Kenya Prez: 'I'm Ready to Talk'

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said today he's ready for talks with political opponents "once the nation is calm," Reuters reports. After three days of rioting and burning slums, in the wake of a hotly contested election, opposition leader Raila Odinga postponed until tomorrow a rally scheduled for a Nairobi park today. Odinga remained combative, accusing Kibaki allies of "genocide."

Attorney General Amos Wako called for an “independent person or body” to re-check the controversial vote tally, saying "such an exercise will … assuage the inflamed passions of people." Critics charge that Kenya typically blunts the results of such independent commissions—a sentiment echoed by Odinga’s spokesman, who responded to Wako’s proposal by saying he had "no faith in any government institution." (More Kenya stories.)