Museveni, Graca arrive for talks

Story by ODHIAMBO ORLALE

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Mozambique’s Graca Machel have arrived in Nairobi as part of international mediation efforts to resolve political disputes over the Kenyan presidential election.


President Kibaki receives Ugandan President Museveni at JKIA earlier today.
Former UN chief Kofi Annan is due in Nairobi later this evening to lead the talks. The other mediator is retired Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa who has been in Nairobi.

President Museveni, who doubles as the chairman of the East African Community and of the Commonwealth, was received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by President Kibaki.

The mediation talks have been embraced by the main protagonists - President Kibaki and the Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga.

Several international and local election observers have declared that the tallying of the December 27 presidential poll results were flawed. Mr Odinga believes that the flaws included manipulation of results to favour President Kibaki.

President Kibaki has already named 10 Cabinet ministers led by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka as his negotiation team, but ODM is yet to name its side.

The Ugandan leader’s trip coincided with the release of a paid up half page advertisement in local dailies by his Foreign Affairs ministry on the current situation in Kenya, where they denied reports that he had sent troops to assist President Kibaki deal with the opposition demonstrators.

In the statement, the ministry said: "It is in the interest of Uganda that a peaceful solution is found to the situation in Kenya. Uganda cannot therefore engage in any activity that would go against the spirit, as has been stated in some dailies in Kenya."

The statement further said President Museveni had been in close telephone contacts with President Kibaki and the ODM leader since the outbreak of violence on December 30 when the disputed results were announced.

The Ugandan leader was the first to arrive for the talks, at 1.30pm and was followed at 3pm by Ms Machel while Mr Annan is expected at 8pm.