Posted on 01/31/2008 6:45:55 PM PST by blam
Kenya peace talks called off as second MP shot
By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor
Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 01/02/2008
Talks designed to end the political crisis in Kenya were called off yesterday after police shot dead an opposition MP.
Telegraph TV: Crisis hits Kenya's vital flower market
David Kimutai Too, who died in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, was the second MP from the opposition Orange Democratic Movement to have been murdered this week.
Mugabe Were, another backbencher, was killed on Tuesday in Nairobi. His death provoked more unrest, with police tear-gassing mourners outside his home.
Mr Too's murder could spark more violence. Kofi Annan - the former United Nations secretary-general who is trying to broker a settlement - suspended talks between President Mwai Kibaki's government and the ODM in a bid to avoid this.
The police urged calm and said the circumstances of the MP's death were still unclear.
Maj Gen Mohammed Hussein Ali, the police commissioner, said: "Leaders should avoid speculating the cause of the MP's death. Already the culprit has been arrested and will be arraigned in court tomorrow."
Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who believes he was cheated of victory in the presidential election last December, said the killing was "part of a plot" to reduce the ODM's presence in parliament. The party holds 99 of the 222 seats.
Mr Annan pledged that the talks would resume today. But there is no sign of a breakthrough and the gap between the two sides remains profound. Mr Kibaki insists that he won a "free and fair" election, while the ODM says the contest should be held again.
Despite widespread condemnation of the election, Mr Kibaki was welcomed yesterday at a summit in neighbouring Ethiopia held by the African Union, an alliance of all 53 countries on the continent.
Mr Odinga denounced Mr Kibaki's invitation as a breach of the AU's charter, which upholds democracy as a founding principle.
He accused the authorities of allowing "ethnic cleansing" in the Rift Valley and said: "We are dealing with a government?…?unleashing terror on its own populace."
In fact, human rights groups believe that Mr Odinga's supporters have been responsible for murdering members of the president's Kikuyu tribe and forcing them out of their homes.
Both sides bear responsibility for violence which has claimed about 900 lives and displaced 250,000 people.
Assassinations tend to put a damper on peace talks.
“Kenya Peace Talks Called Off As Second MP Shot”
We just cannot make this stuff up. Tell Bush to send another 45 million of our tax dollars there.
Maybe Barry O can place a call to Kenya and “enter into a multilateral dialogue.”
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