Washington, January 04, SPA — U.S.President George W. Bush on Thursday urged Kenyans to refrain from further violence and called on Kenya’s president and opposition leader to work together to resolve an election dispute that has sparked deadly violence.
“It’s very important for the people of Kenya to not resort to violence,” Bush told Reuters in an interview at the White House.
Kenya, which has long been one of Africa’s most stable and prosperous countries, has seen a wave of violence that has killed over 300 people following the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki in a late-December election.
Asked whether Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga should share power, Bush replied, “I believe that they have an opportunity to come together in some kind of arrangement that will help heal the wounds of a closely divided election.”
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who telephoned the rival leaders this week and urged them to work out a political solution to end the violence, sent her top diplomat for Africa to Nairobi on Thursday, the State Department said.
Bush said Rice also had called other African leaders to discuss the situation in Kenya.