Nairobi — Former Tanzanian President, Mr Benjamin Mkapa, has arrived in the country for mediation talks between the Government and ODM.

Mkapa joins Graca Machel, wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has been in the country for the last two days.

The two together with former UN secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan, plan to broker a deal between President Kibaki and ODM's Mr Raila Odinga.

AU chairman and Ghanaian President, Mr John Kufuor, who last week failed to bring together Kibaki and Raila in a face-to-face meeting, paved the way for Annan.

Earlier in the week, Foreign Affairs minister, Mr Moses Wetangula, issued a statement that the Annan team was welcome.

This followed a claim by his Roads counterpart, Mr John Michuki, that Annan's intervention was unnecessary.

On Wednesday, both the EU and the US said they were anxiously waiting for the talks to start.

Annan was supposed to arrive earlier in the week, but had to cancel his trip due to ill health.

Wetangula held preliminary talks with Mkapa and Machel yesterday, according to the Press section of his ministry.

The ministry also said they had no word on Annan's arrival date by yesterday.