Photo gallery for Kenya parties sign accord!

There is dancing in the streets, literally, in Kisumu and Mombasa. On Thursday, 28 February 2008, President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. (now Prime Minister) Raila Odinga were bearded for more than five hours in Harambee House by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa and current Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete. As a result, they agreed to a power-sharing agreement that was signed that afternoon under the scrutiny of millions of jubilant Kenyans and the world.

The substance of the agreement comprises a coalition agreement and a draft National Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008, which essentially provides for a coalition government in which both of the major parties will get more or less even slices of the governmental pie. The documents are appended below.

I'm still tied up on Kofi's team compiling a record of the proceedings. Mr. Annan handed over the chair last week to former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oluyemi Adeniji.

The sessions finished successfully with agenda item 4, long-term issues and solutions, on Tuesday, 4 March, an historic day for Kenya. There really now is a bright light at the end of the tunnel!

Kofi Annan is such a great man: soft-spoken, scholarly, humorous, steel cloaked in velvet. It has been a huge honour to work with one of the world's great statesmen, and I cannot resist posting a picture of him and me at the celebration drink after Friday's session. Guess I can justify the indulgence since we were talking about elephants. I mentioned the Swahili saying as being appropriate to the current crisis: when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. Ah, said Kofi, but it also gets trampled when they make love.

(Photos © Bernard Wahihu)

Earlier article of 2008-02-19 including the early Kilaguni negotiation results in the comments:
One Kenya, One Voice: a bit of progress & some hope...