Kofi Annan in Kenya to assess reform

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Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is due in Kenya to assess progress on much-needed reforms promised after the post-election violence in early 2008. Mr Annan was instrumental in brokering a power-sharing deal which pacified the country after inter-ethnic violence had killed more than 1,000 people. He will spend several days meeting top politicians, diplomats, members of civil society and business leaders. But Mr Annan is likely to be extremely disappointed at the lack of progress. When the former UN leader helped secure a peace agreement in February last year, rival politicians agreed to take steps that would ensure the country stayed on a more peaceful road. They promised to carry out much-needed judicial, police and electoral reform. They also agreed to draw up a new constitution and to tackle the thorny issue of land ownership, which is seen as a major source of ethnic tension in Kenya. There was a commitment to bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice. But progress in that area has been so slow that the International Criminal Court announced last week it would be prosecuting some of the key instigators. These are thought to include politicians and business leaders. So Kofi Annan is likely to give the politicians an extremely poor report card. Many Kenyans would do the same. There is a feeling amongst a large section of Kenyan society that once the politicians had secured their positions in the very expensive coalition government, many of them then became more concerned with their own future than that of the country. Instead of sorting out the problems which beset the last election, some have been jostling for positions ahead of the next polls - even stating intentions to run for the presidency. In order to keep up the pressure Kofi Annan has to use his leverage sparingly. He may have helped save the country in its darkest hour but his repeated criticism at the slow pace of reforms has been batted away by some politicians who accuse him of meddling in Kenya's internal affairs. The United States and European countries face similar accusations as they try to push reform, threatening travel bans on people considered to be blocking progress. But on the streets of Kenya there is a feeling that the politicians need some pressure from outside especially because with a coalition government there is no real opposition. The fact that the heat is being turned up on them is largely welcome. Source: By Will Ross/BBC

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