Kenya Protest Cancelled in Bid for Peace

Opposition leaders in Kenya have canceled another rally against the disputed presidential elections, as the government revealed that violence sparked by the poll has claimed 486 lives.

In a softening of his stance towards the president, Kwai Kibaki, the opposition candidate Raila Odinga said he wanted to give mediation a chance.

"We are now assured that the mediation process is about to start. We are therefore informing our supporters countrywide that there will be no public rallies," he said at a press conference.

Odinga made the announcement after meeting the US envoy, Jendayi Frazer. The Kenyan government said the proposed demonstrations were illegal and could provoke violence.

Ghana's president and the current chairman of the African Union, John Kufuor, has again been sent to Kenya to mediate between Odinga and Kibaki.

Last week he had been due to arrive in Nairobi but stayed after away after Odinga said he was not willing to talk to Kibaki unless he acknowledged that he had lost the election.

The Ministry of Special Programs announced today that after more than a week of violence 486 people have been killed and 255,000 people have been displaced. Kenyan police claim that at least 600 have died, according to AFP.

An anti-Kibaki rally had been scheduled for tomorrow, after plans for a similar protest were postponed last Thursday when demonstrators were dispersed with teargas and water cannon. The government had claimed that a rally would ignite "tension and hooliganism".

Later today, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, is due to make a Commons statement about the situation in Kenya.