Kufuor Heads For Kenya

.. US & Britain welcomed the emergency visit
.. Kenya on verge of 'meltdown'
The head of the African Union(AU), president John Kufuor, is to arrive in Nairobi on Wednesday to help mediate the postelection violence, said the A.U.'s spokeswoman Habiba Mejri-Cheikh.

She declined to offer further details.

Kufuor is 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.

In a joint statement, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband welcomed the emergency visit and called "on all political leaders to engage in a spirit of compromise that puts the democratic interests of Kenya first."

"The immediate priority is to combine a sustained call from Kenya's political leaders for the cessation of violence by their followers with an intensive political and legal process that can build a united and peaceful future for Kenya," the statement said.

While European Union and other observers condemned the 'rigged' election, only the Bush administration initially congratulated President Mwai Kibaki.

Kibaki has been a strong supporter of American counterterrorism efforts in the region. His government has received substantial antiterrorism training and funding from the U.S. Opposition candidate Raila Odinga, in efforts to distance himself from the incumbent and appeal to Kenya's sizable Muslim population, appeared to be less supportive of U.S. interests going into the elections.

The U.S. State Department later withdrew that message of support after the U.K. and the EU, tasked with observing the elections, voiced concerns about its legitimacy.

In an article published Wednesday in The Herald, Kenya's oldest newspaper, the head of the country's electoral commission, Samuel Kivuitu, was quoted as saying that he did not know who had won the election. Kivuitu said he had been pressured to announce the results.

The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret on Tuesday brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275, raising fears of further unrest in what has been one of Africa's most stable democracies.

The U.N. cited Kenyan police as saying 70,000 people had been displaced so far. Around 5,400 people have also fled to neighboring Uganda.

Mr. Odinga has planned a rally in a downtown Nairobi park tomorrow, at which supporters are encouraged to wear black armbands. Although he has called for peace, the gathering could easily boil over into further violence. Mr. Odinga has said that any negotiations for a satisfactory settlement of the crisis would have to start with government recognition that he is the legitimate president, not Mr. Kibaki.