Kenya meeting collapses

THE two men at the centre of Kenya's political crisis met face to face yesterday for the first time since a disputed election, but hopes for an end to four weeks of chaos and violence quickly dissolved into partisan backbiting.

Moments after the long-awaited meeting between opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki -- whose re-election many observers think was rigged -- Mr Kibaki delivered a short, defiant speech in which he called himself the "duly elected president of Kenya" and referred repeatedly to "my Government" while Mr Odinga stood by uncomfortably.

Mr Odinga's party called a news conference to denounce what it called Mr Kibaki's "demeaning and unacceptable behaviour".

Two days of work by the latest mediator to come to Kenya -- former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan -- withered in the Nairobi heat.

Party officials charged Mr Kibaki was trying to undermine the talks, and demanded both sides agree on terms before Mr Odinga would meet him again. "We denounce and categorically reject the unfortunate statement by Mr Kibaki that he is the duly elected president of Kenya," said Anyang Nyongo, secretary-general of Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.