TIMELINE: Kenya in crisis after disputed elections

(Reuters) - Kenyan police battled hundreds of opposition protesters on Wednesday, killing two, as the opposition defied a ban on rallies against President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election, witnesses said.

Here is a chronology of the crisis:

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

December 30 - The Electoral Commission of Kenya declares Kibaki winner of the election and he is hurriedly sworn in.

December 31 - The government floods the streets with security forces and maintains 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 rises.

January 3 - Attorney General Amos Wako calls for an independent investigation into the election.

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

Jan 4 - 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 - 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. Protesters respond by building burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold of Kisumu.

-- African Union Chairman and Ghanaian President John Kufuor arrives in Nairobi to mediate.

Jan 10 - Kufuor leaves Kenya saying both sides have agreed to work together with an African panel headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However Kibaki and Odinga, amid recriminations, did not meet or agree how to end the crisis.

Jan 11 - The ODM calls for international sanctions against Kibaki.

Jan 14 - The death toll in unrest rises to 612 according to aid agencies.

Jan 15 - Parliament is convened and the opposition gets a boost by winning the post of speaker in the assembly.

Jan 16 - At the start of three days of rallies called by the ODM, police in Kisumu shoot in the air to disperse a 1,000-strong crowd. Two men are killed. In Nairobi, police chased protesters through the central business district.

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