Kenya in Crisis Day 44: A Breakthrough?

According to the AP, a breakthrough may have been reached in a power sharing agreement that most diplomats believe will end the violence that has swept the country.

Kenya's ruling party and opposition have agreed to form a joint government in an effort to end weeks of bloodshed that have engulfed the country since the disputed presidential election, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.

The two sides still were discussing who would lead the government and what roles each party would play, said William Rutto, a lawmaker from the opposition Orange Democractic Movement.

"We have finally agreed there is a problem in the country and neither side can proceed on its own," Rutto told The Associated Press. "We have agreed to form a joint government. Details of that government, its time and how to share it are under discussions."

There was no immediate comment from the government or President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity. But former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is heading talks aimed at resolving the crisis, was expected to make a statement later Friday.

Word of the power-sharing government came hours after Kibaki said he was "committed" to the negotiations.

Speaking at a prayer meeting in Nairobi, Kibaki said he was "encouraged...

I was not only skeptical that an agreement would be reached but that it would have any effect on swelling the violence. I was clearly wrong on the first count and only time will tell if I will be wrong on the second.

Meanwhile gangs were battling each other in the slums of Nairobi.

In one such slum, known as Area 3—a sprawl of tin-roofed shacks, supermarkets and community centers that have been burned to the ground over the last two weeks—a lumbering Luo man wearing a New York baseball cap and carrying a 10-inch machete tucked into his jeans, escorted a NEWSWEEK reporter into a Luo safehouse. "Don't worry," he said, "it's safe here." The man, who called himself Titus, was a security escort for this group of Luo vigilantes, who have taken to calling themselves "Taliban," partially in emulation of the draconian tactics of the Afghan tribesmen who enforced law and order through the barrels of their AK-47s. Looking out onto the street, these Luo Taliban searched the area for the men they now perceive as their sworn enemies: the Kikuyu Mungiki gangs who have taken up positions at intersections and alleyways. Taliban members see themselves as providing security and justice. They first became active the day after the elections. Their men, typically tall and built like heavyweight boxers, light fires and sleep with groups of unaffiliated volunteers outside apartment buildings and shanty towns at night, trying to allay the fears of restless women and children. Last Saturday night Taliban members tried unsuccessfully to dynamite a small bridge that links a Kikuyu area to a smaller Luo area where a now vacant tenement building had been attacked.

Color me skeptical, but I don't believe these gangs care very much if there is a power sharing agreement or not. To them this is a chance to commit violence and criminality. Their violence is combined with that of tribal warfare and other forces that have used this as a vacuum for their own agendas.

Both Kibaki and Odingo have said they have nothing to do with the violence. If that is the case, I don't see how power sharing will end the violence. I continue to believe that the international community is misreading the situation. Whatever it was that started this, chaos is ultimately controlling it now. To stop this violence there needs be significant military and police presence in all areas of trouble. Power sharing agreements are all nice and well however the situation requires a law and order solution first and then a political solution.