African leaders have begun their summit in Ethiopia but violence in Kenya is not on the formal agenda.
African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya.
On the eve of the summit, AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said it was up to Africa to help Kenya resolve its problems, after last month's elections.
AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told them they could not just sit by. "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also expected to call for a peaceful resolution to the violence that has claimed up to 900 lives.
Up to 900 people have died since polls last month which the opposition says were rigged. The UN secretary general is also expected to call for peace.
The opposition says the government of Mwai Kibaki rigged the poll.
In Nairobi, talks between government and opposition have begun.
Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
Mr Konare - the AU's top executive - said it was the AU's duty to support the mediation process which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
But opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says he won last month's presidential election, has not been invited.
Latest reports from Nairobi say talks between government and opposition are now under way. There are no reports of major violence so far from around the country.
Mr Konare, the AU's chief executive, criticised the 53-member union for not doing enough to address issues in Africa and around the world.
The opposition Orange Democratic Movement says the government of Mwai Kibaki rigged the 27 December presidential poll.
No 'blank cheque'
Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, even though the opposition ODM called on the AU not to recognise him.
While the billed theme of this year's summit is industrialisation, Kenya is likely to be dominating thoughts.
Violence has claimed close to 900 lives in Kenya since the elections
On Wednesday, Jendayi Frazer, the top US envoy to Africa, described the forced removal of people from Kenya's Rift Valley as ethnic cleansing.
ODM leader Raila Odinga, by contrast, has not been invited.
The (Kenyan) government will not be given a blank cheque at this summit AU Commission member
All eyes
Mr Ban is expected to tell the organisation of the need for a peaceful compromise in a country whose stability is seen as key for the region.
The BBC's Will Ross, reporting from the conference, says all eyes will be on Mr Kibaki.
"The Kenyan crisis is a serious one and we cannot simply condone what the Kibaki regime is trying to feed us," one member of the AU commission told the AFP news agency.
He says Mr Kibaki is likely to brief at least some of the African leaders on events in Kenya, especially the talks between government and opposition.
"The government will not be given a blank cheque at this summit."
The Kenyan crisis may then be pushed away, which could be convenient for an organisation which often struggles to tackle the continent's problems with any great urgency, he says.
Sudan and Somalia
Despite Mr Konare's plea, the official theme of the AU summit is industrialisation.
The AU's peacekeeping operations in Sudan and Somalia are also expected to be on the agenda.
But other subjects are likely to include
Kenya's leaders met in Nairobi, but the opposition is not invited now
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Sudan,
where the AU and the UN have promised to create the world's largest peacekeeping force in Darfur
Somalia,
where members are keen to strengthen the small Ugandan and Burundian forces in the country, and
the
AU's own internal organisation
The AU and the UN have promised to create the world's largest peacekeeping force in Darfur to replace the troubled region's current undermanned and under-equipped AU force.
Our correspondent says many Africans hope other urgent issues such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo will also be tackled.
Mr Ban is expected to have talks in Addis Ababa with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir about the proposed 26,000 joint force.
Peacekeeping in Somalia will also be on the agenda during the summit, as it was last year, with members keen to strengthen the small Ugandan and Burundian forces in the country.
But the AU is plagued by bureaucratic problems, says the BBC's Will Ross in Addis Ababa.
Scathing report
Our correspondent says much of the discussions this week in Ethiopia will focus on the internal workings of the AU - which has been described in its own report as dysfunctional.
The report described a poorly-functioning institution where senior officials in Addis Ababa were bogged down in bureaucracy, while there was an unhealthy culture of colleagues not talking to each other.
The report noted 21 countries were more than a year behind with their payments to the AU, including Libya and Egypt.
If Kenya's inter-tribal violence is overlooked, our correspondent adds, it will not be the first time that urgent problems are sidestepped at such meetings.
At the last AU meeting six months ago, the whole three-day summit was dedicated to discussing the idea of a United States of Africa, with little time spent on sensitive issues such as peacekeeping in Darfur and Somalia and the crippling economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
