Kenya ? Mediator Kofi Annan suspended negotiations on Kenya’s deadly postelection crisis and said Tuesday he would personally appeal for a power-sharing deal because talks were “turning around in circles.”

Annan said he would consult with President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who are being pressed to share power and move Kenya beyond a dispute over who won the Dec. 27 presidential election.

International and local monitors say the ballot results were manipulated, making it unclear who actually won.

Annan said he suspended the talks in order “to speed up action,” as the negotiating teams “were discussing issues that the parties seemed incapable of solving. We were turning around in circles.”

Postelection violence has largely subsided in recent weeks, but attacks that killed more than 1,000 people and forced 600,000 from their homes have left the country on edge and worried about the potential for more turmoil.