January 18, 2008	Friday	Muharram 08, 1429

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday called Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga equally responsible for the country’s deadly post-elections unrest.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “That violence results from the fact that there are clashes because of the political deadlock,” he stressed.

“Both sides bear equal responsibility for the fact that there is not a political settlement,” the spokesman said. “So it is beyond time for them to come together, open up those channels of communication, focus all of their efforts on trying to reach a political accommodation.” McCormack did not directly criticise the opposition leader three days after protests with tensions running high.

“People have the right to peacefully protest but one could very rightly ask the question whether energy should be better devoted to organising demonstrations or protests, or better devoted toward actually trying to engage in a constructive dialog with the opposition,” McCormack said.

“Certainly one might say the same thing about the actions of the government. So again we are not differentiating here: with respect to the fact that there is violence, both sides bear equal responsibility for that,” he said.—AFP