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NEW YORK CITY: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has voiced strong support for
efforts by his predecessor Kofi Annan to mediate an end to Kenya’s
political crisis spawned by a disputed presidential election, a UN
spokesman said Thursday.
Marie Okabe told reporters that Ban had spoken
to Annan by phone Thursday and “expressed strong support for his
mission in Kenya.”
Kenya’s rival leaders — President Mwai
Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga — agreed Thursday to
work with an Annan-led panel to end the crisis that has claimed
hundreds of lives, the head of the African Union (AU) and Ghanaian
President John Kufuor said.
Kufuor made the announcement in Nairobi before
returning home following the failure of African Union-mediated talks
to resolve the political crisis.
Kenya’s opposition blamed Kibaki for the
failure.
Odinga, who says Kibaki robbed him of the
presidency by rigging the December 27 polls, has refused to sit down
one-on-one unless the president acknowledges he cheated and steps
down.
Meanwhile, responding to questions about the UN
role during the disputed Kenyan elections, Ban’s spokeswoman
Michele Montas told reporters Thursday that the world body did not
monitor the polls and was not involved in the vote counting.
“The United Nations did not observe the recent
Kenyan elections or the tallying of the votes,” she said. “Thus
the United Nations could not have pronounced itself on a matter in
which it was not involved and has no facts.”
She said the UN development agency UNDP did
provide “non-partisan technical assistance” to the electoral
process, assisted with voter registration and education and helped
the Kenyan domestic observation team monitor the polls.
Montas said UNDP also backed the Kenyan human
rights commission to ensure there were no violations during the
campaign and helped promote balanced media reporting.
-- AFP
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