Kenyan President ready for talks

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-04-2008 08:59

Kenya's president said he is ready to hold talks with "concerned parties once the nation is calm."

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki addresses the media  in Nairobi, January 3, 2008. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna

This came amid violence sparked by his disputed re-election which has left about 300 people dead across the country.

Hours earlier riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to beat back crowds of opposition protesters in Kenya's capital.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga had called a "million man" march to protest against President Mwai Kibaki's re-election in the 27 December vote, insisting the poll was rigged.

But the hundreds of thousands of supporters expected were unable to make it to the city center, and Odinga called off the rally.

The political dispute has degenerated into ethnic violence nationwide. 100-thousand people have been displaced by the violence in addition to the death toll of about 300.

In the capital, Odinga toured a dozen freezing rooms at Nairobi's City Mortuary, which was full of the bodies of babies, children, young men and women.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, center right,  visitspeople who were hospitalized after being  shot during clashes in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday,  Jan. 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale)

Raila Odinga, Opposition Leader, said, "We can only describe it as a genocide on a grand scale."

Attorney General Amos Wako has added his voice to growing doubts about the validity of the poll results. He has called for "an independent person or body" to confirm the disputed tally.

Though both sides say they are ready to talk, the Odinga and Kibaki camps have mostly traded accusations that the other is fueling ethnic violence.

Odinga says he will not meet with Kibaki unless the latter concedes he lost the presidency something Kibaki is unlikely to do.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei