A planned opposition rally appeared to falter on Friday, giving Kenya some respite from post-election turmoil that has killed more than 300 people.
"We're tired, we're not going to march," said Samuel Muhati, a resident of the Mathare slum, where thousands of demonstrators battled police on Thursday. "Let the fighting stop."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer was due in Nairobi on Friday evening to meet President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says he was robbed of victory in a December 27 vote in east Africa's biggest economy.
"They have an opportunity to come together in some kind of arrangement that will help heal the wounds," U.S. President George W. Bush told Reuters, joining a chorus of international appeals to end Kenya's deadly chaos.
From dawn, police guarded Nairobi's Uhuru (Freedom) Park, where the protest was supposed to start at 10 a.m. (7 a.m. British time).
But opposition leaders had not arrived at their Pentagon House headquarters by that time, and exhausted supporters in the slums were largely staying at home.
Protesters battled for hours on Thursday to march on the park but were held back by police firing teargas, water cannon and warning shots.
Half a dozen people died, mostly in tribal killings in the slums.
A week of ethnic violence and riots since the election has shocked the world and jeopardised Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most promising democracies.
More than 300 people have died in the clashes -- some between police and protesters, others pitting members of Odinga's Luo ethnic group and other tribes against Kibaki's Kikuyus.
More than 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes by the violence, more than 5,000 crossing the border to Uganda.
As international pressure failed to bring Kibaki and Odinga together, there was increasing impatience among Kenyans.
"Despite the words of concern by both sides about the dangerous situation in Kenya and public statements that they are ready for dialogue, belligerence is still drowning out voices of reason," said the Daily Nation newspaper.
There were growing calls for some sort of power-sharing government. But neither Kibaki nor Odinga appeared ready for that, the latter saying he was voted the legitimate president.
