Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki named half of his new cabinet Tuesday, angering opposition leaders who accuse him of winning a rigged election.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga talks to the media Monday in Nairobi.
(Sayyid Azim/Associated Press)

Only hours after the appointments were made, violence erupted in the western town of Kisumu, with police firing guns over the heads of youths who set up a roadblock of burning tires.

The latest violence adds to growing strife across the eastern African country. Between 500 and 1,000 people have died and 250,000 people have been displaced since clashes over the Dec. 27 election began.

Kibaki named members of his own party to his cabinet, although he did give the positions of vice-president and information minister to allies of Kalonzo Musyoka, a minor presidential candidate.

"We think that the announcement of the cabinet was a slap in the face for all the effort that Kenyans and the international community is making to avoid the crisis," said Salim Lone, a spokesman for opposition leader Raila Odinga's party.

According to a government website, Odinga won 44 per cent of the vote, while Kibaki won 47 per cent. But Odinga and his followers say the election count was rigged and have demanded Kibaki step down and allow a new vote. 

Peace talks scheduled for Wednesday

Peace talks are supposed to begin Wednesday, and Lone urged protesters not to launch demonstrations, which could undermine the discussions.

The chair of the African Union was due to arrive in Kenya to serve as a mediator in negotiations. John Kufuor, who is also president of Ghana, will join four prominent former African politicians who are already in Kenya meeting representatives from both sides.

But talks already seemed in jeopardy on Tuesday, when Odinga said he would not meet with Kibaki to discuss a solution, even though on Friday he said he would.

Odinga told reporters the meeting was turning into "public relations gimmickry" that would undermine international mediation.

Odinga has said he will only participate in negotiations with the government if Kufuor mediates.

Opposition supporters destroy a billboard poster of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi last week.
(Darko Bandic/Associated Press)

The planned meeting between Kibaki and Odinga had given Kenyans hope a solution could be reached, the CBC's David McGuffin said from Kiamba, in the country's northwest.

"This is exactly what people are wanting," he said. "They want to return to peace, they've had enough of the violence."

Kufuor's visit comes a day after the top American envoy to Africa delivered a sharp rebuke to both sides, saying tampering marred the vote count, but both the government and Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement could have been involved.

"Yes, there was rigging," the U.S. envoy, Jendayi Frazer, told the Associated Press in an interview Monday in Nairobi, where she has been meeting with Kibaki and Odinga for three days. "I mean there were problems with the vote counting process.

"Both the parties could have rigged," she added.

She said she did not want to blame either Kibaki or Odinga.

U.S. presidential hopeful Obama voices concern

Meanwhile Tuesday, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, called the opposition leader "to express grave concern over the election outcome," according to Lone. Lone said Obama also planned to call Kibaki.

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the senator spoke to Odinga on Monday for about five minutes before going into a rally in Lebanon, N.H.

The violence has produced some of the bleakest times in Kenya since the country gained independence from Britain in 1963, with much of the fighting degenerating into riots pitting other tribes against Kibaki's politically dominant Kikuyus.

Also Tuesday, Kenyan Finance Minister Amos Kimunya told Reuters he estimated the turmoil could have cost the country's economy around $1 billion US.

With files from the Associated Press