TIMELINE: Kenya in crisis after disputed elections

(Reuters) - Kenyan police fired teargas to disperse supporters of President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday, hours before former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived to mediate in a crisis caused by a disputed election that has triggered weeks of violence.

Here is a chronology of the crisis:

Dec 27 - Voters elect a new president and parliament. Most opinion polls put opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement in the lead.

Dec 30 - The Electoral Commission of Kenya declares Kibaki winner of the presidential election, he is hurriedly sworn in.

- The ODM wins the biggest number of seats in the parliamentary election.

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

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

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

Jan 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 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, 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 and burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold, Kisumu.

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