violence ebbs, yet any solution still evasive

The latest: Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Saturday that he was willing to form a national unity government with opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has accused Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 presidential election. Since the vote, waves of violence have upended the normally peaceful nation and awakened dormant ethnic rivalries.

The response: Odinga has rejected direct negotiations with Kibaki's government and is pushing for internationally mediated talks. Odinga has proposed a transitional government and a new presidential vote in three to six months.

U.S. effort to mediate: Kibaki and Odinga met Saturday with Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Kibaki, however, has rejected outside mediation to the crisis.

A plea for resolution: Desperate Kenyans urged Kibaki and Odinga to compromise. "Sit down, find a way out," said Christopher Kingua, as he fled his home near Eldoret in the western highlands, where bodies were spilling out of packed morgues. "Our homes, our people, our property has been destroyed."

Situation on the ground: The violence that has killed more than 300 people across the country appeared to ease in the capital, Nairobi, for the first time since the election. At least 250,000 people have been displaced, mostly in western Kenya. Meanwhile, millions of Odinga's supporters who live in Nairobi's slums have been under virtual house arrest as riot police firing tear gas and bullets continue to push back any group attempting to protest in the streets.