Kenya opposition halts talks, protests flare

By Katie Nguyen and Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's opposition suspended talks with President Mwai Kibaki's party on Tuesday and police fired tear gas to scatter opposition supporters protesting against deepening deadlock over a power-sharing cabinet.

Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga delayed naming a cabinet on Monday after disagreeing over how to share out ministries and traded blame over who was responsible for the deadlock.

The cabinet is central to a deal on ending Kenya's post-election crisis.

Anyang' Nyong'o, secretary-general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, or ODM, said talks would be suspended until Kibaki's party "fully recognizes the 50/50 power-sharing arrangement and the principle of portfolio balance."

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua condemned the walkout and accused ODM of playing games.

"They are the ones who do not want the coalition. How can they walk out of talks and make demands? Demands are made at the negotiating table," he said.

Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum was convulsed by the biggest protests since both sides signed a power-sharing deal in February to end turmoil that killed at least 1,200 people after Kibaki's disputed re-election in December.

In a sign of mounting international concern, development partners including Britain, the United States, the World Bank and the United Nations said genuine power sharing was required to restore Kenyans' faith in the government.

"For the sake of Kenya we thus strongly urge the parties to agree very quickly on the formation of a coalition government," the group said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she urged Kibaki and Odinga by telephone on Monday to reach a deal.

"Both emphasized to me their strong commitment to do so," Rice said in a statement on Tuesday. "It is imperative that they form the cabinet without further delay and address the vitally important work of the nation."

"ROUGH RIDE"

Residents in Kibera said youths looted shops and burned tires. Some ripped up railway lines connecting the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the region's largest, with Uganda.

Protests spread to the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, where police closed in on angry crowds. "They're saying 'No cabinet, no peace,'" one witness said by telephone.

The shilling currency fell around 4 percent, its biggest one day fall since January 2, at the height of the violence.