By SPA
Washington : The United States welcomed a power-sharing agreement signed by rival Kenyan leaders on Thursday that seeks to end post-election violence that killed 1,000 people, but said much depends on the deal’s implementation.
“That’s an important and very positive step forward,” State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said of the deal signed by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
“We are very pleased to see that this agreement has been reached. It allows the Kenyan people to move forward with a very basic issue of governance,” Casey told reporters. However, he added, “we want to see this agreement implemented,” including legislative and constitutional changes it calls for, so that conflict does not recur.
Casey said the United States hopes everyone on both sides would support the deal, adding that Washington would be watching carefully.
The agreement creates a prime minister’s post for Odinga after negotiations mediated by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The two leaders came under intense international pressure to compromise over Kibaki’s disputed re-election in a late-December vote that sparked ethnic violence which displaced 300,000 Kenyans.