Chronology of the crisis in Kenya

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Here is a chronology of the crisis in Kenya, which has been torn by violence since a disputed presidential election late last year.

Dec 27, 2007 - Voters elect a new president and parliament.

Dec 30 - The Electoral Commission declares Kibaki winner of the presidential election. He is hurriedly sworn in. Riots and looting break out in opposition strongholds.

-- Raila Odinga's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wins the most seats in the parliamentary election.

Jan 1, 2008 - A mob sets fire to a church, killing about 30 villagers from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

Jan 2 - The government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence rises.

Jan 4 - Kibaki says he will accept a re-run of the disputed election if a court orders it. The United Nations says the unrest has uprooted 250,000 people.

Jan 5 - Kibaki says he is ready to form a government of national unity, but the opposition rejects the offer.

Jan 7 - Odinga calls off planned protests after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer.

Jan 8 - Kibaki announces 17 ministers for his new cabinet. Protesters respond by building and burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold, Kisumu.

-- John Kufuor, African Union chairman and president of Ghana, arrives in Nairobi to mediate.

Jan 10 - Kufuor leaves Kenya saying both sides have agreed to work together with an African panel headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Kibaki and Odinga, amid recriminations, have not met or agreed how to end the crisis.

Jan 11 - The ODM calls for sanctions against Kibaki.

Jan 15 - Parliament is convened and the opposition gets a boost by winning the post of speaker.

Jan 16 - Police fight hundreds of protesters throughout the country, as the opposition defies a ban on rallies.

Jan 17 - In Nairobi and the western towns of Kisumu and Eldoret, police fire teargas and bullets during rallies called by the opposition but banned by police.

Jan 22 - Ex-U.N. chief Kofi Annan arrives in Kenya to attempt mediation. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also flies into Nairobi to try to mediate.

Jan 24 - Kibaki and Odinga meet in a breakthrough brokered by Annan.

Jan 25 - Annan denounces "gross and systematic" human rights abuses in Kenya after continuing post-election violence.

Jan 28 - At least 64 people are killed in four days of ethnic fighting in the Rift Valley towns of Nakuru and Naivasha. Legislator Melitus Were is gunned down outside his home in Nairobi, triggering more rioting and ethnic killings.

Jan 29 - Annan launches formal mediation between the government and ODM, each side represented by a team of three -- a mix of moderates and hardliners.

Jan 31 - ODM member of parliament David Kimutai Too is killed, along with a woman, in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret. Kibaki flies to Ethiopia for a summit of the 53-nation African Union. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warns the summit Kenya is threatened with catastrophe and says he will travel to Nairobi on Friday to try to help Annan.