Kenya Rejects President Kufuor's Mediation

The head of the African Union(AU), president John Kufuor, will not be going to Kenya as reported.

The Ghanaian President and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu were due to arrive in Nairobi, on Thursday, to act as a mediator, but a senior Kenyan government minister has said the visit would not take place.

On Wednesday, Kufuor was waiting to talk to Kenyan President Kibaki before deciding whether to go himself or send a team of delegates.

However, the British prime minister Gordon Brown said that Mr Kufuor was to fly to meet Mr Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga on Thursday.

Late last night, finance minister Amos Kimunya told BBC Radio there was no need for Kufuor to come, because there was no need for international mediation in a "Kenyan situation".

Archbishop Desmond Tutu flew into Kenya this morning

Kufuor, who was urged by the West to mediate, was expected to hold crisis talks with the government and opposition as an explosion of ethnic violence followed the country's disputed election, including a mob torching of a packed church that killed dozens.

Meanwhile, Kenya's opposition leader Raila Ondinga vowed to go ahead with a banned "million man" protest rally in Nairobi Thursday, setting the stage for further clashes between security forces and Odinga's supporters.

The political and ethnic violence sweeping Kenya has already left as many as 300 people dead and displaced 100,000, according to humanitarian groups.

Odinga accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the East African country's highly contested December 27 vote, and his Nairobi rally is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of supporters and their rivals onto the streets of the capital.