A senior US diplomat is leaving for Nairobi in a bid to demand directly the Kenyan authorities and opposition parties end violence in the country, the State Department said on Thursday.

Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, is leaving here Thursday for talks with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Frazer will ask Kibaki and Odinga to work for a political solution to end worsening violence. The spokesman did not say how long Frazer will stay in Kenya.

Also on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone with Kibaki, urging him to work with Odinga to end violence that has erupted after allegations of electoral fraudin Kibaki's re-election.

Rice spoke with Odinga on Wednesday.

It was reported that political disputes in Kenya have degenerated into ethnic violent conflicts that have claimed lives of about 300 people, and turned hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2008)