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US Senator meets Raila as bipartisan talks begin

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Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga held talks with the visiting United States Senator Christopher Coons on Sunday.

The meeting between the two comes amid speculation it was part of ongoing efforts by the international community to mediate the opposition and the ruling party.

There is no official communication regarding the reasons for the meeting, but Raila appeared buoyed by their encounter.

“It was a great pleasure as usual to meet and exchange notes with my friend Senator Chris Coons. An afternoon well spent,” Mr Odinga said after the meeting with Coons.

Coon-Raila meeting took place a day before a team of leaders drawn from the ruling and opposition parties that was picked to spearhead dialogue between the two sides officially begin talks at the Bomas of Kenya.

It’s not the first time Coons, representing Delaware in the US Senate, is involved in similar mission in Kenya.

Soon after William Ruto was declared President, the Senator was in Kenya. Raila had disputed the August 9 2022 election outcome.

He was also in the country in 2017, after a bitterly contested Presidential poll. He would lead a delegation from the US that mediated the differences between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his competitor Raila Odinga. Soon Uhuru and Raila agreed to a truce leading to the now famous “Handshake” deal in March 9, 2018.

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