Kenyan leaders strike power-sharing deal

By C. Bryson Hull and Wangui Kanina

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga struck a deal on a power-sharing cabinet on Saturday after secret one-on-one talks to end a six-week impasse, sources close to the talks said.

The formation of a coalition cabinet is the crux of a deal to end the east African nation's post-election crisis. More than 1,200 people died and 300,000 were displaced in what became the country's bloodiest moment since independence in 1963.

Once the cabinet is named and sworn in, Odinga will become Kenya's prime minister.

"There is a deal and the cabinet will be announced tomorrow (Sunday)," said one of two sources who confirmed the deal to Reuters.

A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity also said a deal had been reached and would be announced on Sunday.

There were no immediate details about the make-up or size of the cabinet, nor about whether either side gave up claims to influential ministries they had haggled over.

Spokesmen for Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the government declined to comment.

The two leaders had agreed to announce a 40-member coalition cabinet on April 6 but the deal fell apart at the last minute, unsettling Kenyans and investors fearful of a return to violence.