Kenyan PM credits Brown for solution

London: Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday credited Prime Minister Gordon Brown with helping to initiate the process that helped resolve the crisis in his country in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election last December.

Differences over the polls led to two months of violence in which about 1,500 people were killed and over 300,000 left homeless.

Peace was restored with the formation of a coalition government between President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga's former opposition party.

"Unknown to many people, it was Prime Minister Gordon Brown who started up the process of negotiations through phone calls, one to me, the other to President Kibaki, during which he asked us to agree that he could play a role behind the scenes to broker negotiations," Odinga said, after talks with Brown at his Downing Street office in London.

Inviting trade and investment, Odinga clarified that "Kenya is not coming with a begging basket."