NAIROBI, Kenya (AP): Kenya's president is ready to form "a govern-ment of national unity'' to help resolve disputed elections that caused deadly riots, a government statement said yesterday without explaining what such a power-sharing arrangement might involve.

Police, meanwhile, opened fire in a Nairobi slum and at least one man was shot dead, witnesses said. Residents had been battling with machetes and several were wounded, including a man who had part of his leg chopped off.

President Mwai Kibaki made the statement about a unity government to Jendayi Frazer, the leading U.S. diplomatic for Africa, according to the director of the presidential news service, Isaiya Kabira.

Sharing power

Kabira said he could not say whether it was a formal offer to opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accuses Kibaki of stealing the December 27 elections that international observers say has a deeply flawed vote count.

Britain, the former colonial power in Kenya, issued an appeal Friday to leaders in the East African country to consider sharing power.

Frazer, who met with Odinga earlier Saturday, would be meeting with the opposition leader again, Kabira said, implying she might be carrying a message from Kibaki.

Odinga told a news conference he had not received any formal offer from the government, but added, "Let them put that on the table when we are negotiating.''

He declined to say what his response would be, but his spokesman, Salim Lone, told The Associated Press that Odinga would rather not share power.

"Raila has said a number of times that he is not happy with (the idea of) a government of national unity, he has said he would rather remain in the opposition,'' Lone said.

In talks with Frazer, Odinga repeated his demand for an election rerun organised by a transitional government, he said.

But Kibaki said a rerun could be ordered only by the High Court.

In parliamentary balloting, Odinga's party won 95 of 122 legislative seats and half of Kibaki's Cabinet lost their seats, meaning it would be almost impossible for Kibaki to govern without opposition cooperation.

There was no immediate statement from Frazer on her 90-minute meeting with Kibaki or her talks with Odinga.

Kabira read a government statement that quoted Frazer as saying that "by extending an olive branch to the opposition, President Kibaki had shown his commitment to ending the political impasse.''

"She expressed optimism that all concerned parties will work together toward restoring normalcy in Kenya.''

The statement said Kibaki reiterated his readiness to work with all involved parties.

"The president said he was ready to form a government of national unity that would not only unite Kenyans but would also help in the healing and reconciliation process,'' the statement said.

South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu has also held talks with Kibaki and Odinga in a bid to bring about a peaceful solution.

Turbulence

Some 300 people have been killed and 100,000 made homeless in violent protests and clashes since the vote. The turbulence has taken an ugly ethnic twist, with other tribes pitted against each other, and brought chaos to a country once considered an island of stability in violence-plagued East Africa.

Several shacks were set ablaze yesterday in Nairobi's sprawling Mathare slum, where residents attacked each other with machetes. One man said people from Odinga's Luo tribe were fighting a gang from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. Police opened fire on the scene, and one man was shot in the head and killed, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman.

The police quickly were surrounded by an angry crowd and had to flee with three wounded people, including a man who had half his leg hacked away.