Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan on Saturday said he has seen evidence of "gross and systematic" human rights abuses in Kenya's Rift Valley.

Close to 700 people have been killed and 255,000 forced from their homes in the province following last month's disputed election, which returned President Mwai Kibaki to power.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki met with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan at State House in Nairobi on Saturday after Annan visited displaced people in the Rift Valley Province.
(Presidential Press Services/Associated Press)

After visiting the region, Annan, who is trying to broker a political solution to the crisis, told reporters that while the conflict may have been triggered by disputed elections, it has evolved into "something else.

"Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral problem. It is much broader and much deeper," Annan said after visiting the towns of Eldoret and Molo in western Kenya.

He also flew over Nakuru, the regional capital of the Rift Valley. Until recently, the city of 300,000 has been largely spared the ethnic clashes that followed the Dec. 27 vote.

Hundreds of homes were reported to have burned in Nakuru on Friday, but armed gangs at multiple checkpoints are preventing journalists from seeing the damage on the ground.

Members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have been targeted by groups accusing the president of stealing the elections.

Annan said he was shocked by the scenes he witnessed and that those responsible must be held responsible for their deeds.

"We saw gross and systematic human rights abuses of fellow citizens," Annan said in Nairobi after his visit. "Impunity cannot be allowed to stand."

On Saturday, police brought 16 charred corpses to the mortuary in Nakuru. Officials expected the death toll would rise amid reports of sporadic gunfire.

Nine bodies were also taken to the morgue Friday afternoon, police said.