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Coalition Cabinet delayed

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From Times Wire Reports

Kenya’s political rivals traded accusations over a last-minute delay in naming a coalition Cabinet, the crux of a power-sharing deal to end the country’s bloodiest crisis in 45 years of independence.

Officials announced Thursday that President Mwai Kibaki’s allied parties and opposition leader Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement would split 40 ministries evenly.

The Cabinet’s formation is seen by Kenyans and investors as a sign that the East African nation is ready to leave behind the postelection violence that killed at least 1,200 people and displaced 300,000.

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Kibaki and Odinga, who will become the prime minister under a peace deal brokered in February by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, were under heavy pressure to break a monthlong deadlock on the Cabinet.

A meeting to work out the final details and submit the names of ministers had not happened.

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