Ethnic clashes killed at least 10 people in Kenya?s Rift Valley yestereday as former United Nations chief Kofi Annan met opposition leader Raila Odinga to try to resolve a month-long crisis that has claimed 750 lives.

A Reuters reporter in Naivasha counted ten bodies, six burnt and four hacked to death as members of President Mwai Kibaki?s Kikuyu tribe fought running battles with Luos and Kalenjins who back his rival Raila Odinga.

Two truckloads of soldiers were deployed as smoke poured from torched homes and cars. Barricades blocked Kenya?s main western highway outside the town and police turned back vehicles heading towards the area.

The violence threatens to undermine mediation by Annan, who called on both feuding parties yesterday to name four officials for further talks after he held discussions with Odinga. The former U.N. chief visited parts of the Rift Valley on Saturday that have been hit by clashes and warned that turmoil triggered by Kibaki?s disputed re-election had now evolved into something worse with ?gross and systematic? rights abuses.

?Let us not kid ourselves and think that this is an electoral problem. It?s much broader and much deeper, he said. ?We have to tackle the fundamental issues that underlie what we are witnessing today. If we do not do that, three, five years from now we may be back at this.?

Tribal rivalries

Hundreds have died in the turmoil and quarter of a million more have been forced from their homes. The unrest has shattered the east African nation?s image of stability and damaged one of the continent?s most promising economies.

Many Kenyans say leaders on both sides of the political divide show few signs of addres-sing deep seated tribal rivalries over land, business and power - many of them born more than 45 years ago under British colonial rule.

?The elections were just a veneer for hate that has simmered for years,? wrote columnist Gitau Warigi in the Sunday Nation. A survey of more than 2 000 respondents in the same newspaper showed only a narrow majority, 51.6 percent, of Kenyans believed Annan would be able to resolve the crisis.

Nakuru and Naivasha had previously been spared the riots and ethnic attacks that have convulsed parts of Kenya since the election, which Odinga accuses Kibaki of rigging. On Thursday, Annan brokered the first talks between the two men since the troubles began, raising hopes. But the discussions prompted fresh verbal attacks by both camps, and that night Nakuru, the Rift?s provincial capital, descended into chaos.

Cosmas Monyao, a Nakuru trader whose livelihood selling hats to tourists has collapsed, was furious with his leaders. ?Me, I don?t care what tribe you?re from, you?re spoiling my business?, he said. ?If Kibaki and Raila want to fight, why don?t they just have a fight man to man? They shouldn?t involve the people.?

Tim COCKS