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Kenya Stalemate Frustrates Negotiators

Stonewalling by Kenya rivals paralyzing talks

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(Newser) – Kenya's peace talks have ground to a standstill and the task of coaxing the country's two rival parties into an agreement is beginning to try even the patience of former UN secretary-general and lead negotiator Kofi Annan, reports the BBC. The two sides cannot agree on a power-sharing deal and aides say an increasingly exasperated Annan is beginning to feel like a "prisoner of peace."

Opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki are reportedly in disagreement over what powers the prime minister post created for Odinga should have. Annan, who has been in Kenya for over a month, made it clear he felt mediators had done their work. "I'm now asking the party leaders to do theirs," he said after meetings with the men. Negotiators began after some 1,500 Kenyans were killed in ethnic violence following December's controversial presidential election.

Kenyan cameramen work during a press conference of the government under a picture of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday Feb. 24 2008. Kenya's rival politicians are still far apart on the logistics of creating a
Kenyan cameramen work during a press conference of the government under a picture of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday Feb. 24 2008. Kenya's rival politicians are still far apart...   (Associated Press)
Glen Amadi, 6, poses in an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Friday Feb. 15, 2008. Amadi says he can't remember where he lives. His mother's name is Eliza, he says, and she braids hair in a salon run by a woman he calls
Glen Amadi, 6, poses in an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Friday Feb. 15, 2008. Amadi says he can't remember where he lives. His mother's name is Eliza, he says, and she braids hair in...   (Associated Press)
Chief mediator and former U.N. chief Kofi Annan addresses a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday Feb. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Chief mediator and former U.N. chief Kofi Annan addresses a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday Feb. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)   (Associated Press)
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, 2nd-R, accompanied by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, left, walk into the Kenyata International Conference center in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday Feb. 20, 2008. Aides to former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan say he is becoming frustrated by the lack of progress. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, 2nd-R, accompanied by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, left, walk into the Kenyata International Conference center in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday Feb. 20, 2008. Aides...   (Associated Press)
A farmer works on a maize plantation in Maraguoa, Kenya, Monday Feb. 25 2008. Kenya's warring political parties resumed their lengthy and often bitter negotiations Monday to try to end a dispute over presidential elections that sparked nationwide violence. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A farmer works on a maize plantation in Maraguoa, Kenya, Monday Feb. 25 2008. Kenya's warring political parties resumed their lengthy and often bitter negotiations Monday to try to end a dispute over...   (Associated Press)
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