REGIONAL - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has written to President Paul Kagame explaining the general situation in his country and particularly the ongoing post-election violence that has rocked the East African nation following a widely disputed presidential poll held over a week ago. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs ministry over the weekend, Kibaki’s message to Kagame was delivered by Kenyan Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju. The message was received by Prime Minister Bernard Makuza on behalf of the President, who is currently in the US.

The statement said Tuju told Makuza that Kibaki sent him to give an explanation to President Kagame about the violence and instability that erupted after his main rival Odinga claimed vote rigging.

Tuju is quoted in the statement as saying that Kibaki is ready to set up a national unity government and that he would also work closely with the new parliament which is dominated by Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) if Odinga accepts defeat.
Tuju briefed Makuza about the ongoing efforts to end the violence, promising that Kenya would do everything possible to ensure maximum security of goods in transit to Rwanda. He also guaranteed the safety of Rwandans living in Kenya.

The statement adds that Makuza assured Tuju that Rwanda will continue supporting efforts in restoring peace and stability in the region’s largest economy.

"Rwanda would support any decision Kenyans take to solve their problems,” he added.
Tuju was expected to deliver the same message to all other East African Community (EAC) Heads of State.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and close to 400 people killed in the violent protests since Kibaki was announced winner of the election beating main rival Raila Odinga.

Odinga, 62, looked set to win Kenya’s vote until Kibaki (76) was announced the winner. He still claims he won the vote but was robbed of victory. The post-election violence has also affected Kenya’s neighbours with fuel shortages disrupting transport and trade in Rwanda, Uganda, southern Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Meanwhile the UN has said that an estimated 250,000 Kenyans have been displaced with 100,000 in need of immediate assistance in the western Rift Valley region of Kenya in the aftermath of the post-election violence.

The UN refugee agency announced Saturday it was to provide relief aid to up to 100,000 displaced people.

The UN warned, however, that a full return to normality would take time.
Odinga’s ODM insists that Kibaki must quit and that an international mediator should broker talks prior to a fresh election in three to six months.

The would-be mediators, including US’s top Africa diplomat Jendayi Frazer and South Africa’s Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, shuttled between both camps.

On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI pleaded for an immediate end to acts of violence and fratricidal conflict. A former political prisoner and wealthy businessman, Odinga helped Kibaki win a 2002 poll, but says the president broke a promise to give him a prime minister’s position at the time.

Additional information by agencies

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki (left) and his EAC counterpart Rwanda’s Prime Minister Bernard Makuza who received the former’s message to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame (File Photos)