Rice presses Kenyan rivals to share power

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday urged Kenya’s presidential rivals to set aside “personal agendas” and work together to form a coalition government that will end the country’s postelection hostilities.

During a one-day visit to help promote peace talks mediated by the African Union, Rice held out the promise of increased U.S. aid for reconstruction and resettlement of more than 300,000 people displaced by tribal violence. But she added that help would come only if leaders reach a political solution that results in a “Kenya that is stable, that has a legitimate government.”

“The current stalemate and the circumstances are not going to permit business as usual with the United States,” Rice told reporters in Nairobi after meeting with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. “The time for a political settlement was yesterday.”

Once a model of democracy in the region, Kenya has been struggling since a disputed Dec. 27 presidential election that both Kibaki and Odinga claim to have won. More than 1,000 people have been killed in political and ethnic clashes nationwide.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is mediating talks, said negotiations have stalled over the specifics of a power-sharing structure. Rice said she believed that both men are committed to forging a deal. But in a message apparently targeted at Kibaki, she called for the parties to agree to authentic power sharing.

So far, Kibaki’s negotiating team has offered to give the opposition only 15 lesser Cabinet positions and a largely ceremonial chief minister post for Odinga. The opposition leader wants a 50-50 split of Cabinet posts and a prime minister position that would oversee the government.

“It can’t be that there is simply the illusion of power sharing,” Rice said. “It has to be real.”

The visit by Rice, who was dispatched by President Bush during his five-nation tour of Africa, is stirring anti-Western sentiments among some Kibaki supporters, who accused the U.S. and other countries of dictating solutions and treating Kenya like a colony.

Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula warned Sunday against nations that might “make a mistake of putting a gun at anybody’s head.” He said the process “must be a Kenyan solution.”

A recent public opinion poll found that 61% of respondents favor a coalition government as a way of resolving the crisis, but many remain skeptical.

“If they can’t agree on the simple things, how will they run a government together?” asked Jessica Kola, a health worker in Kisumu. “It could turn into a big disaster if they end up fighting constantly. Will they even be able to hold it together for three months?”

Annan is scheduled to resume formal talks today.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com