The chairman of the African Union, President John Kufuor, is expected to visit Kenya to try to end the ethnic violence which has seen hundreds of people killed

Kufuor will meet both sides in Kenya's political dispute next week in his role as leader of the AU.

Kufuor and his team have had several phone conversations with President Kibaki and Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga in recent days, but Kibaki's administration did not give him the go-ahead to travel to Kenya to mediate.

Meanwhile, President Kibaki said on Saturday he was ready to form a national unity government to end Kenya's bloody turmoil but the opposition brushed the offer aside, saying he must step down and negotiate. After a week of political violence and tribal clashes since the disputed Dec. 27 election, Kibaki said he would accept a unity government "that would not only unite Kenyans but would also help in the healing and reconciliation process".

Around 300 people have been killed in several days of clashes, which forced 250,000 to flee their homes.

Kenya seeks President Kufuor's support to resolve election crisis

Kumasi, Jan. 5, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday granted audience to a Special Envoy of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, as diplomatic efforts to find peaceful resolution of the East African country's disputed presidential election gathered momentum. Protests over the Kenyan Leader's December 27 re-election snowballed into nasty ethnic clashes that had left about 300 dead and displaced tens of thousands of people.

Mr Moses Wetangula, the Envoy, who arrived in Accra aboard a Kenyan Airway's commercial flight, was flown to Kumasi, where he briefed President Kufuor, the African Union (AU) Chairman, on the political situation in his country and extended formal invitation from President Kibaki to him to support the Government and the Opposition to resolve the crisis.

He said they wanted him to come over to have a first hand feel of the political environment; meet with both parties and help them to find a common ground to start a process of dialogue and reconciliation. The Envoy informed President Kufuor, who was on private visit to his home, of the readiness of the Kenyan Leader to form a Government of national unity, in which all would be part.

Regarding the current political situation, he said things were now getting better and that normalcy was being restored. He said public transportation that got completely paralyzed by the election violence had started running.

President Kufuor described reports about the country's post-election chaos as disturbing and said dialogue should be the means for resolving the dispute and to bring peace to the country once perceived as a model of stability.

Resorting to violence, destruction of lives and property, he said, was unacceptable and must be avoided.

The AU Chairman said what was happening in Kenya was of concern not only to Africa but the rest of the world and promised to extend a hand of co-operation to the Kenyan Political Leadership to restore peace. Kenya, the East African economic giant, came out of the December elections badly scarred by violence over President Kibaki's re-election. The main Opposition Leader, Raila Odinga refused to accept defeat, claiming vote rigging.

Mr Wetangula, who was accompanied by Mr Franklin Esipila, Kenyan Ambassador to Ethiopia and Ms Severin Luyali of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was earlier met on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport by Mr Kwesi Osei Adjei, Minister of Foreign Affairs, NEPAD and Regional Integration, and some government officials.