Rival Kenyan leaders agree to meet as death toll climbs

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Kenya's president and opposition leader will meet to address vote-counting irregularities and the ensuing violence in which nearly 500 people have been killed, U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer said on Monday.

African Union chairman John Kufuor will try to mediate between Kenya's warring factions.

Frazer, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, said the election was "rigged" and Kenyans had been "cheated" by their political leaders and institutions.

She told CNN she was able to get President Mwai Kibaki and bitter rival Raila Odinga to agree to talk under the mediation of the African Union's chairman by relaying the concerns of the Kenyan people.

Frazer said: "They both have to acknowledge certain key issues -- for instance that there were irregularities in the counting of the vote and that violence is not the answer to these problems.

"I think that both are prepared to move the country forward on an understanding of that basis."

Ghanaian President John Kufuor is expected to arrive in Kenya on Tuesday evening to mediate talks between the two, Frazer said, which has led Odinga's party to cancel a planned rally earlier that day.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua would not say if the president was prepared to enter into a power-sharing arrangement with Odinga, but said Kibaki is ready to work with "like-minded parties."

"We do want a strong opposition, otherwise we would have a one-party state," Mutua added.

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush released a statement condemning the violence and saying he was "heartened" by the latest news.
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"The government of Kenya has acknowledged that voting irregularities have occurred, and the Orange Democratic Movement has pledged to refrain from further protests that could detract from reconciliation efforts," he said. "I now urge both sides to enter this dialogue in good faith to earn back the trust of the Kenyan people."

Kibaki invited Odinga to take part in talks Friday at the president's official residence, the State House, Mutua said.

Reacting to that written invitation, Odinga's spokesman said the opposition leader "would be happy to meet Mr. Kibaki on Friday if it is part of the negotiations that are to be mediated by President Kufuor of Ghana."

International mediation is a key demand of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, which has accused Kibaki of stealing his re-election victory.

Odinga supporters trying to attend two scheduled rallies in Nairobi last week were met with water cannon and tear gas before the party agreed to postpone the demonstrations.

Frazer was dispatched to Kenya on Friday to help find a diplomatic solution to the political fallout that led to the widespread killings between supporters of Kibaki, a member of the large Kikuyu tribe, and supporters of Odinga, who comes from the minority Luo tribe.

The violence has been concentrated in Nairobi and near the Rift Valley town of Eldoret in western Kenya, where international aid began pouring in over the weekend.

Frazer said she hoped the mediated discussions would focus on more than just the power struggle between Kibaki and Odinga.

"Kenya is going to have a long future of instability if, in fact, they don't address the fundamental questions," Frazer said.

"Getting the politicians to dialogue is not just about the past election -- it is about the future of this country and owning up to the real crises that we are all seeing the evidence of over the past week."

The Kenyan government said on Monday that the death toll had reached 482 people, while the United Nations had said that about 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence since the December 27 vote.

International election monitors have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote, but the United States does not want "to push for any solution that says there's a fresh round of elections," Frazer said.

Kibaki has said he is ready to consider a government of national unity. While Odinga has indicated he is willing to negotiate, he has not backed down from his demands that Kibaki resign and hold fresh elections.

The United States is also pushing to get a ban on live broadcasts lifted, the U.S. official said. The country plunged into a news blackout after the government suspended all broadcasts as violence engulfed the capital.

Meanwhile, a convoy of food trucks left the eastern port of Mombasa on Sunday in an effort to address the humanitarian crisis.