I wonder why presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has never denied or acknowledged that Kenya's Muslim-backed opposition leader, Raila Odinga, is his cousin. His silence is baffling, so I assume it's true. Back in early January, Odinga announced Obama was his cousin. Odinga is the son of dissident Oginga Odinga.
Is there not one reporter who could ask Obama this question so we can hear his response?
But, in any event, Odinga is pushing it in Kenya where his supporters seem to be behind the violence there, which is going from bad to worse:
Kenya's opposition leader demanded Saturday that the president resign, a sharp turnaround from his conciliatory tone during talks with the government earlier this week.
Raila Odinga, speaking to thousands of supporters at the funeral of an opposition lawmaker, resurrected demands he had dropped just days before as talks over the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election picked up momentum.
President Mwai Kibaki "must step down or there must be a re-election—in this I will not be compromised," Odinga said, addressing the wildly cheering crowd in East Africa's common tongue of Swahili.
A day earlier, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had struck an optimistic note after mediating negotiations between the two sides, and Odinga's own political party had said a power-sharing agreement was in the works.
But Odinga, speaking to his power base in western Kenya, returned to themes that have rallied supporters—and, many say, incited them to violence—since the election.
"You cannot steal my cow, and I catch you red-handed, and then expect me to share my the milk because the cow is mine," he said.
Thousands of people were gathered in an open field for the funeral of David Kimutai Too, whose killing set off a wave of ethnic clashes. Police say Too was killed in an act of passion, but the opposition insists he was assassinated.
More than 1,000 people have been killed and 300,000 forced from their homes since Kibaki won a second term in a vote that Kenyan and foreign observers say was rigged. The fighting has pitted members of Kenya's rival ethnic groups against one another, gutted the economy and left the country's reputation as a budding democracy and a top tourist destination in tatters.
Source
Update 2/14/08: Rival factions in Kenya's political crisis reportedly agreed Thursday to write a new constitution, a move that could allow for power-sharing as part of a deal aimed at ending weeks of violence in this East African country.
The announcement of an agreement came as President Bush said he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya to demand an immediate halt to bloodshed that has killed more than 1,000 people since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election.
Incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner, but opposition groups claimed the results were rigged. The election fight blew up into a broader conflict among Kenya's many ethnic groups, and international pressure has mounted for the two sides to find a way to work together.
...Odinga, who served as a Cabinet minister in Kibaki's administration for two years before being booted out in December 2005, fell out with the president over a previous attempt at constitutional reform. Odinga had led a drive opposing a draft charter backed by Kibaki.
Rice and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer plan to travel on Monday to Nairobi, where they will meet with Kibaki, Odinga and civic leaders.
Bush said Rice will deliver a message to Kenya's leaders and people: "There must be an immediate halt to violence, there must be justice for the victims of abuse and there must be a full return to democracy."
He made the announcement during a speech previewing his six-day trip to Africa, which starts Saturday. Bush's schedule does not include a stop in Kenya. AP
Listen to the audio of Raila Odinga at BBC
Spitzer's high-priced call girl has been outed. Her name is Ashley Alexandra Dupre and, get this, she's only 22 years old! She apparently had a tryst with Client 9, aka Spitzer, on February 13th, per Fox TV.