Clinton warns Kenya on cost of election unrest

The general election next March will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007 that set off a politically based ethnic slaughter in which more than 1 200 people were killed.

“We urge that the nation come together and prepare for elections which will be a real model for the entire world,” Clinton said in Nairobi.

She met President Mwai Kibaki, who is barred by law from seeking a third term, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who leads in opinion polls in the race to replace him.

The two were the main rivals in the disputed presidential poll, when then opposition leader Odinga accused Kibaki of stealing the vote.

Gangs faced off with machetes and clubs, and security forces opened fire on the streets, until mediator Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing pact between Kibaki and Odinga that ended the violence and made Odinga prime minister.

Before meeting with members of Kenya’s election commission, Clinton told reporters that in her talks with Kibaki she had stressed “the importance of a credible, transparent, free and fair election process.”

Clinton warned of the cost of another botched election, urging the government and civil society to work together. “On the other hand the unrest that can result from a disputed election has a terrible cost both in lives lost and in economic impact,” she said.

“The instability that followed the last election cost the Kenyan economy by most estimates more than $1 billion.”

Launching a seven-nation Africa tour in Senegal on Wednesday, Clinton urged Africa to recommit to democracy, declaring the “old ways of governing” can no longer work on a continent with strong economic growth and an increasingly empowered citizenry.

Clinton’s trip to Africa is intended in part to strengthen US security ties with allies such as Kenya, the economic powerhouse of eastern Africa, in the face of growing threats from Islamist militants.

A statement from the Kenyan presidency said Clinton had “appreciated the frontline role” Kenya continued to play to stabilise Somalia and the Horn of Africa, and had promised her government’s support for such initiatives.

Nairobi has blamed a series of bomb and other attacks in Kenya on Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which has threatened to retaliate since Kenyan troops pursued the Islamists into Somalia in October. Clinton said she was encouraged by progress since Kenya adopted a new constitution in August 2010, which granted the judiciary “significant responsibilities”. — AP.