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, which accuses Kibaki of rigging December 27 elections, says chairing the meeting would legitimise Kibaki's position "through the back door".
Some ministers from the seven-nation bloc arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said.
Kenyan police have banned all protests since the polls, and earlier demonstrations have triggered violence and looting.
More than a thousand people have been killed and around 300,000 displaced in one of Kenya's darkest moments since its independence from Britain 44 years ago.
On Tuesday, Annan said the opposition had been wrong to threaten more protests while talks were ongoing under the terms of an mediation agreement signed up to by both sides.
On Tuesday, Annan pushed the two sides to focus on the third item on their agenda -- the political crisis ignited by the disputed election results.
The government says Kibaki was elected fairly and has pressed that position through African diplomatic channels including the African Union and IGAD, where it has goodwill from its role brokering peace for Somalia and Sudan.
Business leaders met Annan on Tuesday and urged action to stop the downward slide that has seen the currency drop at one point to near a three-year low, slammed the $1 billion-a-year tourism industry and choked exports.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Wangui Kanina and Dominic Evans)
