Opposition leader rejects Kenyan unity offer

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga today rejected an offer to form a unity government to end an electoral dispute that has caused ethnic violence.

Mr Odinga said President Mwai Kibaki, re-elected by a narrow margin in a vote count that international observers said was deeply flawed, “cannot offer us anything because he did not win the election”.

He said: “There cannot be peace without justice. We want a mediator. We want a properly negotiated settlement, not a coalition government.”

He welcomed the expected arrival this week of Ghanaian president John Kufuor, chairman of the African Union, to mediate.

President Kibaki offered to form a government of national unity yesterday during talks with the top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer.

Ms Frazer was still in Nairobi today, but it was not known whether she would meet again with the rival politicians.

The violence, which has killed more than 300 people and forced some 250,000 from their homes across the country, eased over the weekend.

At a small church in Nairobi’s Kibera slum that was set ablaze during the crisis, 30 people gathered before a charred crucifix surrounded by burnt-out stained glass windows.

The crisis following the December 27 election has pitted Mr Kibaki’s Kikuyu people against Kenya’s other tribes, and brought chaos to a country of 34 million people that had been one of East Africa’s most stable democracies.

In the countryside, with the continued threat of ethnic attacks, thousands fled their homes, escorted by soldiers as they streamed down roads strewn with corpses, burnt-out vehicles and downed power lines.

Desperate Kenyans urged Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to compromise.

After Mr Kibaki met Ms Frazer yesterday, he said he was “ready to form a government of national unity that would not only unite Kenyans but would also help in the healing and reconciliation process”.

Mr Odinga softened his stance after two meetings with Ms Frazer, unexpectedly withdrawing his call for Mr Kibaki to step down.

But the opposition leader said today that “we are not interested in Kibaki’s position. We want a durable solution”.

It would be nearly impossible for Mr Kibaki to govern without opposition support. Mr Odinga’s party won 95 of 210 parliamentary seats and half of Mr Kibaki’s Cabinet lost their seats.

Makeshift roadblocks were set up along main roads by young men enraged over Mr Kibaki’s re-election.

In Nairobi’s Mathare slum, several shacks were set ablaze and residents attacked each other with machetes.

One man said people from Mr Odinga’s Luo tribe were fighting a gang from Mr Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

Police opened fire and one man was shot in the head and killed.

A machete-wielding crowd then surrounded the police, forcing them to flee with three wounded people, including a man with half his leg hacked away.

Looters tried to break into a supermarket in the capital, but police fired live rounds in the air.

Thousands in and around Nairobi’s slums – home to a third of the capital’s population – queued up for food after days of riots left them cut off. Shortages have led to major price increases.