Annan Suspends Talks in Kenya

Pressure Rising On Rivals to Reach Power-Sharing Deal

NAIROBI, Feb. 26 -- Talks aimed at resolving Kenya's post-election political crisis were suspended Tuesday as negotiators for President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga failed to make progress on terms of a power-sharing arrangement.

Former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, who is mediating and increasingly frustrated, said he ordered the move to "speed up action" and will now try to put the issues directly to Kibaki and Odinga, rather than their representatives.

After a spell of optimism last week, the mood surrounding the talks has dimmed as Kibaki's government has stepped away from earlier pledges to compromise.

"The situation is terrible," said one opposition leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is involved in the talks. "I think right now we're relying on international goodwill, because we have basically been squeezed to the wall."

The setback in the talks -- many Kenyans see them as the last hope to avert a broader crisis in this once-stable East African nation -- alarmed diplomats and foreign leaders who have been jetting to and from Kenya in search of a solution.

On Tuesday, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, head of the African Union, flew to town to talk to Kibaki and Odinga. Also, the European Union issued a statement and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Kenya last week, reiterated a warning to those who would thwart a political compromise.

"I am disappointed by the failure of leadership necessary to resolve all the remaining issues," Rice said in a statement. "I want to emphasize that the future of our relationship with both sides and their legitimacy hinges on their cooperation to achieve this political solution. In that regard, we are exploring a wide range of possible actions."

Rice did not specify what those actions might be, but U.S. officials have raised the possibility of targeted sanctions and visa restrictions on political leaders deemed to have blocked negotiations.

The talks have stalled over the details of a prime ministerial position for Odinga that would pry away presidential powers and address a central frustration in Kenyan society: that Kibaki has used his almost absolute powers as president to further entrench his Kikuyu ethnic group, which has dominated Kenyan politics for decades.

After seeming to agree in principle to such an arrangement, Kibaki's team backed away from it Monday.

Leaders in Odinga's party, the Orange Democratic Movement, have called for peaceful nationwide protests Thursday. In the past, such statements have amounted to a call for violence, as police have beaten back demonstrators with tear gas and gunfire.

"Lives will be lost," said Ochieng Mbeo, a spokesman for Odinga's party. "But what else is left for us? Do we sit back and say fine, and let it be?"

More than 1,000 people have been killed since Kenya's disputed Dec. 27 presidential election, which Odinga says Kibaki rigged and international observers faulted as seriously flawed.

For Kenyans who supported Odinga, the election was a chance to finally break what they consider to be a Kikuyu establishment. When the results showed that Kibaki had won again, they resorted to a kind of violent reckoning that has since gained its own momentum.

Local tribal militias loyal to Odinga in western Kenya have driven tens of thousands of Kikuyus from land the militias believe was unjustly settled. Kikuyu militias, meanwhile, have exacted brutal revenge on ethnic groups that supported Odinga.

According to a recent report by the Brussels-based, nongovernmental International Crisis Group, militias loyal to Kibaki and Odinga have been arming themselves with bows and arrows, machetes and guns in preparation for the day that Annan decides to leave.

"We are waiting for Kofi Annan to go," said William Kaitany, a 55-year-old cattle keeper in the Rift Valley, who wants all Kikuyus to leave his area. "If Kofi Annan leaves, we will continue to fight. And the last person standing will be the winner."