France welcomes Kenya constitution vote

PARIS, Aug 6 - France said Friday that a referendum vote by Kenyans to adopt a new constitution is an "important stage" in the country's reconciliation process after the bloodshed unleashed by 2007 elections.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said the apparently peaceful referendum was a "positive signal for the preparation of elections to come."

Some 67 percent of voters backed the new constitution, according to Kenya's electoral commission, and the vote defied fears of a repeat of the violence of 2007 and 2008, when political and ethnic clashes left around 1,500 dead.