Kenya: Parties agreed on investigation of disputed elections

(SomaliNet) Chief mediator Kofi Annan announced on Tuesday that Kenya\'s feuding parties have agreed to set up an independent panel to investigate the December presidential election and its disputed outcome which unleashed widespread violence.

\"We agreed that it was important not to sweep matters under the carpet,\" Annan told parliament. \"We need to understand and know what happened during the 2007 presidential election.\"

\"We have therefore agreed that it will be in the interest of everyone and the nation to establish an independent review committee that will be mandated to investigate all aspects of the 2007 presidential election,\" he said.

More than 1 000 people have died in the violence triggered by President Mwai Kibaki\'s re-election in the December 27 vote, which the opposition says was rigged.

Annan did not provide details of the committee, but local press reports said its members would include foreign and Kenyan officials whose findings would be released later this year.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses Kibaki of stealing the election, while international observers have cited serious flaws in vote-counting. - AFP