KENYA:President Mwai Kibaki sat down with his rival Raila Odinga for the first time yesterday since disputed elections plunged Kenya into weeks of violence.
The two political leaders said they were committed to peace after an hour-long meeting in a downtown presidential office.
Their symbolic meeting, brokered by Kofi Annan, raises hopes of a political resolution to end the bloodshed and ease the country's economic crisis. But the former UN secretary general still faces a difficult task in forcing concessions from either side.
President Kibaki underlined his position in a statement delivered outside the office, stressing that he had been "sworn in as your duly-elected president of Kenya".
"As government, we are determined to get to the underlying causes of these unprecedented events and to lead the nation in a process of healing, reconciliation and lasting harmony," he continued.
Both sides hardened their positions in the run-up to yesterday's meeting, with Mr Odinga insisting he would settle only for a rerun of elections he believes were stolen by Mr Kibaki's supporters. "We have taken the first vital steps in resolving electoral disputes," he said yesterday.
"I ask everyone to be patient and uphold peace in a spirit of brotherhood." International pressure had failed to bring the two sides together until the arrival of Mr Annan on Tuesday.
And the sudden meeting took many observers by surprise.
Although there was little detail on any progress made towards a political agreement, Mr Annan described the session as encouraging. "I think we began to take the first steps towards a peaceful solution of the problem and you can see the two leaders are here to underline their engagement to dialogue," he said.
More than 650 people have died in violence that swept the country after Mr Kibaki was sworn in for a second term.
International monitors say a flawed count means it is impossible to determine who was the rightful winner.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused opposition leaders of organising attacks on members of Mr Kibaki's tribe in the western Rift Valley, scene of much of the worst violence.
"Attacks by several ethnic communities against others, especially local Kikuyu populations were planned soon after the elections," said the group in a statement.
William Ruto, a senior member of the Orange Democratic Movement whose constituency has seen some of the worst violence, insisted the clashes were a spontaneous reaction to rigged results.
"For my constituency, nothing, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. There was to the best of my knowledge, no organisation that could put together the kind of logistics that could enable the kind of violence that we saw in that part of the world," he said.
Much of the country remains tense and there was more violence yesterday. Aid workers reported scores of people fleeing Molo, about 100 miles from Nairobi, close to the scene of ethnic clashes earlier this week.