Annan: We cannot afford to fail in Kenya

London: International mediators cannot afford to fail in Kenya, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Friday.

"I'm not ready to contemplate failure. I'm not ready to give up now, and the team working with me are of the same spirit," Annan told BBC radio. "We cannot afford to fail."

Annan, who has met President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to try to end violence in Kenya, said that he expected the two to give way in their standoff.

"It always begins with intransigence. But then one begins to encourage them to move and shift. And there have been some shifts. Perhaps not enough, but we will get there. They will have to shift. They will shift," Annan said.

Official results pronounced Kibaki the winner and he was sworn in for a second term, but Odinga and his followers say the results were rigged.