TIMELINE - Kenya in crisis after disputed elections

(Reuters) - African Union Chairman John Kufuor quit Kenya on Thursday without a deal to end a political crisis that has killed 500 people, leaving the president and opposition leader accusing each other of wrecking talks.

Here is a chronology of the recent turmoil:

December 27 - Voters elect a new president and parliament. Most opinion polls put Kibaki's opposition rival Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement in the lead.

December 30 - Kibaki wins election by the narrow margin of 230,000 votes and is hurriedly sworn in.

December 31 - The government floods the streets with security forces and maintains a ban on live TV broadcasts after riots convulse the nation.

January 1 - A mob torches a church, killing about 30 villagers.

January 2 - Kibaki's government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence reaches about 300.

January 3 - Attorney General Amos Wako calls for an independent investigation into the election. After hours of police clashes with thousands of protesters, the opposition call off a planned demonstration.

-- South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins to try to mediate.