Kenya government rejects Annan mediation in crisis

The Kenyan government on Monday rejected a mediation mission by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan to try to end political unrest and sent a stern warning to the opposition ahead of nationwide protests.

Two weeks after President Mwai Kibaki's contested re-election sparked violence that has left hundreds dead, Annan was due in Nairobi on Tuesday, his office said.

But Kibaki's government again rejected international mediation of the crisis, which has also left a quarter of a million displaced.

"If Kofi Annan is coming, he is not coming at our invitation," Roads
and Public Works Minister John Michuki, a hard-line member of Kibaki's
new Cabinet, told reporters.

"We won the elections so we do not see the point for anyone coming to mediate power-sharing," he added.

International
mediation efforts have so far failed to bring Kibaki to the negotiating
table with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says the December 27
election was rigged to rob him of the presidency.

African Union chief John Kufuor left the country last week with little to show for two days of talks with both camps.

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United States Africa envoy Jendayi Frazer, who spent a week in Kenya,
said afterwards she was "deeply disappointed" that the two rivals had
been unable to reach agreement on how to hold direct discussions.

She also warned that the US could not "conduct business as usual in Kenya".

Annan
on Friday appealed to "all Kenyan leaders, the government as well as
the opposition in the country to avoid any measures or steps that would
further compromise the search for an amicable solution to the country's
crisis".

International observers have voiced concern over
irregularities in December 27 vote tallying, but no foreign power has
come out strongly against Kibaki, who took the oath an hour after the
results were announced.

The 76-year-old was due to inaugurate Kenya's 10th Parliament on Tuesday.

Neither
his Party of National Unity (PNU) nor Odinga's opposition Orange
Democratic Movement (ODM) managed to secure a majority, prompting a
fight between both sides to woo smaller parties ahead of the chamber's
re-opening.

Odinga has vowed his party will sit down on the government's side on the Parliament benches.

"We
expect rough times and a major showdown in Parliament, dominated by
patronage, vendettas and unproductiveness if the situation remains as
it is," Kenyan political analyst Evans Manduku said Monday.

Senior
ODM official William Ruto denied that by attending the opening of
Parliament convened by Kibaki the opposition would be recognising the
legitimacy of his presidency.

"We are not going to sit back and allow them install a speaker who will pave the way for the illegitimacy to continue," he said.

Kenya's feuding parties prepared on
Monday for fresh fighting in parliament and on the streets
despite another international push to mediate a post-election
crisis that has now killed at least 612 people.

But the priority for many in the east African nation was
getting millions of children back to school after a week's
delay following the turmoil caused by President Mwai Kibaki's
disputed re-election last month.

"Life has to go on," said Esther Muhito, preparing her
children for classes in Molo, a town in the Rift Valley where
ethnic clashes have killed scores. In some camps housing
refugees, volunteers were setting up temporary classrooms.

Scores of others, however, were still fleeing the same
tea-growing area, fearful the opposition's call for three days
of nationwide protests starting on Wednesday would stoke more
bloodshed.

Police have banned the rallies.

The crisis has dented Kenya's democratic credentials and
resurgent economy, hit supplies to east and central African
neighbors, and rattled Western donors.

Rachel Arungah, chairwoman of the government's Humanitarian
Services Committee, told Reuters the death toll stood at 612 on
Monday. But local media said it was higher, at 693.

Most of the deaths have come from fighting between rival
ethnic communities, clashes between police and protesters, as
well as looting and mob violence.

The number of refugees had dropped, as some people return
to their homes, to 199,204, Arungah added.