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Kenya's Political Antagonists Meet
For the first time since Kenya plunged into post-election chaos four weeks ago, the nations warring political leaders met face to face on Thursday, but afterward opposition leaders accused the president of being a fraud.The chat went fine, opposition leaders said, and was more of an ice-breaker than anything else to start a long process of negotiation. But Mr. Kibakis short speech afterward stirred up tempers. Mr. Kibaki pointed out that he was the duly elected president and emphasized that any reconciliation would be on his terms. I will personally lead our country in promoting tolerance, peace and harmony, he said. These comments seemed to drain the enthusiasm from the moment, and opposition leaders immediately called a news conference to criticize the president. True to his fraudulent character, Mr. Mwai Kibaki abused the occasion by attempting to legitimize his usurpation of the presidency, opposition leaders said in a statement. Salim Lone, an opposition spokesman, added: This was supposed to be an event to build good faith. Kibaki politicized it. Posted by: Fred 2008-01-25 |
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