TIMELINE: Kenya in crisis after disputed elections

(Reuters) - Opposition supporters rioted in the western city of Kisumu on Tuesday after Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki named several members of a new cabinet, dashing hopes of an end to post-election bloodshed.

Here is a chronology of the recent turmoil:

December 27 - Voters elect a new president and parliament. Most opinion polls give a lead to Kibaki's opposition rival Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement.

December 30 - Kibaki wins close-run election by the narrow margin of 230,000 votes and is hurriedly sworn in.

December 31 - The government floods the streets with security forces and keeps a ban on live TV broadcasts after riots convulse the nation.

January 1 - A mob torches a church, killing about 30 villagers.

January 2 - Kibaki's government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence reaches about 300.

January 3 - Attorney General Amos Wako calls for an independent probe into the election. After hours of police clashes with thousands of protesters, the opposition call off a planned demonstration.

-- South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins to try to mediate an end to the crisis.

Jan 4 - It is announced that Ghanaian President John Kufuor, chair of the African Union, will visit Kenya to try to end the explosion of ethnic violence.

-- Kibaki says he would accept a re-run of the disputed election if a court orders it.

-- The United Nations says the unrest has uprooted 250,000 people, and that about 100,000 displaced people in the Northern Rift Valley could face starvation. The International Red Cross makes an urgent appeal for aid.

Jan 5 - Kibaki says he is ready to form a government of national unity to end the turmoil, but the opposition rejects the offer.

Jan 7 - The death toll reaches 486 according to a government committee.

-- Odinga calls off planned protests after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, saying the mediation process is about to begin.

Jan 8 - Kibaki announces 17 ministers for his new cabinet. The announcement is greeted by protesters building burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold of Kisumu.

-- African Union chairman and Ghanaian President John Kufuor arrives in Nairobi to mediate in the crisis.

(Writing by Jijo Jacob and David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)