‘President’s camp was opposed to the power sharing deal’

The Chief Mediator Kofi Annan was increasingly getting impatient with the team. Enraged, he hatched an idea — he decided to "condemn" the team to seclusion, at Kilaguni Lodge, Tsavo National Park. There, he hoped members of the negotiating team would operate freely and undisturbed, away from the people.

"I sent them on the retreat, so they could relax, breathe free air without people calling them from the ministries and all that. Each time they said ‘we need to consult’, I expected them to come back with some wise positions, but they came empty-handed," Annan is quoted in the interview.