By Xinhua
Kampala : The East African Community (EAC) Thursday said it was seeking to mediate an end to Kenya’s post-election violence that has killed at least 300 and displaced tens of thousands of others.
John Nagenda, the senior media and public relations adviser to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, said in a statement sent to Xinhua that the president has held talks with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Museveni is currently the chairman of the EAC, which comprises Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
“Together with President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, President Museveni talked with President Mwai Kibaki and also with opposition leader Raila Odinga of the ODM about the possibility of the community finding an amicable and immediate solution to the problem,” Nagenda said.
The country has plunged into violence since Kibaki was Sunday declared the winner at the end of a controversial three-day counting process.
In an apparent olive branch to his opponent, Kibaki Wednesday invited all members of the new parliament to a meeting at State House in Nairobi. But no opposition members attended as Odinga demanded outside mediation.
The US and Britain are calling for both sides to work together to end the violence.
British Foreign Minister David Miliband and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a joint statement, called for an end to violence and an intensive political and legal process.