Nairobi: Up to 1,000 people may have died in more than a week of riots and post-election violence in Kenya, opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Monday.
The head of the African Union (AU), Ghanaian President John Kufuor, is due to land in Nairobi today. Odinga said Kufuor could begin chairing talks on Wednesday.
Odinga called off nationwide protests by supporters to create a "peaceful atmosphere" for the talks while his rival President Mwai Kibaki summoned parliament to meet on January 15.
The imminent arrival of the AU chief was a "major, major breakthrough" and "very significant move", Odinga said.
Odinga rejected an official government death toll of nearly 500 and said "closer to a thousand" people may have died.
The government says 486 died and 255,000 were uprooted in the turmoil that followed Kibaki's disputed re-election.
Aid workers say the toll could go much higher after one of Kenya's worst crises since independence from Britain in 1963.
Odinga had looked on course to win the December 27 election until Kibaki, 76, was handed a narrow victory. Both sides alleged widespread rigging and international observers say the poll fell short of democratic standards.
The election and subsequent violence has marred Kenya's image as a bastion of stability in east Africa and threatened its economy - the region's largest.
In her first public comments since arriving in Kenya on Friday, Washington's top diplomat for Africa said the political crisis had not shaken the United States' confidence in Kenya as a strong regional hub.
"It has actually further deepened our sense that Kenya is a strong regional partner," US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer told a news conference.
She said Kenyans had been let down by their leaders. "They have been cheated by their leadership and their institutions. The political leaders have to stop the violence and they have to reform the institutions."
Odinga, who turned 63 on Monday, faces a dilemma of responding to international pressure to avoid provoking more violence while also maintaining momentum to oust Kibaki.
