Use our pull-down menus to find more stories
  


OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Click here to read or make comments on this topic »

Ethiopia: Foreign Minister Urges Continent to Endorse Annan Talks in Kenya


 

Email This Page

Print This Page

Comment on this article

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)

10 February 2008
Posted to the web 12 February 2008

Abera W. Kidan
Addis Ababa

Mediation efforts by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan aimed at ending the violence in Kenya must be given the due support, Foreign Ministr Seyoum Mesfin said on Friday.

The former U.N. chief is leading efforts to end violence in the East African country.

And Seyoum is leading vsiting East African foreign ministers who threw their weight behind Annan on Friday after the Kenyan opposition accused the bloc of trying to launch separate talks to undermine him.

According to the Reuters news agency, Seyoum was speaking on behalf of his colleagues from the regional IGAD bloc.

Seyoum said said they were visiting to show solidarity with Kenyans over the bloodshed and endorse Annan's mediation efforts.

The minister said that since Annan was acting under an African Union mandate, IGAD and all nations on the continent have to submit to its authority.

"We said proliferation of initiatives have not helped anywhere and they are not either to help here in the Kenyan case," Seyoum was quoted as telling a news conference after they held talks with Kibaki, opposition officials and Annan.

IGAD's member nations have had bad experiences on the receiving end of multiple peace initiatives, Seyoum said , referring to Somalia, Sudan and the Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict, the Reuters report indicated.

Kenya holds the rotating chairmanship of IGAD and has goodwill in the bloc for its peace efforts in Somalia and Sudan. The turmoil in Kenya has also uprooted some 300,000 people, many living in squalid conditions and fearful of returning home, which Seyoum called "unacceptable".

Relevant Links

Meanwhile,Kenya's feuding political parties have made progress and may reach a breakthrough within days on their major sticking point over a disputed Dec. 27 election, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday.

"I sincerely hope that we will conclude our work on item three, the settlement of the political issues, by early next week," Annan told the BBC World.

"We are all agreed a political settlement is necessary with a little patience and a bit of luck," he added, without giving details on the progress made.



AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

 
Share this on:
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Muti


Copyright © 2008 The Daily Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.

HOME
allAfrica.com


Relevant Links




Finance Minister Quits Over Hotel Sale
Rebel Leader Wants New Meeting
Spotlight on Kibaki to Resolve Hotel Crisis
Museveni Reveals National Oil Plan
Hundreds of Families Displaced By Fighting in Baidoa