INSTANT VIEW: Kenya rivals sign power-sharing deal

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement on Thursday intended to end a post-election crisis that left 1,000 people dead.

He are some analysts' views:

MATTHEW PEARSON, HEAD OF EQUITIES RESEARCH AFRICA,

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"Uncertainty is one thing that international investors hate, so the closer you get to a resolution, the better. The question is now the magnitude of the damage done to companies and the economy. Investors will be homing in on corporate earnings for the quarter to gauge the precise impact of the political violence in the past few months. We need to get greater clarity on company earnings to see if we need to further revalue assets.

ROBERT SHAW, ECONOMIC ANALYST AND BUSINESSMAN:

"We don't have any choice. We have to make it work. We are all hopeful, but we have to be cautious."

"I'm more concerned that it becomes a concrete agreement. There needs to be an awful good amount of goodwill if it needs to work."

"We are all hopeful, and I think one has to be cautious. There are many potholes and I think we can just hope. The country has got to a stage where we really couldn't carry on like this. Let us hope that it is going to work."

"We are all concerned in terms of a more concrete agreement so that it doesn't become another MOU."

"We've still got some way to go. The country needs it like yesterday. The damage that has been inflicted is enormous.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN:

"Kenya's leaders have reached a power-sharing agreement that represents a triumph for peace and diplomacy, and a renunciation of the violence that has scarred a country of such enormous potential. Common sense has prevailed, and the Kenyan people have the outcome for which they have hoped and prayed."

"I applaud the courage that Kenya's leaders have shown in taking the tough decisions necessary to put Kenya back on the path to the prosperity, democracy and stability which it is so richly deserves."

"The hard work must continue. Kenyans need help to resettle and rebuild. Real leadership, patience and tolerance is necessary to ensure that the agreement sticks."

KENYAN COLUMNIST MACHARIA GAITHO:

"The really hard part begins now because this has to go to parliament. I think both sides will really have to show good faith and whip their MPs into line to make sure that whatever is proposed in parliament passes without a hitch."

MAINA KIAI, HEAD OF KENYA NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-

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"This is the step forward Kenya needed. We were hoping it would be a transitional government leading towards elections and longer term review of the constitution, and of the key structures and institutions," he said.

"A major challenge will be to see whether the MPs themselves can put aside their own personal ambitions for the good of the country. Not all MPs will be accommodated in the cabinet. The cabinet will have to be leaner and should not contain hardliners."

"It is too early to talk about a new Kenya."

DAVID WIGHTWICK, KENYA EMERGENCIES EXPERT FOR BRITISH

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"The political crisis in Kenya has been played out in displays of shocking violence that have scarred the country. If this settlement marks the end of that violence and the beginning of a healing process, then the agreement must be welcomed, embraced and supported. But this is only the first step on what will be a rocky road. Of itself this settlement does not mark the end, but only the beginning, of peace."

"This political settlement must move quickly to address the issue of people displaced by violence and the views of displaced people must be heard and taken into account in any proposals to close camps and resettle the residents. As a start, the government must move to protect all those at risk from violence, focusing on those who chose to return home and those who are left in camps."

PATRICK SMITH, EDITOR OF U.K.-BASED "AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL"

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"That sort of agreement will put a tremendous amount of pressure on ODM to stay united behind Raila Odinga and I guess some people think that it is kind of a shaky coalition."

"If you look at the events from December 27 to now, it is clearly PNU and Kibaki that has done all the movement, while ODM have not really budged. So it can be seen as some sort of victory for ODM while PNU have given most ground. The question most people will be asking is, will it work?"

TOM CASEY, U.S STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN:

"That's an important and very positive step forward. We are very pleased to see that this agreement has been reached. It allows the Kenyan people to move forward with a very basic issue of governance."

"We want to see this agreement implemented ... We certainly appreciate the good will shown by both President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga in reaching this agreement. We certainly would hope that everyone associated with their political parties and movements would work with them to support this deal and move it forward."