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February 28, 2008
Hamjambo,
Yesterday Kofi Annan suspended the negotiations with the two negotiating
teams saying they were unable to resolve the crisis. He said he was
going to meet personally with Kibaki and Odinga today.
ODM had called for more rallies and our fears of course were that a new
round of violence was about to break out, but last evening, at about the
11th hour, Odinga publicly called off all rallies. Today all was calm
and business as usual.
Today the US ambassador called for a town meeting at the embassy. He
said he believed the two sides were real close to making a deal, perhaps
within days. He said while publicly the two parties seem to be grand
standing, privately they are listening and working for an agreement.
Condoleeza Rice was here a couple days ago and she really put the thumb
screws to both sides to settle, suggesting the US would get involved if
they didn't work it out; the meaning being by sanctions and trade
barriers, but would give aid to help rebuild the country as soon as the
problems are solved.
While there are still gangs and local militias arming themselves in the
Rift Valley, none of what is going on now is being pushed by the
leadership. And while publicly the president and others are saying Kenya
can solve its own problems and they don't need threats from the US,
privately Kibaki told Ambassador Ranneberger that the heart and soul of
Kenya's political relationships is the US. They prefer us over the EU or
the UN.
Kofi Annan has become such a figure of the reconciliation that the fear
is that if he leaves everything will collapse and a worse blood bath
than before will follow. So Annan is committed to staying here until the
process is completed.
The ambassador took questions and I asked him about Odinga calling for
rallies. If he's so committed privately to resolving this, what's his
motive for calling for more disturbances. He said that actually, Odinga
didn't call for the rallies. Some of his party hardliner underlings had
a meeting a week ago and set a deadline of seven days or they were
calling for more rallies. Odinga wasn't at the meeting, and he didn't
approve. But apparently he didn't do anything to stop it until the
ambassador pushed him on it yesterday and he finally made a public
announcement to call it off. So, Ranneberger was very confident that a
resolution will take place soon.
After the meeting I picked up Jonathan from school and we got home just
about 4:30 and Larry Stringfield called and said turn on the news.
Kibaki and Odinga were about to sign an agreement. Kofi Annan apparently
had a very successful meeting with them today. They have agreed to
appointing a prime minister, what his responsibilities will be, and the
president is calling for Parliament to reconvene to approve all the
actions as soon as possible. Along with that Odinga has recognized
Kibaki as the president.
Praise the Lord!
The negotiating teams will meet again tomorrow with Annan to work on the
last item of their agenda which involves constitutional reform, land
reform, equity for the poverty stricken, and restoring the refugees to
their homes.
I don't think it is going to be a smooth road from here on in, but at
least they are starting down the road, and Lord willing it will be the
first step to reconciling and ending tribal conflicts. Both Odinga and
Kibaki gave stirring speeches calling for everyone to accept the
agreement and work together to rebuild the country. So, we'll see how it
goes.
The ambassador did give us one warning. All these youth gangs that had
been organized and supported during the violence have no more support
and no where to go. He's afraid that there will be a spike in crime and
advised everyone to still be vigilant and careful. A year ago there was
a spike in crime, mostly due to a Mungiki uprising, but after four or
five months the police got it under control. So hopefully if that
happens, they will be able to take care of it this time as well.
Thanks for praying. Please continue to pray because I think things here
are still fragile and will be for some time to come, but we are greatly
relieved that the current crisis has been resolved.
Lance Patterson |
