January 07, 2008
Kenya: Odinga Cancels Rallies Ahead Of A.U. Mediation
After a meeting with U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga today canceled planned protests by his opposition group, the Orange Democratic Movement, saying that he wanted to provide "a peaceful environment" for the mediation process scheduled to begin tomorrow.
"We are now sure that mediation will start. We have consulted and decided that the public rallies we called for are canceled," he said, as African Union Chairman John Kufuor of Ghana was expected to arrive in Kenya Tuesday to lead the mediation effort.
Odinga has signaled that he is willing to negotiate a power-sharing agreement between himself and President Mwai Kibaki, whose hotly contested re-election victory two weeks ago has sparked protests, riots and ethnic violence throughout the country.
The opposition party is claiming that 1,000 lives have been lost in the chaos that ensued after Kibaki's re-election victory, which Odinga and his supporters claim was stolen through a rigged election. Most other estimates put the death toll around 500.
Reports of a deepening refugee crisis and widespread hunger in Kenya are also emerging. Some have predicted that the post-election turmoil could send the country spiraling into a civil war fueled by longstanding ethnic and tribal clashes.
The current crisis is focused on the two ethnic groups -- Kikuyu and Luo -- to which Kibaki and Odinga belong, respectively. In a primer on Kenyan tribal relations, Reuters reports that "many Luos feel they have been politically cheated by Kikuyus over Kenya's history." Kikuyus are now the prime target of rival tribes incensed by the election results on Dec. 27.
The Washington Post and BBC News have more background on the disputed election and the ethnic tensions fueling the violence in Kenya.
