President Uhuru Kenyatta cuts a cake to mark his one year in office in
celebration organised by Turkish-Kenyan Business Council chairman
Abdulwalli Shariff (right) in Istanbul, TurkeY. During President
Kenyatta’s visit to Turkey, the two countries struck a deal where Turkey
will support Kenya in making its police service more effective in
dealing with threats to national security. PHOTO/FILE
April was a busy month for President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He
attended the European Union-Africa Summit in Belgium, joined Rwanda to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide, attended Tanzania’s
50th union celebration, and flew to London to support First Lady
Margaret Kenyatta in her debut 42-kilometre marathon to raise funds for
improving maternal health and nutrition.
Most of the
President’s talks in these countries centred on democracy, fighting
poverty, infrastructure development, and integration.
However,
it was the President’s trip to Turkey and Qatar that showcased Kenya’s
commitment to rejuvenate business ties with non-traditional partners and
to attract investment.
In his visit to the two
states, Mr Kenyatta clinched concessionary financing deals for
large-scale projects, including energy generation and infrastructure
development. He also struck cooperation agreements in security besides
initiatives to build both cultural and diplomatic bridges with the host
nations.
“This means a huge leap for Kenya’s
East-dominated market and trade. This would certainly reassure Turkish
and Qatari investors to deepen their trade relations with Kenya,” said
Mr Abdihakim Ainte, the managing director of international consultancy
firm, Transitional Advisory.
In Turkey, Mr Kenyatta
signed bilateral agreements that will see the two countries cooperate in
energy exploration and exchange expertise on how to revitalise local
manufacturing firms.
On the diplomatic front, Mr
Kenyatta promised to post an ambassador to Kenya’s embassy in Turkey.
The relationship between the two nations stretches “back beyond the 16th
century,” he noted. Mr Kenyatta was referring to the Ottoman Empire
rule which, for over six centuries, stretched across three continents
from Europe to the Horn of Africa.
In return, Turkey promised to open a centre in Kenya to promote cultural ties.
On
its part, oil-rich Qatar pledged to help Kenya establish a financial
hub, finance construction of the Sh13 billion Isiolo-Garbatula-Modogashe
road, and provide technical assistance to the Kenya Ports Authority as
well as the Rift Valley Railways.
Mr Kenyatta invited
Qatari investors to assist Kenya in exploring oil and natural gas in
efforts to hasten the country’s push to tap the resource.
SECURITY
Besides
trade, security in the Horn of Africa featured prominently in the
deliberations between Mr Kenyatta and his Qatari and Turkish hosts.
The
team discussed possible measures to confront radicalisation of the
youth in Kenya, how to better equip security agencies to deal with
insecurity, and how to handle war-torn Somalia.
This,
analysts say, is part of Kenya’s efforts to steer Somalia back to
stability as Nairobi bears the brunt of the effects of the chaos in its
unstable neighbour.
Besides isolated explosions in
local towns, the biggest blow to Kenya’s security came on 21 September,
2013, when Al-Shabaab militants killed at least 60 people in Nairobi’s
Westgate Mall.
“Part of the reason interventions have
failed in Somalia is that efforts to stabilise the country have been ad
hoc, uncoordinated, and driven by the unique interests of the
contributing countries rather than a consensus among international
partners. Kenya’s outreach to Qatar and Turkey is another iteration of
this phenomenon,” said Mr Tres Thomas, a PhD student at George Mason
University who focuses on federalism in Somalia.
Notably, Kenya, Turkey, and Qatar have different approaches to fixing the runaway insecurity in Somalia.
Since October 2011, Kenya’s forces have been fighting Al-Shabaab in Somalia as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia.
On
its part, the Arab emirate, Qatar, has been providing aid to Somalia
besides carrying out humanitarian assistance programmes in the country
in an effort to influence politics in Mogadishu.
Turkey’s
intervention in Somalia has been on a larger scale. For instance, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the most high-profile figure in
2011 to visit the country after two decades of civil war.
MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
Since
then, the Ankara government has arguably achieved a lot. It was the
first country to establish an embassy in the capital, Mogadishu.
Further, Turkish Airlines was the maiden global carrier to start a
bi-weekly flight to the Somali capital. Also, Turkey’s development
agency, TIKA, has tarmacked Mogadishu’s main roads while also restoring
once bullet-riddled schools and hospitals.
This, Mr
Ainte says, forms part of Ankara’s “moral responsibility” to care for
Somalia, even as it spreads its political footprint in the country.
“Part
of Turkey’s tear on Somalia is to ensure the stabilisation of the
country through diplomacy and leveraging allies to treat Somalia
differently. This is Ankara’s moral responsibility,” Mr Ainte said.
He
added that although the talks between Kenya and Turkey were heavily
dominated by business and diplomatic discussions, “I would like to think
that Mr Erdogan expressed concern over Kenya’s military role in Somalia
and its mistreatment of the Somali nationals living in Kenya.”
Kenya
shoulders a hefty financial burden as a result of insecurity in
Somalia. There is a large number of refugees, mainly from Somalia and
South Sudan, in Kenya.
Analysts say help from Qatar and Turkey, which might include training of Kenyan police, could cut security-related costs.
“On
the humanitarian side, Kenya believes that Qatar and Turkey’s work in
Somalia can help establish a better environment that will allow refugees
in Kenya to return to Somalia,” Mr Thomas said.
In
Turkey, Mr Kenyatta signed an MoU on security cooperation between the
Kenya Police Service and the Turkish National Police. The deal is part
of broad commitments on defence between the two governments geared
towards reconstructing Somalia.
“Turkey is making a big
contribution in restoring peace in Somalia and Kenya is also playing a
major role. We’ll work together,” President Abdulla Gül of Turkey said.
The
same was replicated in Qatar, where Mr Kenyatta and the Emir, Sheikh
Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, agreed to cooperate in defence and security,
particularly in the stabilisation of Somalia.
The Emir
said his government would assist in the deradicalisation of the youth
in Kenya as part of its ongoing security interventions in the country.
“We
will also help in the provision of equipment and security gadgets as
part of our contribution to the East African peace initiatives,” the
Emir noted.
Mr Kenyatta said Kenya seeks to work
closely with Qatar in dealing with challenges such as the instability in
Somalia. He expressed the need for the people of Somalia to be assisted
to settle so that they can engage in gainful business.
“This
will ultimately not only benefit them as a country but all of us in the
region. We need to partner with other nations to achieve that goal.
These are some of the things we have come here to discuss,” Mr Kenyatta
said.
However, despite the training and equipment
support, Kenya must step up the surveillance of her borders, weed out
corruption, and address the use of extrajudicial and other
counter-productive tactics used by the police.
NEW ALLIANCES
Mr
Kenyatta’s state visits to Turkey and Qatar also brought to the fore a
tactical shift in Kenya’s foreign policy in scouting for new development
partners.
An interesting angle to look at it is the Shia-Sunni (the two biggest branches of Islam) divide.
Qatar
and Turkey are both dominated by Sunni Muslims. However, Saudi Arabia
(Sunni) and Iran (Shia) have dominated trade ties with Kenya for years.
At the moment, Saudi Arabia and Iran have investments in agriculture,
energy, trade, and technical cooperation with Nairobi.
“Considering
the eternal competition pitting the ‘old’ — Saudi (Sunni) and Iran
(Shia) — and the ‘new’ Qatar and Turkey, I don’t think Kenya’s policy is
so much on a shift, but rather a reasonable pivot to what is
realistically a viable option, without necessarily cutting ties with
Saudi Arabia and Iran, who both have a huge presence in Kenya,” Mr
Abdullahi Boru Halakhe, a Horn of Africa policy analyst, said.
It
should be noted, however, that in 2012, Kenya cancelled importation of
four million tonnes of crude oil from Iran, citing “sanction threats”
from Western nations who had slapped embargoes on Tehran.
SHAPING POLICY
Mr
Ainte says the decision by Mr Kenyatta to visit Turkey and Qatar does
not necessarily mean the administration is keen on changing its foreign
policy based on denomination.
There area a large
number of Sunni Muslims in Kenya, particularly in the country’s
leadership, who are shaping the policy towards Muslim nations in
general.
The President was accompanied by Foreign
Affairs and International Trade Cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed, her
Mining counterpart, Najib Balala, and the Majority Leader of the
National Assembly, Adan Duale.
In one of the
communiqués, Ms Mohamed is described as being “instrumental in the
bilateral negotiations laying the foundations for the agreements.”
“That’s
to say Kenya’s relation with Sunni-dominated countries will be safe and
secure for the foreseeable future,” Mr Ainte said.
Nonetheless,
whether seeking to build new economic, diplomatic, cultural, or trade
bridges, Mr Kenyatta’s visits to Qatar and Turkey indicate a fresh
approach in which Kenya is seeking to build ties, no matter the
ideological or historical background of the “new” or “old” partners.
This
practice, Mr Halakhe says, is termed as double dipping: “Continue with
the old partners and add on the new emerging economic powers.”
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