LONDON, July 23 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday pledged to offer assistance in reconstruction of Kenya.
Speaking at a joint news conference after talks with his visiting Kenyan counterpart Raila Odinga at No. 10 Downing Street, Brown said the Kenyan people had "chosen to work together" and that Britain would play its part in helping the country rebuild.
"We welcome the commitment to power sharing, we welcome the strenuous efforts made by all sides to live up to the expectations of the Kenyan people and we will fulfill our promise to help with the rebuilding," said Brown.
Brown said Britain and Kenya would work together on a number of key issues, including fights against drugs trafficking, a trade agreement in the Doha round of negotiations taking place this week in Geneva and an East Africa standby brigade to help encourage stability in the region.
He also praised the progress made by the Kenyan government after the disputed election to "step back from the brink" following disputed election results and to form a unity administration.
"I am convinced by my talks today that Kenya's leaders have the will and determination to take all the steps necessary and I applaud their commitment," said Brown.
At the news conference, Odinga expressed his thanks to Brown and Britain for launching negotiation process that ended in the founding of a national unity government in Kenya in April following a disputed election and unrest that claimed as many as 1,500 lives.
"Unknown to very many people, it was Prime Minister Gordon Brown who started off the process of negotiations through phone calls -- one to me and the other one to President Kibaki during which he urged us to agree that he could play a role behind the scenes to broker negotiations. That phone call is what started it all off," said Odinga.
Odinga, who left for London on Monday night, was leading a high-powered government and private sector delegation to an investment conference held Wednesday by the British government.
