Kenyan Opposition Plans Parliament Protest

Tensions are expected to mount in Kenya's bitter post-election row at the opening of the country's new parliament today, where rival sides will vie to select a new speaker.

Scuffles are predicted as members of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement plan to sit on the government benches in protest at the disputed re-election of the president, Mwai Kibaki.

"It's going to be very acrimonious. We should definitely expect some drama," XN Iraki, a political analyst, told Reuters.

Both Kibaki and the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, are due to be sworn in as legislators during the session.

Despite international pressure for the two to meet for talks, today will mark the first time they have been in the same room since Odinga accused Kibaki of rigging his re-election.

More than 600 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the disputed poll.

Security was tight before today's session, with soldiers deployed around the parliament building and some roads in the area blocked off by riot police.

Neither party has the two-thirds majority needed to elect the speaker. Odinga's party has 99 seats in the 222-seat legislature, compared with Kibaki's 43.

The ODM hopes to elect its candidate, Kenneth Marende. Both sides have been courting legislators from minority parties in the hope of drumming up support. Independent Kenyan analysts have warned that both parties may be trying to bribe parliament members to secure votes.

Salim Lone, an opposition spokesman, said, "We are going to go to parliament and sit on the government side and that will make clear who won the election."

The former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is expected in Nairobi tonight, after mediation by the United States and the African Union last week failed to bring Kibaki and Odinga together for talks.

In an effort to step up pressure on Kibaki, Odinga called for three days of protests across the country to start tomorrow, in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations.

Plans for a similar protests earlier this month were postponed after demonstrators were dispersed using water cannons, teargas and gun shots.

Speaking in Geneva, Annan appealed for calm before his departure and alluded to the proposed protests.

"Pending this (mediation), no party should create facts on the ground or engage in acts that complicate the search for a negotiated solution," he said. "The purpose of our mission is to help the Kenyan people find a peaceful and just solution to the current crisis."

Annan faces a tough task. Yesterday, the public works minister, John Michuki, a member of Kibaki's inner circle, said Annan had not been invited.

"We won the elections. We do not see the point for anyone coming to mediate power-sharing. We have not invited Kofi Annan or any other eminent personality to come and mediate," he said.