Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has shut down mediation talks in Kenya’s ongoing internal conflict. Annan has been trying to broker a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. Kibaki beat Odinga late last year in a widely disputed vote. On Tuesday, Annan said the two leaders need to be more engaged.

Kofi Annan: “I believe it is important that I suspend the negotiations, not as an act of desperation or giving up, but suspend the negotiations and take the matters up with President Mwai Kibaki and Honorable Raila Odinga. The leaders have to assume their responsibility and become directly engaged in these talks.”

More than 1,000 people have been killed in nearly two months of post-election violence. Thousands more have been wounded and 300,000 displaced.