Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has weighed in on the decision by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to withdraw from the AU peace talks.

In a statement on Twitter, Ngunyi appeared to suspect a foul play in the move saying the flow of events in the recent times show that "things don't add up".

"Things don't add up about President Uhuru Kenyatta failing to attend the Ethiopia-Tigre mediation in SA," he said in a tweet on Friday.

"One, Ruto visits Ethiopia this week and meets Prime Minister. Two, when he returns, the US Special envoy to the Horn meets him at State House as the new mediator. Add the Math."

In a letter to the AU chairman Mousa Faki Mahamat, Uhuru said he could not attend the talks citing a clash of events  in his schedule as the reason.

"I wish to notify your good office that I will not be able to attend the AU-Convened Peace Talks scheduled for October 8, 2022, in South Africa owing to conflicts in my schedule," he said.

The former president, however, expressed commitment to being a party to such a meeting in future if informed prior.

He was expected to lead the talks alongside former Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo and former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

The talks are aimed at ending the two-year conflict between Ethiopia's government and the rival Tigray forces.

They are the first formal negotiations between the sides since 2020.

The fights sparked after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed merged the ethnic and region-based constituent parties of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary democratic front (EPRDF) coalition and several opposition parties into his new Prosperity party.