Annan to meet Kenya leader

By Tim Cocks

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to meet Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday to try to end a post-election crisis after persuading the opposition to call off further street protests.

Following talks with Annan, the opposition said late on Wednesday it would halt planned demonstrations against Kibaki's disputed December 27 poll victory. Previous protests have ended in rioting and bloody clashes with security forces.

Annan had been due to meet Kibaki on Wednesday, but the Kenyan leader instead met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a close ally also trying to mediate who is one of few African leaders to have congratulated Kibaki on his win.

Officials said Annan would now meet Kibaki on Thursday.

"These things have a tendency to start slowly but now they should start going more quickly," said one diplomat involved in the negotiations, who declined to be named.

Annan held talks with Raila Odinga on Wednesday, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), who says Kibaki stole a vote he narrowly won at the end of last month.

The resulting dispute plunged Kenya into chaos and triggered ethnically-motivated killings, tarnishing the image of a country long seen as among Africa's most stable.

"We believe and hope that (Kofi Annan's mediation team) will have a chance to meet Mr. Kibaki, and ... we should be able to make progress," said one of the ODM's leaders, William Ruto.