Kenyan parties agree constitution road map

Kenya's rival political parties agreed on a roadmap for reform of the constitution on Tuesday, moving closer towards an agreement on divisive issues exposed by the country's post-election crisis.

"It augurs well for future cooperation within a coalition government," said chief mediator Oluyemi Adeniji, a former Nigerian foreign minister.

More than 1,000 people were killed and 300,000 driven from their homes in the violence that followed Kibaki's disputed re-election in a December 27 vote.

The political violence has subsided and under last week's power-sharing agreement, opposition leader Raila Odinga will take up the newly created post of prime minister.

Negotiators representing President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga have been thrashing out longer-term issues thrown up by the crisis, Kenya's worst since independence from Britain in 1963.

The negotiators agreed to set up a truth, justice and reconciliation commission, a panel of inquiry into the post-election violence, and an independent review of the election, which Odinga accused Kibaki of rigging.

"The parties also agreed on a process and roadmap for comprehensive constitutional reform," a statement from the mediators said, adding that the talks would resume next Tuesday.

Kenyans have been clamouring for a new constitution for years as the present document is seen as concentrating too much power in the hands of the president.

"I think more or less we have finished on agenda item number four," opposition negotiator William Ruto said, referring to the long-term issues under discussion.

'ONE TEAM'

"We want to work as one team to unite Kenya. We want to heal those wounds that emerged after the elections," Odinga told reporters after meeting Kibaki for the first time since they signed their power-sharing pact five days ago.

Under the pact, parliament is due to pass a constitutional amendment to allow Odinga to become prime minister.

Odinga said his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) would discuss how to carve up the cabinet with Kibaki's Party of National Unity after Thursday's parliamentary session.

Kibaki's office issued a statement saying the two men had agreed to ensure the deal would be implemented fully.

"The president and the ODM leader also agreed to work together towards uniting all Kenyans and accelerating the healing process by holding meetings with different communities with a view to ensuring that wananchi (the people) live together peacefully," the statement added.

Dorothy Angote, Kenya's vice minister for justice, said the agreement between Kibaki and Odinga was a "triumph for dialogue and diplomacy and also for peace and reconciliation".

Angote was addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council whose 47 member states are meeting in Geneva to examine abuses worldwide.

A government-funded rights group called on Kibaki and Odinga to visit Kenya's worst-affected areas together to foster national reconciliation after clashes that shattered the country's image as a stable haven in a conflict-ridden region.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) also said it would carry out an investigation into the violence, with its findings due to be released later this month.

Despite the progress made, analysts say there is still much more to be done to resolve deep grievances over the distribution of land, wealth and power that fuelled the post-election unrest.