Former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Senate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Cruz: Trump should nominate a Supreme Court justice next week MORE on Monday called for peaceful elections in Kenya as the country prepares for a fiercely contested presidential vote.

The former president, whose father was born in Kenya, said there has been “too much incitement and appeals based on fear from all sides” and that the Kenyan people “will be the losers if there is a descent into violence.”

“I urge Kenyan leaders to reject violence and incitement; respect the will of the people; urge security forces to act professionally and neutrally; and work together no matter the outcome,” he added in a statement.

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Kenyans will head to the polls on Tuesday, with incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta fighting to win a second term in office against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Authorities are bracing for an outbreak of violence, with 18,000 police and security forces deployed across the country in anticipation of the vote.

“The choices you make in the coming days can either set Kenya back or bring it together,” Obama said. “As a friend of the Kenyan people, I urge you to work for a future defined not by fear and division, but by unity and hope.”

Fears of widespread violence have been stoked by last month’s brutal murder of a senior Kenyan election commission official and many other violent incidents, as well as concerns about fraud and voter-machine failure.

A decade ago, Kenya was rocked by violence in the aftermath of its disputed presidential election. More than 1,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes.

Obama is taking an interest in his father's home country as part of his post-White House agenda.

He made his first visit to the country as president in 2015, a two-day stop that included a dinner with relatives and a speech to the Kenyan people. Obama first visited his father's homeland in 1987.