Parliament in Kenya meets shortly for the first time since disputed elections last month, amid fears of clashes between government and opposition. Tight security is in force in the capital, Nairobi, with soldiers deployed around the parliament building and some roads closed. The opposition says the presidential election was rigged, and that it will try to sit on the government benches. More than 600 people were killed in unrest following the 27 December polls. About 250,000 people also fled or were driven from their homes in a country once seen as a beacon of relative stability in East Africa. BBC reports say the level of violence in Kenya has fallen significantly, but that tension remains very high. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is planning another three days of consecutive mass rallies around Kenya this week, beginning on Wednesday. The ODM became the largest party in parliament, though it does not have an absolute majority. But opposition leader Raila Odinga was declared to have lost the presidential election to the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki - a result which Mr Odinga rejected. EU election observers also expressed serious concern over the fairness of the election, and the EU's top aid official, development commissioner Louis Michel, warned that aid to Kenya might be reduced "if we see that the election has not been fully respected". In control The swearing-in may see Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga in the same room for the first time since the election. We hope and we expect that eventually everybody will come to their senses, realise that we've got to learn to live with each other. Kenya at the crossroads Speaking to the BBC ahead of parliament resuming, ODM MP Najib Balala said the party was still pressing for a new election. "It's going to be very exciting to see an illegitimate government being told on their face that they have lost the election and they're going to lose their arm of legislature," he said. "We want to prove to the world we are not going to act in an uncivilised way, we are going to parliament, we are going to show that we are controlling parliament." But Justice Minister Martha Karua told the BBC she believed cooler heads would prevail. SOURCE: BBC