Cyril Ramaphosa, who led African National Congress negotiations on black majority rule in the early 1990s, had arrived in Nairobi on Friday to act as former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's chief negotiator.

But he announced on Monday he was returning to South Africa after President Mwai Kibaki's allies accused him of favouring the opposition.

'Kofi Annan reluctantly accepts the withdrawal of Cyril Ramaphosa from the role of chief mediator. Withdrawal is a result of reservations expressed by the government,' a UN official said in a statement.

But Mr Annan made it clear that talks will be tough in the coming days.

'Obviously, I am depressed because we had identified a good man, a good woman ... we are back to search for a mediator, a negotiator,' he told reporters.'

The focal point of most of the recent violence, the Rift Valley in western Kenya, remained tense after 74 people died over the weekend in attacks between ethnic Kisiis and Kalenjins. Of those, about 20 Kalenjins died in clashes with police.

The bodies of three people were found on Monday in the bush in western Kenya, police said, from wounds apparently inflicted by arrows.

About 4,000 Kikuyus, the group which has dominated Kenya's politics and business since independence in 1963, have fled their homes near the Rift Valley town of Eldoret over the past three days, a Red Cross official said.

'The movement continues,' said the official.

Mr Ramaphosa, a former trade unionist who became a wealthy businessman in post-apartheid South Africa, denied he had business dealings with opposition leader Raila Odinga as claimed by the government.

But he acknowledged that he had failed to win the trust of both sides.

'I thought that I should withdraw and go back to South Africa so that I do not become a stumbling block,' he told reporters.

Talks between representatives of the rival leaders resumed at a Nairobi hotel after a roadmap for negotiations was reached on Friday to end weeks of turmoil triggered by Mr Kibaki's disputed re-election.

Negotiators presented a series of proposals to promote reconciliation including holding joint peace rallies and setting up a South African-style truth commission.

'There are no band-aids,' Mr Annan told journalists. 'We are looking at the root causes to reduce tensions and reach results that will stand the test of time.'

Talks were set to continue on Tuesday. Mr Annan has set a deadline of seven to 15 days to resolve the Kenya crisis in which more than 1,000 people have been killed since elections on Dec 27.

'The numbers are very overwhelming ... in about 50 camps throughout the country ... we have spent 200 million shillings in helping them (displaced people),' an official added.

The government announced it was lifting a ban on live broadcasts that was imposed on Dec 30, a few days after the ethnic attacks erupted.

Mr Kibaki's tribe, the Kikuyu, suffered heavily in the first wave of violence following the Dec 27 vote at the hands of Mr Odinga's Luo tribe and other ethnic groups, but there have since been numerous revenge attacks.

In Nakuru, district commissioner Wilfred Wanyangah said the number of displaced people had increased from 14,000 to 26,000 over the past three weeks as villagers flee tense rural areas.

'This crisis has overwhelmed us and we were not prepared for it,' he told reporters in the northwestern town of Nakuru.

Weeks of turmoil have delivered a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry, the top foreign currency earner, while tea production and agriculture have also been hard hit. -- AFP