Bush pushes for power-sharing deal to end Kenya crisis
Credit: Reuters
(Adds Bush arrival in Tanzania, previous Cotonou)
By Tabassum Zakaria and Wangui Kanina
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday threw his weight behind a power-sharing deal to end a bloody political crisis in Kenya.
Bush arrived in neighbouring Tanzania from Benin to begin the second and longest leg of a five-nation African tour that will also take him to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
He will not visit Kenya, which is torn by the worst crisis in its history following a disputed December election, but is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice there on Monday to back mediation by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan.
Bush was greeted by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who has been lauded by U.S. officials for democratic and economic progress in the east African country, which will be the centrepiece of the U.S. leader's tour of the continent.
Thousands of people lined the road from the airport to welcome Bush and his wife Laura. Banners across the highway read "We cherish democracy" and "Thank you for helping fight malaria and HIV."
During his brief stop in Benin, Bush stepped up the pressure on Kenyan government and opposition leaders to end a post-election crisis that has killed around 1,000 people and left 300,000 homeless.
Rice's mission was "all aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power-sharing agreement," Bush told reporters after holding talks with Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi.
U.S. officials said the United States was ready to sanction any individuals who sought to obstruct Kenyan peace moves.
"Kenya's an issue ... that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help with the Kofi Annan initiative," Bush said.
FURTHER SANCTIONS
Annan is trying to end turmoil in Kenya over the disputed Dec. 27 re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, stressed that Rice's trip to Kenya would back Annan's role.
"Right now, we don't want to supplant Kofi Annan's mediation," she said, briefing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Tanzania. "President Bush does not need to go to Kenya at this point.
She said she believed Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga had both understood they had to find a credible lasting solution to the dispute.
"Any individuals ... seen as obstructing the effort for a peace process, a power-sharing agreement, the president stated, will be subject to possible further sanctions by the U.S.," said Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African Affairs.
Kenyans and Western powers are growing increasingly impatient at the lack of an agreement to end the bloodshed but analysts say Kibaki's government believes it has all the cards to sit tight and consolidate its hold on power, with limited leverage available from outside the country.
Commenting on Rice's trip to Kenya, a senior U.S. official said while some issues in the peace process were resolved, the power sharing deal will "take a little bit more time".
Annan has said considerable progress was made this week, including agreement for an independent review of the polls. He is also seeking constitutional and electoral reforms.
The former U.N. chief will meet President Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga on Monday when Rice will visit, before negotiations resume on Tuesday.
DARFUR SHADOW
Bush is avoiding Africa's conflict hotspots and visiting five states carefully chosen to show a different face from the poverty-plagued and war-stricken continent normally portrayed by the world's media.
The presidents of Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia are viewed by Washington as a new generation of democratic African leaders and the United States is backing them with health and education support and also some military cooperation.
But the crises in Kenya and Sudan's Darfur still loom large.
Speaking in Cotonou, Bush reiterated U.S. backing for the African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force being deployed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where political and ethnic conflict since 2003 has killed around 200,000 people.
"No question, Sudan is a real difficult situation which we have labelled a genocide. ... We are sanctioning some, rallying others to provide aid in the hopes there will be a robust U.N. force in Darfur to help relieve the suffering," Bush said.
He added the United States was ready to "help facilitate" the movement of the peacekeeping force for Darfur.
Bush said he had also been speaking with President Hu Jintao of China -- the main backer of oil-rich Sudan -- about "the need for us to act collaboratively on Darfur".
Bush praised Yayi's fight against corruption and said the U.S. government was willing to reduce farm subsidies -- West African cotton growers say U.S. subsidies ruin their business -- as long as other states granted market access for U.S. products. (Additional reporting by Deborah Charles; writing by Pascal Fletcher and Barry Moody; editing by Mary Gabriel)
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