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We are neutral on Kenya, says EAC
2008-01-14 09:07:30
By Guardian Reporter, Arusha
The East African Community yesterday broke its silence and declared that it supports neither of the major factions embroiled in the post-election crisis in Kenya that has left hundreds of people dead and more than 200,000 displaced.
The crisis is pitting mainly President Mwai Kibaki and his Party of National Unity against main opposition leader Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement.
The ODM faction says it was fraudulently robbed of victory following the December 27 general election, insisting that it is Odinga who won the presidential poll and Kibaki is therefore in power illegally.
EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu gave the hint on the regional bloc`s stand at a function here yesterday to receive a two-member Burundi government delegation led by CNDD/FDD Vice chairman Mohamed Rukara.
He said the mere fact that they recently received Kenya`s newly appointed minister in charge of EAC affairs, Wilfred Machage, ``doesn`t mean that the community is siding with Mwai Kibaki, who was declared winner in the recently held Kenyan elections whose presidential elections is under dispute``.
Seven ministers from the five EAC partner states, including Machage, held roundtable talks here at the weekend at which the main item on the agenda was the ongoing post-election violence in Kenya.
The Kenyan minister ``updated`` his colleagues on the unrest in his country.
``Power cannot stand a vacuum,`` Mwapachu said, adding that even transitional or interim governments always have some forms of authority.
``Although the EAC is at the forefront in advocating peace and stability in Kenya, we strongly feel that we cannot achieve that goal by sidelining the country`s participation in the process,`` he noted.
The EAC chief said those who took part in the weekend talks were ministers from all of the bloc`s partner states - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
``The roundtable was also attended by Tanzania`s Home Affairs minister Joseph Mungai and his Justice and Constitutional Affairs colleague, Mary Nagu.
Mind you, we at the EAC secretariat also work closely with our presidents to ensure that the Kenyan crisis is resolved in a manner that leaves all the parties concerned satisfied,`` he explained.
In his remarks, Rukaara stated that his country has fulfilled nearly 75 per cent of the conditions countries need to fulfil before being allowed to participate fully in EAC programmes.
This is the first official statement issued by the EAC secretariat since bloody clashes erupted in many parts of Kenya following the December 30 announcement of the disputed presidential election results.
The secretariat has remained tight-lipped since the mayhem began, raising a myriad questions among the 120 million residents of the region about the bloc`s stand.
The failure by the 14-strong delegation that served as the EAC`s observers during the Kenyan general elections to produce its report only made things worse.
The Arusha-based EAC is a regional intergovernmental economic organisation.
Meanwhile, Pastory Nguvu reports from Dar es Salaam that East African Community ministers responsible for regional cooperation will meet in Arusha in two weeks` time to discuss the political and humanitarian situation in Kenya.
East Africa Cooperation Affairs minister Ibrahim Msabaha told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the meeting would be held under EAC Council of Ministers chairperson Eriya Kategaya of Uganda.
Correspondent Simon Mhina also reports from Dar es Salaam that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania yesterday advised Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to help end the chaos in his country by stepping down.
``President Kibaki has to plead guilty before the people of Kenya for what he has done to them...He is the one responsible for restoring peace in Kenya,`` the Head of the Church, Bishop Alex Malasusa, told a mass in the city.
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