KIGALI - Kenya vice president Kalonzo Musyoka contemplated criminalising ethnicity as a solution to the crisis in his country. After meeting with President Paul Kagame on Friday, Musyoka said: "Wherever symptoms of ethnic differences arise, there requires a quick reaction to suppress them.” The post election violence in Kenya that has led to the deaths of as many as 1,000 people, is widely believed to be the result of the ethnic and political differences in the country.

Musyoka said that his country’s planned a constitutional review will look into these differences.

His contemplation comes in the wake of mediation efforts by former UN boss, Kofi Anan to end Kenya’s political standoff.

Musyoka is optimistic that the two sides will come to an agreement soon.
"I want to confirm to the world that Kenyans have decided to bring their grievances to levelled grounds,” he said at a press conference at Kigali’s Serena Hotel.

"We are not out of the woods, but instead we are almost there. This is not time to demean Kenyans but only to rally behind them in solving their problems.”

The opposition has warned it will re-launch mass protests if talks do not break political deadlock over disputed elections.

There were hopes that the rivals would end their differences on Friday. However, while there are plans in place to create a prime minister’s post to be held by the opposition, there remains disagreement over what powers this post would have.

Although both sides are said to have agreed on the idea of a grand coalition in principle, they appear to be in disagreement over how it should work in practice.

The opposition is said to blame Kibaki’s government for not being a serious partner in the negotiations, while the government accuses the opposition of bullying.
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