NAIROBI, Jan 9: African Union chief John Kufuor met Kenyan leaders on Wednesday to mediate an end to political turmoil following disputed presidential polls that sparked widespread violence and left at least 600 dead.

President Mwai Kibaki, whose re-election 11 days ago triggered the unrest, denied there was any national crisis in his meeting with Kufuor, an official at the president’s office said.

“Kibaki insisted that the country is not in a crisis and the government is operational,” the official said.

Ghanaian president Kufuor faces the tough task of trying to bring together Kibaki and opposition chief Raila Odinga, who claims he was robbed of victory in the Dec 27 election.

Odinga refuses to recognise Kibaki’s legitimacy, alleging widespread fraud in the polls including a rigged vote count.

Kufuor’s mission was made that much harder after a defiant Kibaki on Tuesday unveiled a partial cabinet which Odinga rejected as a “gimmick” and opposition supporters greeted with violent protests.

Odinga was due to meet with the AU chief later Wednesday, his Orange Democratic Movement said.

“We have not changed our position on recognising the president. We do not recognise him,” ODM secretary general Anyang Nyongo said.

Kufuor was also scheduled to hold talks with the top US Africa envoy, Jendayi Frazer, who has been in Kenya for five days on a similar mediation mission.

Shortly after his meeting with Kufuor, Kibaki flew to the western town of Eldoret, one of the worst hit areas in the violence that followed his re-election.

Kibaki and Odinga have jousted with various proposals that might allow them to talk for the first time since the poll-related violence erupted leaving 600 dead and 250,000 displaced.

The president had extended an invitation to his rival for face-to-face talks on Friday, but Odinga rejected the offer, saying he would only meet with Kufuor’s mediation.

Kibaki’s cabinet announcement, which came just before Kufuor flew in on Tuesday, set off protests in the western city and ODM stronghold of Kisumu, where police said officers fired into the air to disperse up to 300 young demonstrators who had blocked a road with bonfires.

Kibaki’s line-up handed most posts to members of his party, although Kalonzo Musyoka, a minor presidential candidate, was named as vice president, and another member of Kalonzo’s party was named information minister.

Foreign diplomats warned that the president’s move to name part of the cabinet was a blow to peace negotiations, and an alliance of leading Kenyan rights groups accused Kibaki of riding roughshod over the political process.

“We refuse to allow the man sworn in as president to continue presenting the nation with what is, in effect, a series of ‘faits accomplis’,” Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice said in a statement on Wednesday.

There was no slot for any member of Odinga’s party, but Kibaki vowed in a statement on Wednesday to form a “broad-based” government.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday asked her chief Africa envoy Frazer to prolong her mission in Kenya, while four former African presidents are also in the country to push diplomatic efforts.

The United States is a key Kenyan ally and donor and President George Bush has urged the government and opposition to hold “good faith” talks and end the violence.—AFP