By Prensa Latina
Nairobi : Kenya’s government-opposition negotiations, which started on Wednesday in this capital, were delayed for 24 hours, according to opposition Orange Democratic Movement spokesman Salim Lone.
In statements to the press, Lone confirmed deferral of this negotiation round, which will have UN former Secretary General Kofi Annan.
The meeting is an important attempt to solve the political crisis in a country where street disturbances have caused over 700 deaths and displacement of 250,000 people, and cruelty has gained space, with cremations and mutilations.
Three representatives of President Emilio Mwai Kibaki’s government and the same number of those close to ODM leader Raila Odinga are participating in the negotiations.
The executive passed that procedure on to Justice Minister Martha Karua, Education Minister Sam Ongeri, and Mutula Kilonzo, general secretary of Kenya’s Orange Democratic Movement.
ODM negotiators are Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, who appear as second and third men in the group, and Parliament Member Sally Kosgey.
According to reliable sources, two sessions for exchange should have been held on Wednesday, but they were not, due to a difference between both sides.
Lone said the talks were postponed, because government National Unity Party did not respond to Kofi Annan’s proposals to solve the crisis that has been affecting this country since the December elections.
After reelection of President Mwai Kibaki, Odinga followers accused him of committing fraud in the vote count, a declaration that destabilized Kenya, a paradigm in tourism.
However, the resident should leave on Wednesday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, to participate in the half-yearly African Union summit, which will not stop his negotiators from meeting in Nairobi on Thursday.