( dpa ) - Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan arrived to Kenya Tuesday night, promising to bring a solution to the political stalemate that has rocked the East African nation and triggered violence countrywide.
Annan is set to meet President Mwai Kibaki and defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga Wednesday to kickstart talks between the two, after previous mediation efforts failed to resolve the conflict over disputed elections.
"We have not come with a solution. We are here to insist on a solution for the sake of Kenya and its people and for the sake of Africa," Annan told reporters.
Annan is part of a team of eminent Africans, which include former Mozambican first lady Graca Machel and former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa.
Odinga claims he won last month's vote and Kibaki rigged the polls. He has demanded the president step down and that the votes be recounted.
Kibaki has welcomed Annan's visit but has refrained from using the word mediation, saying his government is legitimate and there is no need for mediation.
Some 650 people have been killed in the crisis and 250,000 have been uprooted from their homes and violence in the slums of the capital and in the countryside continues.