Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki urged parliament on Thursday to pass into law a power-sharing deal intended to keep the peace after a post-election crisis that left at least 1,000 dead.
Kibaki - who last week agreed to bring opposition rival Raila Odinga into a "grand coalition" government - opened Kenya's 10th parliament with a minute's silence first for two slain legislators then for all the victims of violence.
He called on the divided house to set aside partisanship and enact last week's political agreement brokered in the hope of ending the darkest spell in the east African country's post-independence history.
"Please succeed. Please forget the history of what has happened," Kibaki, 76, said in off-the-cuff comments at the end of his speech. The agreement will create the post of prime minister for Odinga, 63 - a former political prisoner who says Kibaki cheated him of the December 27 presidential vote by fraud.
"The accord is a victory for all Kenyans, laying the foundation for peace and stability in our country," Kibaki said. "The successful implementation of the accord will require goodwill, unity, good faith and integrity from this House."
Parliamentarians, who next meet on Tuesday, must pass a raft of legislation to approve the deal, amend Kenya's constitution to make the agreement legal, establish a truth and reconciliation commission, and pass an ethnic relations act.
Opposition legislator Anyang' Nyong'o said parliament was likely to suspend its usual seven-day debate on the president's speech so it could speed the formation of the coalition.
Kibaki's disputed re-election ignited looting, riots and politically-tinged ethnic clashes which also made more than 300,000 people homeless and caused millions of dollars of damage to property and infrastructure. Kenyans hope the parliament - which many view as a bastion of greed and laziness - will usher in a new era of politics by passing the laws fast.
"They need to learn to coexist, and look after the common interests of Kenyans other than their own," said Joe Lumumba, a 44-year-old businessman. The crisis hurt Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most stable nations and damaged a fast-growing economy. It also exposed simmering rifts over wealth, power and tribe dating back to the colonial era. "I am confident that we will soon overcome the setbacks we have suffered recently and our country will resume its upward path," Kibaki said.
His Party of National Unity and its allied parties, together with Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement - who share roughly equal numbers in the parliament - have also agreed to carry out a constitutional review within a year. Both men walked together greeting colleagues and ambassadors in the garden outside parliament after the speech, in a show of unity sure to fuel optimism across an exhausted nation.
A carnival atmosphere surrounded the opening, as dozens queued to get inside, envoys' cars whizzed in, soldiers and police marched in formation and flags whipped in a warm breeze. Despite reaching broad agreement on power-sharing, the parties have yet to finalise some crucial details like the prime minister's precise powers and distribution of cabinet positions.
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