Obama Gets Involved in Kenya Crisis. Kenya Leaders Agree to Talk

7 Jan 2008 Time

African Union chairman John Kufuor will try to mediate between Kenya's warring factions.

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama phoned Kenya's opposition leader as diplomatic attempts to end Kenya's political crisis intensified.

The top American envoy to Africa said that the vote count at the heart of the dispute was tampered with but that both sides could have been involved.

"Yes, there was rigging," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer, Jendayi Frazer "I mean there were problems with the vote counting process." She added: "Both the parties could have rigged." She said she did not want to blame either Kibaki or Odinga.

Kenya's electoral commission chairman Samuel Kivuiti has himself said he is not sure Kibaki won, though the chairman officially declared

President, Kibaki invited Odinga to his official residence for a meeting on 11 Jan. to discuss how to end the political and ethnic turmoil, Just hours earlier, Odinga called off nationwide rallies amid fears they would spark new bloodshed.

Odinga will meet with Kibaki, as long as the meeting is part of the mediation process with African Union chairman John Kufuor, the Ghanaian president who is expected to arrive in Kenya the evening of 9 Jan. Kufuor's trip to Kenya had been delayed repeatedly as the government rejected outside mediation in the disputed vote, but was to begin talks in the capital as early as Wednesday.

U.S. envoy, Jendayi Frazer had won an offer from Kibaki to form a unity government over the weekend. Odinga then said he was willing to drop demands that Kibaki resign and was willing to discuss sharing power, but only through a mediator empowered to negotiate an agreement that the international community would guarantee. It would be nearly impossible for Kibaki to govern without opposition support. In parliamentary elections held the same day as the presidential vote, Odinga's party won 95 of 210 legislative seats, and half of Kibaki's Cabinet lost their seats. It was a sign of people's anger over pervasive corruption and nepotism that favored Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

"Kenya is going to (have) a long future of instability if, in fact, they don't address the fundamental questions," Frazer said, "Getting the politicians to dialogue is not just about the past election -- it's about the future of this country and owning up to the real crises that we are all seeing the evidence of over the past week."