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NAIROBI-Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki (picture left)Monday invited opposition leader Raila Odinga for their first face-to-face talks since the country's disputed presidential poll, as mediation efforts accelerated Monday.Odinga earlier called off countrywide protests set for Tuesday, as the death toll from a week of clashes over the disputed December 27 election surged to at least 600.As diplomatic efforts intensified to calm the conflict, the chairman of the African Union, Ghanaian President John Kufuor, was due to arrive in Kenya Wednesday. He is expected to push for a compromise between Kibaki and Odinga.A spokesman for Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, Ahmed Hashi, said late Monday that they had not yet received a formal invitation from Kibaki to Friday's talks."In the light of the development, we are assured that mediation effort has started," Odinga said.But Odinga said earlier he was ready to start a dialogue with Kibaki about options including power sharing and re-elections after meeting with the top US Africa envoy, Jendayi Frazer.Frazer said the Kenyan people had "been cheated by their political leadership and their institutions"."We the US hope they (Kibaki and Odinga) will do more than accomodatimg each other... it should be aimed at ending the violence in the country," she added."The only way to restore the Kenyan people's rights and confidence in the system is that the political leaders have to stop the violence, because innocent people are dying," she said.Police said the toll from clashes triggered by Kibaki's contested victory had risen dramatically."We have at least 600 dead ... some bodies are still in the bushes where fighting occurred," a top police official told AFP.Liberata Mulamula, the head of the UN-backed International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, said many of the deaths resembled a genocide-style campaign."Refugees, internal displacement, hate campaigns and threats of genocide are returning to the region," he warned.According to the United Nations, some 255,000 people have been displaced since the elections, but Frazer firmly rejected Mulamula's "genocide" label."Even the worst of what has happened cannot be considered a genocide," she said.The US envoy called for a shake-up of the current political structures in place, notably the devolution of presidential powers that Kibaki failed to achieve in his first term.In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for a "credible mediation process" to resolve the crisis and said Kenya's leaders "must be willing to make the necessary compromises to find a way forward".He denied that the international community was trying to impose a solution on Kenya. "It is for the Kenyans to decide the nature of their power-sharing, not for us to prescribe a particular type of coalition or a particular type of constitutional arrangement," he said.In Nairobi's Mathare slum, scene of some of the worst unrest in recent days, some shops re-opened Monday but tensions remained high.Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe gathered in small groups, fearing new attacks by opposition supporters, mainly members of Odinga's Luo tribe."The Luo say Raila has won. Even the Kikuyu know that, but it's not reason to start a war ... We want peace but we also have weapons and we are not cowards," said 29-year-old Steve.Poll monitors have said the vote count was rife with irregularities and both sides traded accusations of rigging.The electoral board declared Kibaki the winner December 30, unleashing nationwide riots that quickly developed into deadly tribal vendettas, notably between the Kikuyu and the Luo.Aid groups have warned of a health emergency in makeshift camps in schools, hospitals and churches in the isolated and still tense Rift Valley region of western Kenya.A convoy was en route Monday for the western Kenyan town of Kisumu, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.It was part of a wider shipment of aid-20 trucks loaded with 670 metric tons of food-unloaded in the port of Mombasa on Sunday.In a meeting with religious leaders, Kibaki vowed to step up national and international humanitarian operations, and also told them to be on the forefront of moves to promote peace.Washington considers Kenya a key ally and a beacon of stability in the restive region and Frazer was optimistic that it could still recover from the crisis."We feel that Kenya is still strong," the US envoy said."And what we're most impressed with (...) is the strength of the Kenyan people. They're calling themselves back from the brink. It's not Kenyan politicians that have done that."As in the days of Noah...
