Jan 24 (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga took "fair steps" towards dialogue in their first meeting, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

The two leaders had not talked since the Dec. 27 polls.

Here is a chronology of the crisis:

Dec 27 - Voters elect a new president and parliament. Most opinion polls put opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement in the lead.

Dec 30 - The Electoral Commission of Kenya declares Kibaki winner of the presidential election, he is hurriedly sworn in.

- The ODM wins the biggest number of seats in the parliamentary election.

Dec 31 - The government floods the streets with security forces and maintains a ban on live TV broadcasts after riots convulse the nation.

Jan 1 - A mob torches a church, killing about 30 villagers from Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

Jan 2 - The government accuses Odinga's backers of "ethnic cleansing" as the death toll from tribal violence rises.

Jan 3 - Attorney General Amos Wako calls for an independent investigation into the election.

-- South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins to try to mediate.

Jan 4 - Kibaki says he will accept a re-run of the disputed election if a court orders it.

-- The United Nations says the unrest has uprooted 250,000 people, and that about 100,000 displaced people in the Northern Rift Valley could face starvation. The International Red Cross makes an urgent appeal for aid.

Jan 5 - Kibaki says he is ready to form a government of national unity to end the turmoil, but the opposition rejects the offer.

Jan 7 - Odinga calls off planned protests after meeting U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer, saying the mediation process is about to begin.

Jan 8 - Kibaki announces 17 ministers for his new cabinet. Protesters respond by building and burning barricades in Odinga's western stronghold, Kisumu.

-- John Kufuor, African Union chairman and President of Ghana, arrives in Nairobi to mediate.

Jan 10 - Kufuor leaves Kenya saying both sides have agreed to work together with an African panel headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But Kibaki and Odinga, amid recriminations, have not met or agreed how to end the crisis.

Jan 11 - The ODM calls for international sanctions against Kibaki.

Jan 14 - The death toll in unrest rises to 612, according to aid agencies.

Jan 15 - Parliament is convened and the opposition gets a boost by winning the post of speaker in the assembly.

Jan 16 - Police fight hundreds of protesters in trouble spots across the country, killing three, as the opposition defies a ban on rallies.

Jan 17 - In Nairobi and the western towns of Kisumu and Eldoret, police fire teargas and bullets during rallies called by the opposition but banned by police. The opposition accuse police of killing seven people.

Jan 18 - At least 13 people are killed when police open fire in a Nairobi slum and ethnic groups clash during protests.

Jan 19 - The opposition says it will resume protests next week, having completed 3 days of demonstrations in which at least 23 died.

Jan 22 - Ex-UN chief Kofi Annan arrives in Kenya to attempt mediation. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also flies into Nairobi to try to mediate.

Jan 24 - Kibaki and Odinga meet in a major breakthrough brokered by Annan.

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