(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-26 17:14

NAIROBI  -- Kenya's main opposition leaders have vowed to hold nationwide protests if a compromise at the ongoing talks aimed at defusing tension in the east African nation was not reached by Thursday.

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) notified the police of their plans on Monday night, which frightened many Kenyans because previous protests have turned bloody, with dozens of people killed.

The party secretary-general Anyang Nyong' o said in a letter which was sent to the police boss Maj.Gen. Mohamed Hussein Ali, informing him that the party would hold nationwide peace meetings on Thursday.

Nyong'o said in the letter that all the ODM regional coordinators had delivered letters to respective police commanders across the country.

The opposition party is demanding that parliament be recalled to pass constitutional changes that would allow a power-sharing agreement.

The opposition says MPs have one week to meet but the president remains opposed to any constitutional changes. Violence over the dispute has left at least 1,000 people dead across Kenya. However, most parts of the country are now calm.

The ODM has accused the government of using the current constitution to delay the negotiations that have hardly made progress.

"The current insistence by Mwai Kibaki and the PNU leadership that mediation proposals must be made only within the confines of the present constitution is a ploy to delay mediation talks," Nyongo said.

"All Kenyans know that the present constitution is itself a problem to democratic change in Kenya. We need to change it to be in tune with the popular demand for democratic governance in our nation," he added.