Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced he will leave Kenya Sunday, having helped negotiate a power sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
In a statement issued Saturday, Mr. Annan said he would turn over mediating duties to former Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji.
Also Saturday, Mr. Annan met African and European diplomats as well as religious leaders, to discuss a deal reached Thursday aimed at ending post-election violence in Kenya.
Representatives for the government and opposition have now turned their attention to long-term issues such as land distribution, ethnic relations, and constitutional reform. The talks are expected to continue next week.
Those underlying issues helped fuel violence that exploded across Kenya after December's disputed presidential election, leaving at least one-thousand people dead.
The opposition accused Mr. Kibaki as winning re-election by fraud.
The speaker of parliament, Kenneth Marende, said Friday he does not anticipate any difficulties in passing the constitutional amendments needed to implement the power sharing deal.
An opposition parliament member, Ababu Namwamba, said the main obstacle would be political brinkmanship and possible hardliners that may emerge.
Under the agreement, Mr. Odinga is expected to become prime minister with authority over government ministries.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
