China welcomes agreement between Kenyan President, opposition leader

BEIJING—China on Friday welcomed an agreement on principles for a coalition government announced in Kenya.
“China welcomes this (the signing of the agreement), and appreciates both sides’ choice of a political solution to the election disputes through dialogue and consultation, which has taken the interests of the nation and the Kenyan people into consideration,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.
The agreement was signed on Thursday between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. Liu said China hoped all parties would appreciate the hard-earned result, and continue to properly resolve other issues through dialogue, in a bid to safeguard national peace and stability in Kenya.
China also appreciated and supported the important role of the international community, including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the African Union, in promoting the political solution to the crisis in Kenya, said Liu.
“Kenya is China’s traditional friend. China attaches great importance to developing friendly and cooperative ties with Kenya, and actively supports Kenya’s efforts to realize political reconciliation and promote economic and social development,” said Liu.
Kenyan football has been dealt another blow after the Confederation of African Football excluded the country from the newly introduced Africa Nations Championships set for Cote d’Ivoire next year, the Daily Nation newspaper reported Friday. Coming just a fortnight after Kenya’s Tusker club were dismissed from the Africa Champions League, after the Kenya Football Federation’s failure to pay a 450,000 shilling (about 6,400 U.S. dollars) debt to CAF, the exclusion of Kenya from the Nations Championships has already created fears Kenya could also be locked out of the qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Nations Cup.
The new tournament is a continental showcase like the African Nations Cup, the difference being that only local-based players are eligible.
Thirty countries have been included in the preliminary round of the Championships. Eight teams including the hosts will play in the inaugural tournament next year.
CAF has divided the qualifiers into zones — North zone with teams from North Africa, West A and B Zone with teams from the west of the continent, Central Zone, Southern Zone and Central East, where Kenya was expected to play.
Also excluded are Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. On Thursday, KFF secretary-general Sammy Obingo said he was following up the matter.
Obingo said he would be writing to CAF to seek clarification on Kenya’s exclusion.
“We had informed CAF on our intention to participate in the tournament and they had responded by sending us rules of the tournament and other details. How Kenya has been excluded is a shock to me,” said Obingo
Interestingly, several Kenyan referees have been invited to officiate in the qualifiers to the tournament.
KFF has accused Caf of waging a cold war against it for campaigning against its president, Issa Hayatou, four years ago during the world soccer governing body, FIFA elections when he challenged Sepp Blatter.—Xinhua