KENYA: Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga joins hundreds of worshippers at a church service

Record ID: 361379

  • Title: KENYA: Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga joins hundreds of worshippers at a church service
  • Date: 13th January 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENYA OPPOSITION LEADER RAILA ODINGA SAYING: "We are saying we are ready to talk, if talking will bring justice. But, we will not talk at all costs, we will talk constructively so that we can get a lasting solution to these problems. Because you can say let the thief go and get away with it and wait for another five years. But, what will stop him from
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABHMO072Y79M35HP1ZILJDBY2E
  • Story Text: Opposition leader Raila Odinga joins worshippers at Pentecostal church in the capital as the nation braces itself for three days of opposition rallies over disputed polls.
    After holding talks with Ghanaian President John Kufuor that bore no fruits, opposition leader Raila Odinga went to church to join other faithful at a Sunday service (January 13) and hoped the prayers would break the country's political deadlock and end its explosion of ethnic violence.
    Kenyans have been rocked by the turmoil in their country and are bracing themselves for three days of opposition rallies over the disputed December 27 polls Songs and praise filled the air as thousands of worshippers sang and danced at Pentecostal church where Raila and his colleagues joined in the congregation.
    Addressing hundreds of cheering worshippers, Odinga said his side was ready to talk, but only if the discussions would bring justice
    "We are saying we are ready to talk, if talking will bring justice. But, we will not talk at all costs, we will talk constructively so that we can get a lasting solution to these problems. Because you can say let the thief go and get away with it and wait for another five years. But, what will stop him from stealing again five years from now?," Odinga said.
    The United Nations says that many in the country's west are facing starvation after fleeing violence that has killed 500 people, including the burning to death of 30 people barricaded in a church.
    World powers have been horrified by the bloodshed in what had been seen as one of Africa's most stable democracies and they are calling on the leaders to talk.

    "The world has been watching, what you can call, the theatre of the absurd. People are saying violence, Kenyans are shooting at each other.
    Kenyans are killing each other. Stop the violence, we say stop the violence but fix the injustice,"
    Odinga added.
    Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has said demonstrations will be held in nearly 30 places around Kenya, and has asked police to provide security for a mass rally on Wednesday (January 16) in central Nairobi A U.S.-based rights group said on Sunday that Kenya's government should order police to stop using lethal force against protesters.
    Police have banned all demonstrations since President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected in a ballot Odinga says was rigged.
    On Saturday (January 12), the European Union and United States warned that there could be "no business as usual" with Nairobi unless a political compromise was agreed that restored stability. Kibaki and Odinga have not met face-to-face since the crisis began.
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