(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-10 10:47

NAIROBI - The Kenyan government has lifted a ban on public rallies imposed after an outbreak of violence over the country's disputed presidential election.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said in a statement Friday that the move came after security has improved in areas affected by post-election violence.

Saitoti urged legislators and others to hold meetings "to promote peace and national reconciliation" and not use rallies as "avenues to incite violence."

"In that regard, MPs and other leaders are requested to use these meetings to promote peace and national reconciliation," he said in a statement.

"The government also reminds the conveners of such meetings that they have the responsibility to ensure that the meetings are not used as avenues for incitement that could result into acts of lawlessness."

The move means that political leaders will have to notify police about such gatherings in advance, and there is no clash of date, time or venue with similar events.

The lifting of the ban came on the day when administrators in the regions warned youths erecting illegal roadblocks on highways and extorting money from motorists that there was a shoot-to-kill order against such acts.

The development also came as former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who is brokering peace talks in Kenya, said Friday that no deal toward a durable political solution had been reached, but that progress was steadily being made.

The decision followed Friday's second face-to-face talks between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga since the disputed elections.

"We are all agreed that a political settlement is needed, that a political settlement is necessary and we are working out the details of such a settlement."

President Kibaki's side said there had been an "agreement in principle," while the opposition spoke of a "positive development. "

The apparent breakthrough came as a policeman accused of shooting dead two protesters pleaded not guilty to murder at a court in Nairobi Friday.

Political analysts said there has been a shift in mood in the political process, and the deadlock appears to have been broken, making way for a new sense of optimism.

Odinga has previously rejected any suggestion of power sharing, while President Kibaki has insisted he is Kenya's duly elected leader.

Kenya plunged into chaos in late December last year after the country's electoral commission declared that the incumbent President Kibaki had narrowly beaten the top opposition leader, Odinga.

Many election observers have said there was widespread evidence of vote rigging. Some observers contended that the government had interfered with the vote-tallying process to give Kibaki the edge.

Many Kenyans have said that a significant political settlement is the only way to end fighting between opposition supporters and those who back the government.

A power-sharing agreement has been one of the possible solutions floated in recent days, and Western officials, including American diplomats, have tried to throw their weight behind this.

Though Annan said Friday that talk of a coalition government was "premature," he emphasized that "there is ground for optimism" and that "we have narrowed down the issues."

The election controversy has stirred up deep-seated grievances over political, economic and land issues, pitting opposition supporters against members of the president's ethnic group and groups perceived as supporting the government.

More than 300,000 people were displaced in the ensuing violence as both sides traded accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Annan arrived in Kenya last month accompanied by former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa and Graca Machel, wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela.