NAIROBI (Reuters) - International mediators in Kenya cannot afford to fail, their leader said on Friday as they sought to end riots and ethnic violence over disputed elections which have killed more than 1,000 people.
"They will have to shift. They will shift," Annan said of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga in an interview with BBC radio.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues from the regional IGAD bloc, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said they were visiting to show solidarity with Kenyans over the bloodshed and endorse Annan's mediation efforts.
"We said proliferation of initiatives have not helped anywhere and they are not either to help here in the Kenyan case," Seyoum told a news conference after they held talks with Kibaki, opposition officials and Annan.
Kenya holds the rotating chairmanship of IGAD and has goodwill in the bloc for its peace efforts in Somalia and Sudan.
TALKS GRIND ON
"I think what we are looking for is to keep the pressure on all sides," Holmes told reporters.
Annan said he was not ready to contemplate failure. "I'm not ready to give up now, and the team working with me are of the same spirit," Annan told the BBC. "We cannot afford to fail."
"The people are traumatised. They are angry. They are upset with their leaders, and if anyone remains recalcitrant and difficult, I don't think the population will accept it. The average citizen of Kenya will know who to blame," he said.
Kenya has become used to playing peacemaker in a volatile region, and the violence following the ballot has shattered its image as a peaceful trade, tourism and transport hub.
"There is roughly an equal number for both sides of the political spectrum," U.S. embassy spokesman T.J. Dowling said in Nairobi.
(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Peter Graff in London)
