Ruto’s Sudan Rejection Raises Concerns: Kenya’s Diplomatic Influence at Stake?
Sudanese junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s rejection of President William Ruto’s chairmanship. Of a regional effort to resolve the ongoing crisis in Khartoum. Raised the question of whether Kenya was losing its position as a leading negotiator.
Kenya has been involved in complex mediations in Africa for the past half century. Earning acclaim and respect as a key player in the pursuit of peace.
The most successful were the establishment of South Sudan, the peace process in Mozambique, and the peace efforts in Somalia. In the current dispute over Sudan, however, Kenya found itself in uncharted territory.
While the regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad). Had proposed a mediation schedule under the leadership of President Ruto. That would have included a face-to-face meeting between the two warring generals. Both Sudan and al-Burhan rejected that schedule, and President Ruto’s leadership.
The rejection of Ruto reflects either a shift in regional powerplay or a battle of perception. Given Kenya’s extensive history of involvement in conflict resolution.
In January 1975, Kenya’s role as a mediator was first put to the test. When Jomo Kenyatta led efforts to prevent Angola from descending into civil war.
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Kenyatta, a prominent pan-Africanist at the time, gathered the leaders of the warring factions. Jonas Savimbi of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola. Agostinho Neto of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. And Holden Roberto of the National Front for the Liberation of Angola.
Mombasa meeting
During this meeting in Mombasa, they agreed to cooperate and share power in a transitional Angolan government. Until Portugal granted the country full independence on November 11, 1975.
The Kenyatta-brokered accord would be part of the Alvor Agreement, in which Portugal agreed to grant Angola independence.
The most significant aspect of the agreement was that Cabinda, which wanted to secede, would remain a part of Angola.
Some historians argue that Kenyatta called the meeting in his capacity as an African statesman. Before the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) intervened on July 18, 1975. When it established a conciliation commission to reconcile the warring factions after the Alvor Agreement encountered difficulties in its implementation.
Kenyatta invited the three Angolan leaders to a meeting in Nakuru one month before the OAU summit hosted by Idi Amin of Uganda.
Important was the incorporation of previous liberation armies into a national army and the formation of a coalition government following Portugal’s withdrawal.
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Kenyatta convinced the three leaders to discuss a ceasefire despite their racial, ideological, and personal differences.
“Despite a long history of extreme animosity between two of the leaders, Mr. Neto and Mr. Roberto, there were no overt displays of hostility today…According to the New York Times, “the two men shook hands, called each other brother, and Dr. Savimbi, who has been a reconciliatory figure throughout, worked late into the night at President Kenyatta’s lodge.”
After Milton Obote was deposed in Uganda in July 1985, President Daniel Arap Moi united rebel forces led by Yoweri Museveni with the Uganda National Liberation Army’s military junta led by Basilio Okello and Tito Okello.
Kenya hosted marathon talks on Uganda, which resulted in the December 1985 Nairobi Agreement and enhanced Moi’s international reputation.
Moi stated that the agreement “marked a new beginning for Uganda.” The goal was to form a government that included Museveni, who had waged a four-year bush war against Obote but excluded the post-Obote formations.
Andrew Morton, the former president’s biographer, wrote, “Moi’s foreign-policy initiatives were not solely motivated by national self-interest, but also by his belief that Africans should solve their problems.”
Moi negotiated Tito Okello’s return from exile in Sudan even after Museveni deposed him in 1986.
Gideon Moi was involved in negotiations between the Mozambican government of Joachim Chissano and the rebel Mozambique National Resistance Movement of Alfonso Dhlakama in May of 1989.
Moi dispatched a team led by Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat to Renamo-held territory to convince him to open the Beira Corridor – an important rail and road link to Malawi from the Beira port – to bring Dhlakama to the table.
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The team persuaded Dhlakama that the international community would recognize his influence and capacity to bring peace to Mozambique if he opened the closed corridor. Dhlakama, who was traveling on a Kenyan passport, was hosted by President Moi at State House in Nairobi before flying to Italy for peace talks with Chissano.
In the same year, Kenya hosted discussions between the Ethiopian government and Isaias Afewerki’s Eritrean People’s Liberation Front.
Before the final referendum vote, Kenya played a significant role in legitimizing the Eritrean claim for secession from Ethiopia through the talks. Eritrea held a national referendum in 1993 and declared independence from Ethiopia.
Kenya would also play a crucial role in resolving the Sudan conflict under the auspices of ‘gad when it facilitated the Comprehensive Peace Agreements between the Sudan government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, representing the South Sudanese people, on January 1, 2005.
Comprehensive Peace Accord
It was one of President Mwai Kibaki’s initiatives to continue the work of his predecessor, Moi.
The Machakos Protocol of July 2002 was a crucial step towards the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, which led to the establishment of a new nation.
The then-foreign minister of Kenya, Kalonzo Musyoka, has been lauded as one of the key figures in this peace process.
When President Kibaki presided over Igad, he oversaw the 2004 formation of Somalia’s government under President Abdullah Yusuf.
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Previously, the Eldoret Peace Conference in October 2002 was hailed as the most inclusive peace process, as 24 groups signed the Declaration on Cessation of Hostilities.
The subsequent Nairobi Agreement led to the formation of an internationally recognized transitional government.
Until the African Union agreed to send a peacekeeping mission to Somalia, the government was based in Nairobi.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta is currently attempting to broker a ceasefire in the Goma region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in his roles as a facilitator of the East African Community and peace envoy for the African Union.
Kenya has also deployed troops to the eastern DRC to join an East African regional force with the mission of ending decades of bloodshed.
The opposition to President Ruto’s appointment as a negotiator in the Sudan crisis reveals how the various conflicting parties view him.
Al-Burhan, for his part, has indicated that he would prefer President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan to lead the meeting with his rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces.
According to Al-Burhan, Kenya was politically divided. With such rejection so early in his Presidency, it remains to be seen whether Ruto will achieve the same diplomatic space as his predecessors.
Ruto’s Sudan Rejection Raises Concerns: Kenya’s Diplomatic Influence at Stake?
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