A senior US diplomat is leaving for Nairobi in a bid to demand
directly the Kenyan authorities and opposition parties end violence
in the country, the State Department said on Thursday.
Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African
affairs, is leaving here Thursday for talks with Kenyan President
Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Frazer will ask Kibaki and Odinga to work for a political
solution to end worsening violence. The spokesman did not say how
long Frazer will stay in Kenya.
Also on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke
by telephone with Kibaki, urging him to work with Odinga to end
violence that has erupted after allegations of electoral fraudin
Kibaki's re-election.
Rice spoke with Odinga on Wednesday.
It was reported that political disputes in Kenya have
degenerated into ethnic violent conflicts that have claimed lives
of about 300 people, and turned hundreds of thousands of people
displaced.
(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2008)
