Hundreds of homes in central Kenya were burned to the ground Friday amid reports of at least 12 people killed in the latest violence over the east African nation's disputed elections last month.

The politically-motivated clashes between rival tribes in Nakuru — a city of 300,000 in Kenya's Rift Valley region — left dozens wounded and up to 3,000 homeless in fighting that began Thursday, Kenya Red Cross Society secretary-general Abbas Gullet said.

Violence was triggered when residents of the provincial capital heard that Kibaki had declared himself Kenya's "duly elected president," said Pastor Richard Nato of the African Faith Gospel Church.

Another clergyman said that he ran home immediately to put on his official gown and collar.

"When you wear this, they cannot attack you," Sospeter Njenga said.

"I have been here 27 years, and I have never seen anything like this."

Witnesses said they saw at least 12 corpses in the city, many gouged by machetes and arrows.

Aid workers said the violence pitted people from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group against the Kalenjin, who support opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The battles came a day after Kibaki and Odinga met face-to-face for the first time since the contested Dec. 27 vote, which sparked riots and clashes with heavily armed security forces.

The two were brought together by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who is in Nairobi to try to mediate a solution to the continuing political crisis that has gripped the east African country since the end of December.

More than 700 Kenyans have been killed since Kibaki was declared the winner after the vote tally, which foreign observers have said was deeply flawed.

Odinga, who leads the Orange Democratic Movement party, claims Kibaki won re-election through fraud.

No joining government, says opposition leader

Following the meeting, Odinga ruled out joining Kibaki's government, saying the only acceptable options would be Kibaki's resignation or power-sharing towards a new election.

Kibaki, in turn, infuriated the opposition by referring to himself as "duly elected" in his statement after the meeting.

Kibaki had insisted on direct talks with Odinga, who refused to meet without the presence of a mediator. Earlier this month, John Kufuor, the president of Ghana and the chairman of the African Union, failed to convince the two leaders to meet.

On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch said it has evidence that opposition party leaders "actively fomented," organized and directed ethnic attacks in Kenya's western Rift Valley.

Ensuing violence has pitted protesters in Nairobi's slums and in the western opposition heartland against heavily armed police, but has also seen battles between members of Kibaki's ethnic Kikuyus and other tribes.

The Kikuyus, Kenya's largest tribe, have a long tradition of influence in the country's political and financial circles. Kibaki's Dec. 30 swearing-in sparked targeted violence against suspected Kibaki backers and reprisal attacks along tribal lines.  

More than 250,000 people have been displaced by the turmoil.

With files from the Associated Press