U.S. envoy begins mediation amid concern over Kenya crisis

U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer on Saturday kicked off her mediation effort in Kenya. 250,000 people have thus far been displaced and at least 360 killed by post-electoral violence. U.S. envoy begins mediation amid concern over Kenya crisis The U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs held talks with Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate who claims incumbent President Mwai Kibaki rigged his way to re-election in the December 27 polls. Frazer was also expected to meet Kibaki in a bid to defuse the worst security and political crisis in Kenya, a key U.S. ally and usually a beacon of democracy and stability in the restive east African region. A statement from the United Nations released Friday said an estimated 250,000 Kenyans had been displaced by the unrest that broke out when the electoral board controversially declared Kibaki the winner on Sunday. The announcement was made despite growing evidence of fraud in the vote count and sparked a wave of riots and tribal killings, mainly in Odinga's western heartlands. The world body said between 400,000 and 500,000 people had been affected by the violence and stressed that at least 100,000 of them needed immediate assistance in the western Rift Valley region. Local aid workers expressed fear an outbreak of diseases in make-shift camps in schools, hospitals and churches, most of which were still out of reach owing to their inaccessibility or safety concerns. As the country grappled with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, the violence subsided nationwide, with few incidents reported overnight and police announcing that it the daytime curfew on the city of Kisumu had been lifted. "The curfew was lifted after the security situation improved," a police official told AFP. More than 100 people have been killed in tribal violence in Kisumu, the country's third city and a bastion of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). UN chief Ban Ki-moon meanwhile held separate phone conversations with Odinga and Kibaki, his spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters. "In both conversations, he discussed the return to calm and normalcy in Kenya and humanitarian needs (and) called upon the political leaders to resolve their issues through dialogue," she said. On Thursday and Friday, police thwarted planned rallies by the opposition which were aimed protesting the election results and declaring Odinga's "the people's president". Yet the government and the opposition still disagreed on the way forward, with ODM demanding a presidential poll re-run within three months and Kibaki's camp rejecting the request as blackmail. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the president would accept a court order for a re-run, but Odinga has repeatedly stated he would not resort to a judiciary he charges is entirely loyal to the incumbent regime. Preparing the ground for Frazer, South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu had emerged Friday from talks with Kibaki optimistic about possible coalition rule. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on Kenya to let the head of the African Union (AU), Ghanaian President John Kufuor, play a mediating role in the crisis, after Kufuor's scheduled trip was cancelled. Before Frazer's arrival the government had given the cold shoulder to proposed mediators, initially declaring that Tutu was welcome in Kenya as a "tourist" and nipping in the bud a joint mediation by the AU and Commonwealth. "Kenya is not in a civil war that would warrant a mediator," Mutua said. Kibaki, 76, had been praised during the election campaign for preserving Kenya's status as a war-free country and grooming its economy to become an "African tiger" but calls were growing for a probe into the ballot. Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako has demanded an independent audit, a call echoed Friday by Human Rights Watch, which warned the country risked further violence in the absence of a fully transparent investigation. "Mounting evidence of serious election fraud has helped to ignite violence throughout Kenya," the panel's deputy Africa director, Georgette Gagnon, said in a statement. The crisis has forced the government to delay re-opening of public schools due January 7, saying students and teachers have been displaced. Some displaced people have camped in school buildings in the war-affected zones. It has also caused chaos beyond Kenya's borders, with fuel shortages disrupting transport and trade in Uganda, southern Sudan, Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

U.S. envoy begins mediation amid concern over Kenya crisis

The U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs held talks with Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate who claims incumbent President Mwai Kibaki rigged his way to re-election in the December 27 polls.

Frazer was also expected to meet Kibaki in a bid to defuse the worst security and political crisis in Kenya, a key U.S. ally and usually a beacon of democracy and stability in the restive east African region.

A statement from the United Nations released Friday said an estimated 250,000 Kenyans had been displaced by the unrest that broke out when the electoral board controversially declared Kibaki the winner on Sunday.

The announcement was made despite growing evidence of fraud in the vote count and sparked a wave of riots and tribal killings, mainly in Odinga's western heartlands.

The world body said between 400,000 and 500,000 people had been affected by the violence and stressed that at least 100,000 of them needed immediate assistance in the western Rift Valley region.

Local aid workers expressed fear an outbreak of diseases in make-shift camps in schools, hospitals and churches, most of which were still out of reach owing to their inaccessibility or safety concerns.

As the country grappled with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, the violence subsided nationwide, with few incidents reported overnight and police announcing that it the daytime curfew on the city of Kisumu had been lifted.

"The curfew was lifted after the security situation improved," a police official told AFP.

More than 100 people have been killed in tribal violence in Kisumu, the country's third city and a bastion of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

UN chief Ban Ki-moon meanwhile held separate phone conversations with Odinga and Kibaki, his spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters.

"In both conversations, he discussed the return to calm and normalcy in Kenya and humanitarian needs (and) called upon the political leaders to resolve their issues through dialogue," she said.

On Thursday and Friday, police thwarted planned rallies by the opposition which were aimed protesting the election results and declaring Odinga's "the people's president".

Yet the government and the opposition still disagreed on the way forward, with ODM demanding a presidential poll re-run within three months and Kibaki's camp rejecting the request as blackmail.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the president would accept a court order for a re-run, but Odinga has repeatedly stated he would not resort to a judiciary he charges is entirely loyal to the incumbent regime.

Preparing the ground for Frazer, South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu had emerged Friday from talks with Kibaki optimistic about possible coalition rule.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on Kenya to let the head of the African Union (AU), Ghanaian President John Kufuor, play a mediating role in the crisis, after Kufuor's scheduled trip was cancelled.

Before Frazer's arrival the government had given the cold shoulder to proposed mediators, initially declaring that Tutu was welcome in Kenya as a "tourist" and nipping in the bud a joint mediation by the AU and Commonwealth.

"Kenya is not in a civil war that would warrant a mediator," Mutua said.

Kibaki, 76, had been praised during the election campaign for preserving Kenya's status as a war-free country and grooming its economy to become an "African tiger" but calls were growing for a probe into the ballot.

Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako has demanded an independent audit, a call echoed Friday by Human Rights Watch, which warned the country risked further violence in the absence of a fully transparent investigation.

"Mounting evidence of serious election fraud has helped to ignite violence throughout Kenya," the panel's deputy Africa director, Georgette Gagnon, said in a statement.

The crisis has forced the government to delay re-opening of public schools due January 7, saying students and teachers have been displaced. Some displaced people have camped in school buildings in the war-affected zones.

It has also caused chaos beyond Kenya's borders, with fuel shortages disrupting transport and trade in Uganda, southern Sudan, Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.