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| Africa Horn |
| Kenya President Appoints Cabinet Members |
| 2008-01-09 |
| Kenya's president named half his Cabinet Tuesday, angering opposition leaders who accuse him of stealing the recent election and undermining mediation attempts for a power-sharing agreement to end violence that has left more than 500 dead. In the hours after President Mwai Kibaki announced his Cabinet appointments, police fired over the heads of youths who set up a roadblock of burning tires in the western town of Kisumu, according to a resident there. In Nairobi's oldest slum, Mathare, a witness reported hearing the first gunshots in three days just an hour after the announcement. Political violence in some areas since the East African nation's disputed Dec. 27 presidential election had deteriorated into clashes between other tribes and Kibaki's Kikuyu, which has long dominated Kenyan politics and the economy. Salim Lone, a spokesman for opposition leader Raila Odinga's party, repeated the party's call for no demonstrations, saying it did not want to undermine African Union-mediated talks expected to begin Wednesday. "We think that the announcement of the Cabinet was a slap in the face for all the effort that Kenyans and the international community is making to avoid the crisis," Lone said. |
| Posted by:Fred |