Kenyans across the political divide prayed for peace today while aid workers sought to bring relief to an estimated 250,000 refugees from post-election violence that has also killed hundreds.
"Our leaders have failed us. They have brought this catastrophe upon us. So now we are turning to the Almighty to save Kenya," said Jane Riungu, leading her five children in their best clothes to a hilltop church outside Nairobi.
One week after the announcement of President Mwai Kibaki's re-election ignited protests, riots and looting around the east African nation, there was little sign of him meeting opposition rival Raila Odinga to sort out the crisis directly.
Would-be mediators, including Washington's top Africa diplomat Jendayi Frazer and South Africa's Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, shuttled between both camps.
And Ghanaian President John Kufuor was due to visit in coming days in his capacity as chairman of the African Union.
But a statement from Kibaki that he was ready to form "a government of national unity" was met with scepticism by the opposition. It says he stole the December 27th vote by fraud and is now occupying the president's seat illegitimately.
Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wants Kibaki (76), to quit and an international mediator to broker talks prior to a fresh election in three to six months. ODM was also accused of vote-rigging in its stronghold areas.
Odinga had looked on course to win the vote until Kibaki was handed a narrow victory last Sunday. International observers say the election fell short of democratic standards. The opposition appeared to have ruled out a national unity government even before Kibaki's statement.
"We are not interested in Kibaki's solution to this problem ... He has nothing to offer as he did not win the election," Odinga said at his Orange House headquarters in Nairobi.
The United Nations says the recent unrest has uprooted 250,000 people, and that many in the west are facing starvation after fleeing violence that included the burning to death of 30 people barricaded in a church. World powers have been horrified by the bloodshed in what had been seen as one of Africa's most stable democracies.
The crisis in Kenya, a regional business and transport hub, has already hurt neighbouring countries. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are all suffering fuel shortages.