Kenya is situated in Eastern Africa bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania. Arab traders reached the coast and controlled the area by the 8th century. Kenya was ruled by the Portuguese from 1498, and came under British control in 1895. In 1963 Kenya gained independence from Britain and became a republic in 1964. Kenya was a de facto one-party state from the outset.  Founding President Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya from 1963 until his death in 1978, and he was succeeded by Daniel arap Moi who remained in power for 24 years. Moi acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991, and the country held its first multiparty elections in 1992. But divisions in the opposition contributed to Moi's retention of the presidency in 1992 and again in the 1997 election. President Moi stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections, and the candidate of the coalition of opposition parties the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Mwai Kibaki, was elected the country's third President. Kibaki was elected president for a second term in December 2007, but as the elections were marred by serious irregularities, violence erupted in different parts of Kenya as supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga and supporters of Kibaki clashed with police and each other. On Feb. 28, 2008, President Kibaki and Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement, which provided for the establishment of a prime minister position, and on April 17, 2008, the new coalition cabinet and Prime Minister Odinga were sworn in.