Polytechnic, ordered closed Monday, as they built makeshift barricades on Haile Selassie Avenue.
At least seven people were killed in Kenya on July 7 when riot police broke up demonstrations.
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