Kenya elders demand goat from Kibaki: media

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan elders have demanded a goat from President Mwai Kibaki as compensation for an alleged assault by First Lady Lucy Kibaki, local media said on Sunday.

The government denies the allegation by member of parliament Gitobu Imanyara who had threatened to sue Kibaki's wife. Imanyara said he was assaulted last month at State House.

The Sunday Standard newspaper said a council of traditional elders, the Njuri Cheke, met on Friday and decided to take up the legislator's case.

"They have demanded a fine of a he-goat and an unreserved apology from the First Family." The paper said the elders wanted the matter resolved according to Meru tribal customs.

Kibaki is wrestling with a crisis over his disputed re-election that has triggered widespread ethnic bloodshed.

The Presidential Press Service said Lucy's lawyers would take action against Imanyara's "wild allegations", which it said bordered on character assassination, blackmail and were part of a wider political scheme aimed at tarnishing her office.

Kibaki's wife is known to be fiercely protective of her husband and has courted controversy several times. In December, local media said she slapped an official who called her by the name of a woman widely reported to be Kibaki's second wife.

On Monday, Kibaki is expected to meet chief mediator Kofi Annan again, and also U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose visit is meant to shore up the Annan-chaired talks aimed at finding a solution to the Kenyan crisis.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis)