Shutdown at Serena
SINCE CHIEF MEDIATOR KOFI ANNAN LEFT THE COUNTRY after the signing of the National Accord and Reconciliation Agreement on February 28, the mediation talks have been slowly losing steam. For close to three months leading to June, the talks did not produce a single agreement because of the negotiators’ loss of interest, manifested in their chronic mass absenteeism from scheduled meetings.
Rising public concern over the fate of the mediation process forced a temporary return to the talks but by the last week of May, the pretence was wearing thin. In what may well be the last serious seating, the parties signed an agreement whose highlight was that, henceforth, the mediators would be engaged on a need-to basis. That agreement has effectively transferred mediation authority to the Government -- and unofficiallyshutdowntheKenyaNationalDialogue and Reconciliation
