Tues, 4 Feb 2008


Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan said Monday the Kenyan government and governing party have rejected his choice to lead mediation efforts in talks to end a deadly postelection crisis.

Cyril Ramaphosa, a South African businessman who had played a leading role in talks in his own country to end apartheid, withdrew "in the face of reservations by the government and Party of National Unity," and his withdrawal was accepted with regret, Annan said in a statement.

Ramaphosa said he could not function in the job "without the complete confidence of both parties."

"I thought I should withdraw and go back to South Africa so I don't become a stumbling block myself," he told reporters outside the Serena Hotel, the venue of the negotiations.

The announcement came hours after Kenya's opposing political forces resumed talks to end weeks of violence following the disputed Dec. 27 election that brought President Mwai Kibaki back to power for a second five-year term. Violence since has killed more than 800 and left 300,000 homeless.

There was no immediate comment from Kibaki's representatives or opposition leader Raila Odinga's team.

Violence, meanwhile, flared.

At least seven people were killed overnight in battles between Kisii and Kalenjin communities, in a region 155 miles west of the capital, said the district commissioner of Sotik town, Humphrey Nakitare.

On Monday, hundreds of youths — armed with bows and arrows and machetes — attacked one another in an area where 2,000 people have fled their homes during nine days of clashes, Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Hassan Noor said. Dozens of houses were burned overnight, witnesses said.

Earlier, Odinga had called for international peacekeepers to help quell the violence in Kenya, once considered one of the most stable countries on the continent.