ANNAN LEAVES KENYA AFTER PEACE DEAL

Kenya faces "a long road ahead" to make a success of a power-sharing agreement between government and opposition, mediator Kofi Annan said on Sunday as he left Nairobi after six weeks of gruelling negotiations.

President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a coalition government pact on Thursday intended to bring to a close two months of bloodshed and political upheaval following a disputed election on Dec. 27.

As calm has returned after violence that cost the lives of 1,000 Kenyans and forced 300,000 to flee their homes, politicians from both sides have now begun more detailed negotiations on how the coalition deal will be implemented.

Parliament reopens in Nairobi on Thursday, after which it will ratify the coalition deal, which gives Odinga the post of executive prime minister.

Attention will focus on whether he and Kibaki can overcome their often fractious relationship and work together.

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"I am glad we have come this far but we still have a long road ahead. I would like all of you to remain engaged," Annan, who brokered the coalition deal, told reporters.

"We want to see Kenya return to the Kenya of old. Stable, peaceful, prosperous, welcoming," the former United Nations secretary-general said.

The violence devastated Kenya's tourist industry, its biggest foreign exchange earner which was worth nearly $1 billion last year, and the national currency, the shilling, only recovered after Thursday's deal was struck.

FAREWELL

Bloodshed erupted in many parts of the country after Kibaki was sworn in as president on Dec. 30 following an election Odinga said was rigged. Kibaki denied the charge and blamed Odinga for inciting violence.

Annan was heading to a environmental meeting in Kampala before going home to Geneva.

"I bid you farewell," he said. "I am not fading away. I will be back when I am needed."

Annan was presented with a white rooster by staff at Nairobi's Serena hotel, where the crisis negotiations were held.

Three young triplets and their sister sang as Annan posed for pictures with journalists and well-wishers.

He is handing over day-to-day mediation to former Nigerian foreign minister Oluyemi Adeniji.

The talks will now concentrate on issues that will take months to resolve -- a review of the constitution, setting up a truth and reconciliation commission, land reform and measures to relieve poverty.

Justice Minister Martha Karua, a hardline member of Kibaki's negotiating team, said she was ready to work with the opposition in a coalition government.

"I would have to do that or quit... so I am ready to work, it does not mean that there will be no differences, the debate will still be vibrant."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered to host an aid donors' conference to help Kenya rebuild after the post-election turmoil, a move that Odinga has welcomed.

But Karua said aid must not come with strings attached.

"It is a good thing but above all it is Kenya which has to make the decision on what programmes and how to apply the money," she told a news conference.

 

REUTERS