NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s president and its main opposition leader met yesterday for the first time since the disputed December 27 presidential vote, but they emerged still clearly divided over the central question of who really won the election.

President Kibaki and Raila Odinga met for about an hour with a former U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, who succeeded where previous international mediators had failed in getting Messrs. Kibaki and Odinga to sit down together.

The two rivals shook hands and promised to work for peace after a spasm of post-election violence left about 700 people dead. They then walked out of the downtown presidential offices side by side.

But shortly after, Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement held a news conference and condemned Mr. Kibaki.

“Calling himself the duly elected president negates the whole rationale for international mediation,” the secretary-general of ODM, Anyang Nyongo, said.

Earlier, both Messrs. Kibaki and Odinga made statements to reporters as soon as they emerged from their meeting.

Mr. Kibaki made a point of saying he had been “duly elected” as president — an indicator that he did not consider his position as president negotiable.

“I will personally lead our country in promoting unity, tolerance, peace, and harmony among Kenyans,” he told journalists

Mr. Odinga’s statement sounded conciliatory.

“Today we have taken the first few steps in resolve the electoral dispute and conflict,” he said. “I pledge to all Kenyans that my team and I will spare no effort to resolve this crisis.”

Annan called the meeting and commitment to dialogue “a very encouraging development.” But he noted that violence continued and innocent people were being attacked.

“I want to join my brothers in appealing for calm,” he said, adding that there had been “excessive use of force by the police.”

International allies, saying the vote tally was rigged, have been urging Messrs. Kibaki and Odinga to negotiate a power-sharing agreement that might create a new position of prime minister for Mr. Odinga.

President Museveni of Uganda won an agreement from both sides to set up a judicial commission to investigate vote rigging. Mr. Museveni met with Messrs. Kibaki and Odinga on Wednesday.

Mr. Annan won another concession Wednesday, persuading Mr. Odinga to call off protests planned yesterday in defiance of a government ban. Scores of Mr. Odinga’s supporters have been gunned down by riot police in earlier demonstrations.

The Pan-African Parliament on Thursday published a report from its election monitors in Kenya saying the process did not meet democratic standards and concluding “an election rerun … would be the most pragmatic and ideal solution.”

The government says 685 people have been killed in riots and ethnic fighting since the vote. Some 255,000 people have been forced their homes by the violence.