"It is not only the talks, but the results which are important. Kenyans do not want the talks to fail," Sentamu said on February 11 after visiting camps of people displaced by the violence that followed disputed presidential election results. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the unrest and at least another 300,000 driven from their homes.

Kenya's political crisis broke out after the December 27 presidential elections in which incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner but which opposition leader Raila Odinga says were rigged.

Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has been mediating in the dispute. He is reported to have said the government and the opposition had agreed to set up an independent committee to investigate "all aspects" of the elections. Annan indicated that an agreement could entail the creation of a "grand coalition" government.

Graca Machel, who is helping Annan mediate, told lawmakers in Kenya's parliament on February 12: "Kenya's pain is Africa's pain. Kenya's success is Africa's success." Rights activist Machel is the wife of Nelson Mandela.

Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, urged Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement to continue the mediation process, but warned the parties against eroding democratic gains achieved through political pluralism.

"Even if the two protagonists are to work together, Kenyans should ensure a strong opposition party thrives to check the possible excesses of the executive," said Sentamu, who has met Kibaki and Odinga during his four-day visit that began on February 8.

He was invited to Kenya by Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. Sentamu is a former Uganda high court judge, who arrived in Britain in 1974, fleeing the regime of the then dictator Idi Amin.

"During the troubles in Uganda brought about by the Amin regime, the people of Kenya stood in solidarity with the suffering of Uganda. Kenya was a haven for many Ugandans," Sentamu said. "Now during their own time of trouble I have decided to accept Archbishop Nzimbi's encouragement to come and stand in solidarity and prayer with the suffering in that land."

Visiting western Kenya, Sentamu promised to seek humanitarian assistance from the Church of England, and he urged authorities to urgently resettle the displaced. He also toured camps in the provinces of Nyanza and the Rift Valley, where the violence had been at its most intense.