KENYA'S ELECTORAL CRISIS - KOFI ANNAN'S FEBRUARY

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000547 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM KE SUBJECT: KENYA'S ELECTORAL CRISIS - KOFI ANNAN'S FEBRUARY 25 PRESS STATEMENT ¶1. On February 25, Kofi Annan issued the following press statement after meeting with both Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. Begin Text. KENYA NATIONAL DIALOGUE AND RECONCILIATION Press Statement By Kofi Annan After four hours of intense negotiations this morning, the negotiating team made almost no progress toward reaching an agreement on governance, despite the fact that they were give the entire weekend to consult on their positions. I had to conclude that they were not capable of resolving the outstanding issues. I therefore suspended the afternoon session in order to confer directly with their leaders. I met first with the Honorable Raila Odinga at the Serena Hotel and then with President Kibaki at State House. With these leaders, I shared the issues in contention and urged them to resolve their differences so that we could complete our work on Agenda Item Three, How to Resolve the Political Crisis, confident that they understood the crisis that the nation is in and the impatient desire of the people of Kenya to see a final resolution to the conflict. I believe that the Panel of Eminent African Personalities, working with the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation, had done its work. I am now asking the Party Leaders, the Honorable Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement and President Mwai Kibaki of the Government/Party of National Unity to do theirs. End Text. RANNEBERGER