Former UN chief Kofi Annan has opened formal talks on ending Kenya's post-election crisis as he seeks to pull together both sides to strike a political deal.
Kenyan men from the Luo tribe enforce a makeshift roadblock searching passing vehicles for Kikuyus trying to flee the town
Mr Annan opened the meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi flanked by President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
"There is only one Kenya," Mr Annan said. "The crisis has a profound and negative impact on the social fabric of Kenya, on the Kenyan economy."
Western nations have urged both sides - who appear far apart - to take the talks seriously or risk losing aid.
On Thursday, Mr Annan got Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to sit down together for the first time since violence erupted after Mr Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27th election. Mr Odinga says his rival stole the vote and has refused to recognise him as president.
Earlier today, two Kenyan military helicopters fired above armed crowds terrorising refugees in the lakeside city of Naivasha.
Reporters said the helicopters dive-bombed the crowd several times, firing what police said were rubber bullets at a mob of about 600 people brandishing machetes and threatening members of another tribe.
The incident came as police trucks prepared to evacuate about 300 Luo refugees to safety. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was hit.
Elsewhere, at least seven people were killed with machetes and arrows during ethnic fighting in the Kibera slum of Kenya 's capital Nairobi today, a witness said.
President Kibaki called for calm, and opposition leader Mr Odinga warned that the nation was heading towards anarchy.
In another incident, gunmen killed a Kenyan opposition politician at his home. Newly elected Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) member of parliament Melitus Were was shot twice in the head as he reached the gate of his house shortly after midnight.
An ODM spokesman said Mr Were may have been targeted by political foes.
Hours after his death, rival ethnic gangs began fighting in Nairobi's Kibera slum, not far from where he was shot. Police fired teargas this morning to disperse mourners and supporters, some of whom had taunted officers at Mr Were's house in a middle-class suburb on the edge of Kibera.
Unrest also simmered across the volatile Rift Valley, with mobs ransacking homes, burning belongings and threatening people trying to flee Naivasha town, north of the capital. Members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu group hunted down Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins thought to be opposition supporters.
Police opened fire to disperse one mob trying to attack a truck carrying refugees. Nearly 100 people have died in the latest flare-up over recent days in the Rift Valley.
Fighting has been largely centred on the towns of Naivasha and Nakuru, better known for their lakes and wildlife, but now deserted by tourists.
About 850 people have been killed since the December vote, which the opposition says was rigged. The turmoil has dented one of Africa's brightest economies; hotels in a previously booming tourist sector are empty, and the local currency came close to a three-year low today.
About 250,000 people have been displaced by the violence.