CHEPKIOYO, Kenya — Kenya’s opposition leader demanded Saturday that the president resign and new elections be held, dropping a conciliatory stance that had brought hope for a political settlement to end weeks of post-election violence.
Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 election, spoke in his traditional power base in western Kenya before cheering supporters at the funeral of a slain opposition lawmaker.
Kibaki “must step down or there must be a re-election — in this I will not be compromised,” Odinga shouted in Swahili.
It was a sharp turnaround from comments he made in English two days earlier in the capital, Nairobi. He indicated he would not insist on Kibaki’s resignation, saying “we are willing to give and take.”
The next day, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan struck an optimistic note after mediating negotiations between the two sides, and Odinga’s own political party said a power-sharing agreement was in the works. Annan said he hoped to complete work on a settlement early this week.
But Odinga returned Saturday to the themes that have rallied supporters.
More than 1,000 people have been killed and 300,000 forced from their homes since the vote.
