Annan faces tough challenge reconciling Kenya foes

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will hold talks with Kenya's feuding parties on Wednesday in an effort to find a rapid solution to weeks of political crisis.

The 69-year old African statesman faces a tough challenge resolving a bitter standoff between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition challenger Raila Odinga over a disputed poll that plunged Kenya into chaos and ethnic bloodshed.

"We are determined to work with the parties to find a solution as quickly as possible," Annan told reporters after landing in Nairobi late on Tuesday.

"We want to determine by tomorrow how quickly the parties want to work with us," he said, flanked by fellow mediators Benjamin Mkapa, the former president of Tanzania, and Graca Machel, the wife of former South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Clashes between Kibaki and Odinga supporters, ethnic unrest and a brutal crackdown by the security forces have killed at least 650 people over the past month.

Odinga says a December 27 poll that returned Kibaki to power was fraudulent. His supporters have taken to the streets and mobs mostly targeting Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have hacked people to death and burnt homes. There have also been reprisal killings.

The opposition will hold a memorial gathering starting at a mortuary then proceeding to a big football field near Nairobi's Kibera slum on Wednesday for those who have died in the unrest.

Police have banned all rallies and have broken up previous gatherings of supporters from both sides but have said they will allow the memorial gathering to go ahead.

Odinga and Kibaki have so far refused to speak to each other despite pressure from Western powers like the United States, Britain and the European Union.

"We expect all parties to enter into dialogue in good faith and to seize this opportunity to end the suffering and uncertainty," Annan said.

About 250,000 Kenyans have been uprooted by fighting that has tarnished the country's image, cost east Africa's biggest economy more than $1 billion and choked fuel supplies and trade to landlocked neighbors like Uganda.

Annan's mission follows a similar attempt by African Union head and Ghanaian President John Kufuor. He failed to get Kibaki and Odinga to meet.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also arrived on Tuesday to join in the mediation efforts, though the opposition distrusts him because he is one of few African leaders to have congratulated Kibaki on his victory.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall)