Kenyan PM leaves for AU summit

Written By:Margaret Kalekye,    Posted: Fri, Jan 28, 2011

Prime Minister Raila Odinga left the country Friday morning for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he will present his report on Ivory Coast to the African Union Summit.

The PM left the country on a private jet slightly after 8 am. He is expected back in the country on Saturday.

The summit kicked off on Thursday with a meeting of foreign ministers. The political crisis Cote d'Ivoire is at the top of the agenda during the five-day summit.

The PM  last week cut short his mission to Ivory Coast after failing to make a breakthrough in efforts to resolve the country's power struggle.

Raila who is the African Union's mediator in Ivory Coast was expected to stay for some days as part of efforts to persuade Laurent Gbagbo to step aside as President after an election his rival Alassane Ouattara is widely recognised to have won.

In a statement Raila admitted that he had failed to convince Gbagbo to accept that he needed to put his presidency on the agenda of the discussions.

The AU summit is expected to discuss  the next role the Kenyan PM would play after Gbagbo  rejected him accusing of him bias. 

But Gbagbo's  special envoy said in Nairobi backtracked on their earlier position saying that they want Raila to listen to both sides and maintain neutrality in his mission.

AU has  however maintained that it recognises and appreciated the role of Raila played in his two round missions to Cote d'Ivoire but if the parties want to have another mediator, then his mediation effort will be assessed.