NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's political rivals resumed crisis talks on Wednesday despite preparations for a meeting of east African foreign ministers which has angered opposition leaders.
The opposition has threatened more street protests if thegovernment chairs Thursday's planned meeting of the regionalbody IGAD, which is headed by Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki.
The opposition, which accuses Kibaki of rigging December 27elections, says chairing the meeting would legitimise Kibaki'sposition "through the back door".
But former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating betweenthe foes about a disputed election, said there would be no massaction while talks continued.
Some ministers from the seven-nation bloc arrived inNairobi on Wednesday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangulasaid.
"If they government goes ahead and holds the IGAD meeting,we will protest peacefully. We will march, carry placards, showour messages," one opposition official said.
Kenyan police have banned all protests since the polls, andearlier demonstrations have triggered violence and looting.
What started as a dispute over President Mwai Kibaki'sdisputed December 27 re-election has since laid bare divisionsover land, wealth and power that date from colonial rule andhave since been stoked by politicians.
More than a thousand people have been killed and around300,000 displaced in one of Kenya's darkest moments since itsindependence from Britain 44 years ago.
Most of the deaths have come from cycles of ethnickillings, adding to protesters shot dead by the securityforces.
On Tuesday, Annan said the opposition had been wrong tothreaten more protests while talks were ongoing under the termsof an mediation agreement signed up to by both sides.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement(ODM) says Kibaki's team rigged the vote and has insisted onexternal mediation. That led to Annan's mission which has sofar produced commitments to end violence and help thedisplaced.
On Tuesday, Annan pushed the two sides to focus on thethird item on their agenda -- the political crisis ignited bythe disputed election results.
International observers have said the vote counting was sochaotic that it was impossible to tell who won.
The government says Kibaki was elected fairly and haspressed that position through African diplomatic channelsincluding the African Union and IGAD, where it has goodwillfrom its role brokering peace for Somalia and Sudan.
The bloodshed has damaged Kenya's image as a stable andprosperous nation in a turbulent part of the continent, andseriously harmed the economic boom Kibaki won wide credit fornurturing with a business-friendly approach.
Business leaders met Annan on Tuesday and urged action tostop the downward slide that has seen the currency drop at onepoint to near a three-year low, slammed the $1 billion-a-yeartourism industry and choked exports.
(For special coverage from Reuters on Kenya's crisis see:http ://africa.reuters.com/elections/kenya/)
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Wangui Kanina andDominic Evans)
