Clinton tells Kenya to implement delayed reforms

By Sue Pleming

NAIROBI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Kenya's government on Wednesday it must quickly implement long-delayed reforms and that corruption, impunity and human rights abuses were holding the country back.

Carrying a personal message from U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, Clinton said she told President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga they must work harder to fully implement a power-sharing deal that ended bloodletting after a disputed December 2007 election.

Clinton is in Nairobi for a U.S. trade conference with sub-Saharan African countries, where she warned that investors would shun states on the continent that had weak leaders and economies riddled with corruption and crime.

At a press conference with Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula, she used unusually harsh language about the situation in Kenya.

"The absence of strong, effective democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence, human rights abuses and a lack of respect for the rule of law," Clinton said.

"These conditions helped fuel the post-election violence and they are continuing to hold Kenya back."

Wetangula said his government was doing everything it could and it was important for nations to talk to each other candidly.

"President Kibaki and his team assured the Secretary of State that reforms are on course and that the war against impunity in the country is on, that a war against corruption is on," he said at the joint news conference.