Kofi Annan's hotel room is bugged

Kofi Annan's hotel room is bugged.

So much for the peace talks.

But the opposition said a planned meeting between regional foreign ministers with Kibaki in Nairobi would be tantamount to recognising him as head of state and vowed to hold protests.

"The very legitimacy of Kibaki's position as president is in itself in question at the mediation talks," said Anyang Nyongo, the secretary general of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Tuesday.

The government has banned protests and police have opened fire and used tear gas against demonstrators since the December elections that the opposition claims was rigged.

Quotes from Kenyan crisis talks continue, opposition threatens protests.

"It was too hot," Mr Kofi Annan, the former UN chief tasked with brokering a deal out of the crippling impasse, declared soon after adjourning the afternoon session.

Like hot bricks, ODM is said to have dropped the matter of the allegedly stolen presidential election complete with alleged evidence and a raft of demands for electoral reforms.
Sources also intimated that the issue of a transitional government briefly featured, forcing an immediate stalemate.

For the first time, the two teams ate lunch separately.

Earlier in the day, The Standard reliably learnt that the delay to put the issue of the disputed presidential vote, which to a large extent is to blame for the crisis that has engulfed the country, was beginning to cause jitters within sections of the mediation circles.

The sense of unease appeared to stem from concerns - according to sources - that someone or a group of people seemed to be succeeding in bogging down the talks with the unfolding humanitarian crisis at the expense of the equally more urgent matter of what triggered it.

ODM stood its ground that President Kibaki steps down, arguing that its candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, won the election but it was stolen from him.

ODM's clarion call has been: "Truth, Justice and Reconciliation" - which they expound to mean that though the party is for peace and reconciliation, truth and justice must first prevail.
On its part, PNU dug in with the oft-repeated call that the Orange party should take its grievances to court.

Both sides are said to have tabled proof of a stolen election. Evidence and exchanges prompted Annan to adjourn the session and said they would be examined once Machel and Mkapa rejoined the team today.

Quotes from Disputed election results were too hot too handle in the mediation talks.

The US is preparing a visa ban for Kenyan officials who played a role in the violence.

The violence is slowing down relief efforts.

Related article: Uganda-Kenya crisis a lesson for country's opposition.