TIMELINE: Kenya in crisis after disputed elections

(Reuters) - Here is a chronology of the crisis in Kenya, which has been torn by violence since a disputed presidential election late last year.

Dec 27, 2007 - Voters elect a new president and parliament.

Dec 30 - The Electoral Commission declares Kibaki winner of the presidential election. He is hurriedly sworn in. Riots and looting break out in opposition strongholds.

-- Raila Odinga's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wins the most seats in the parliamentary election.

Jan 1, 2008 - A mob sets fire to a church, killing about 30 villagers from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

Jan 2 - The government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence rises.

Jan 4 - Kibaki says he will accept a re-run of the disputed election if a court orders it. The United Nations says the unrest has uprooted 250,000 people.

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

Jan 7 - Odinga calls off planned protests after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer.

Jan 8 - Kibaki announces 17 ministers for his new cabinet. Protesters respond by building and burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold, Kisumu.

-- John Kufuor, African Union chairman and president of Ghana, 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. Kibaki and Odinga, amid recriminations, have not met or agreed how to end the crisis.

Jan 11 - The ODM calls for sanctions against Kibaki.

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

Jan 16 - Police fight hundreds of protesters throughout the country, as the opposition defies a ban on rallies.

Jan 17 - In Nairobi and the western towns of Kisumu and Eldoret, police fire teargas and bullets during rallies called by the opposition but banned by police.