Food convoy moves in Kenya
Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga could hold talks over Kenya's future
Sunday, 06, Jan 2008 10:14
The first escorted international food aid convoy has left the Kenyan port of Mombasa to help the country's thousands of displaced people.
The United Nations announced today that almost 700 tonnes of food was being transported on 20 trucks to those forced out of their homes by the violence which erupted in the wake of last year's disputed elections.
Some 350 people are thought to have been killed by the fighting and aid agencies are warning that hundreds of thousands of others could also die if aid does not reach them.
Today's convoy departure comes as Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga suggested he was willing to engage in a dialogue with the president, Mwai Kibaki, "to find a lasting solution to the crisis".
Mr Odinga, who is disputing Mr Kibaki's claims that he has been re-elected for another term in office, had previously seemed to reject the offer by his rival for a national unity government.
But speaking to the BBC the opposition leader said that talks must address the issue of electoral fraud, which is the "genesis of this problem" in Kenya.
"The crisis is very grave. And because of this we are willing to walk the extra mile in order to find a solution," he stated.
"We are willing to sit down with Mr Kibaki in the presence of an internationally-recognised mediator so that we can put our thumbs on the table.
"We don't mind the issue of power-sharing. But I want it to be known that the problem is to establish who the winner was on these elections. But in order to resolve the crisis we are willing to talk and then in those processes I am willing to even incorporate Mr Kibaki in the government."
Eleven of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) vehicles which left Mombasa today are heading for the town of Eldoret in the northern Rift Valley, where many of the displaced Kenyans are, carrying pulses, vegetable oil and nutritious corn-soya blend.
The other trucks are destined for Nairobi to feed those in the capital's slums once agreement has been reached local leaders.
"The trucks are escorted because transporters refused to leave Mombasa without escorts," an WFP statement read.
"The trucks for Nairobi will provide stocks that WFP can draw on as soon as a plan to provide food assistance to the hungry in Nairobi's slums is agreed by the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRC), other partners, church-based organisations and the authorities."
The Kenyan government, Unicef and other aid agencies have also supplied food which is hoped to feed up to 35,000 people for a month.