A landmark agreement was signed in Nairobi this afternoon as President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a power sharing treaty designed to end months of conflict that had erupted in Kenya over last December’s disputed elections. The agreement was reached after weeks of talks brokered by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The agreement was signed in front of an array of international diplomats and representatives of the Kenyan government and opposition as well as the chairman of the African Union, Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete.

Announcing the deal Kofi Annan said “I am pleased to be able to tell you and all the citizens of Kenya that the two parties this afternoon completed the work on agenda item three, how to overcome the political crisis,”

The agreement calls for the creation of a post of prime minister and two deputy prime ministers. The prime minister will be nominated by the largest party in parliament and answerable to them. It is expected that Odinga will step into the position of prime minister.

The talks that lead to this agreements have been running for nearly five weeks and seemed to have come to a deadlock last Tuesday before Kofi Annan achieved a breakthrough by inviting Kibaki and Odinga directly to the negotiating table rather than working with their representatives.

The agreement still needs to be ratified by the parliament next Thursday, this though is expected to be a formality.