Britain ready to host Kenya donor conference

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is prepared to host a donors' conference to raise funds to help Kenya's economy and tourism sector after a power-sharing agreement ended a political crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday.

He told reporters he had just spoken to former U.N. chief Kofi Annan who brokered the deal and told him: "We'd be prepared in London to host a donors' conference to make sure Kenya has the best chance to build upon this power-sharing agreement, to restore tourism and get the economy moving again."

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a deal on Thursday to create a power-sharing government, hoping to end a post-election crisis that plunged the country into its worst turmoil since independence.

Brown thanked Annan for his mediation efforts in the former British colony, saying the pact "gives us the chance to put behind (us) the events of the last few months which have caused so much violence and loss of life. Common sense has prevailed."

Brown said he believed the agreement "can stick".

"We stand ready to help both financially and politically to make sure the power-sharing agreement holds (and) that the new president and prime minister work well together with the support of the international community so that ... we have the possibility of stability in the country," he said, adding that stability in Kenya was important for Africa as a whole.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Richard Williams)