Kenya opposition calls off protests as death toll nears 500

Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Monday he had called off protests because a "mediation process" to resolve the political crisis that has killed nearly 500 people was about to begin.

"We are now assured that the mediation process is about to start," Odinga told reporters after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer. "We are therefore informing our supporters countrywide that there will be no public rallies (on Tuesday)."

The death toll from post-election violence in Kenya has risen to 486, with a further 255,000 people displaced in one of the nation's worst moments since 1963 independence from Britain, the government said on Monday.

The figures from the Ministry of Special Programmes were a large rise on the previous death-toll of about 350 from unrest across east Africa's largest economy since the December 27 vote that gave President Mwai Kibaki a disputed re-election.

While most of the country largely returned to calm, there was an unconfirmed report from Uganda that 30 Kenyans drowned after being pursued by attackers into a river on the border.

Police on the Kenyan side could not confirm the report.

The post-election turmoil has marred Kenya's image as a bastion of stability in east Africa and threatened its economy - the region's largest.

Odinga, 63 on Monday, faces the dilemma of responding to international pressure to avoid anything that may provoke more violence while also maintaining momentum to oust Kibaki.

"Nobody wants to spill blood, but democracy has no shortcut," Odinga aide Tony Gachoka told Reuters.

Kibaki's government accused Odinga of "grandstanding" and perpetuating the unrest.

Fanning the controversy, the Law Society of Kenya called for Kibaki to step down and for fresh polls, saying the election was "not credible" and the announcement of a winner "unacceptable."

African Union Chairman John Kufuor, Ghana's president, was due to visit this week to try to mediate between Odinga and Kibaki. Their mutual distrust is a key obstacle to a solution.

Kibaki has said he is ready to form "a government of national unity." But Odinga wants him to renounce the presidency, hold talks through an international mediator, and enter a "transitional arrangement" prior to a new vote.

REFUGEES

Around the country of 36 million people, Kenyans were struggling to come to terms with some of the worst violence in their nation since independence from Britain.

The poor in city slums and rural areas have been worst hit by the violence, with the political elite, other well-to-do Kenyans and expatriates largely unaffected in gated compounds.

Odinga had looked on course to win until Kibaki, 76, was handed a narrow victory. Both sides alleged fraud, and international observers say the election fell short of democratic standards.

The dispute unleashed protests, riots and anarchy that have left refugees scattered across a nation more used to helping those fleeing from countries like Sudan and Somalia.

Eleven U.N. World Food Programme trucks were heading to western Kenya, heart of the refugee crisis, under escort on Monday, with enough food to feed 38,000 people for two weeks.

Much of the trouble has pitched opposition supporters against members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, including the massacre of about 30 people sheltering in a church near Eldoret, a town in western Kenya with decades-old land tensions.

Kenyans are aghast at images beamed around the world of the chaos in their nation, a popular tourist destination and regional base for numerous international institutions.

But many are also offended at superficial depictions of tribal warfare that do not explore the many other roots of the violence: land disputes dating back to colonial times, wealth disparities, and incitement by politicians.

There was, however, concern at population shifts sparked by the turmoil, most notably Kikuyus fleeing back to their central highland homelands between Nairobi and Mount Kenya.

Several hundred Luos, some with injuries, sheltered at a police station in Tigoni, about 30 km north of Nairobi. They complained of harassment by returning Kikuyus.

Nairobi was, at least, returning to some semblance of normality, with a cacophony of horns from "matatu" minibuses signalling the start of the year's first proper rush hour.

An electricity meter-reader making his rounds chuckled "kazi iendelee" (work continues) -- Kibaki's election slogan.