Kenyan leaders still negotiating

Kofi Annan is at the center of mediation efforts. Early reports today said Annan helped broker a breakthrough, a power sharing agreement between the party of Kibaki and the party of Odinga. But those reports were premature as Annan himself explained. He said the two sides had not reached a final deal. He called for patience. For weeks both sides took hard line positions but Kibaki and Odinga have met twice now and Odinga has dropped the opposition’s demand that Kibaki step down. This politician says each side has moved on their demands. The next talks will come during week seven of this crisis which all started when Kibaki was named as president in what Odinga said was a rigged election and then violence erupted. The terms ethnic cleansing and even genocide have been used to describe the violence but the violence has been horrifying. Annan said he’s determined to help work out a power sharing agreement. the US applied some additional diplomatic pressure on Kenya this week and Canada and Britain said they’re doing the same.