Annan recovers from flu and due in Kenya on Tuesday

GENEVA (Reuters) - Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recovered from flu and will travel to Nairobi on Tuesday to help mediate a political crisis in Kenya, his office said on Friday.

In a statement issued in Geneva, Annan said the purpose of his mission was to help the Kenyan people find a "peaceful and just solution" to their post-election crisis.

In the three weeks since the East African country's December 27 vote, about 650 people have been killed in attacks targeting members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, and in clashes between police and protesters.

The death toll rose on Friday, with at least 10 people killed when opposition rallies against Kibaki's disputed victory turned violence, according to witnesses and a senior Kenyan official.

Annan, a Ghanaian who was named head of a panel of "Eminent Africans", was originally scheduled to go to Kenya earlier this week to try to mediate between Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

But he was struck with flu just before departing Geneva on Tuesday, and delayed his trip.

He will be joined in Kenya next week by Graca Machel, wife of former South African leader Nelson Mandela, and former Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa, who is already in Nairobi, according to the statement.

International observers said last month's polls fell short of democratic standards. Both Kibaki and Odinga have accused each other of rigging the vote.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Elizabeth Piper)