President Uhuru’s dilemma in dealing with Somalia and South Sudan crises

(From left to right) Zanzibar second Vice Resident Ambassador Seif Iddi; Rwanda Prime Minister Pierre Habumuremyi; Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete; Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta; Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni; Burundi First Vice President Burundi Prosper Bazombanza unveil the East African Court of Justice guide books. They were in Arusha, Tanzania at the 12th extra-ordinary EAC Summit of Heads of State. Photo/FILBERT RWEYEMAMU 

 By JOINT REPORT The EastAfrican

 

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) with Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Nairobi, when the Chinese leader visited recently. Photo/FIL

In Summary

• Kenya and Somalia are at loggerheads over how to govern southern Somalia, currently controlled by Kenyan troops belatedly brought under the aegis of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
• Kenya has little leverage over South Sudan’s leaders, many of whom have assets in KenyainShare

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Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is facing a dilemma in dealing with two key neighbours — South Sudan and Somalia.

After barely a year in office, Kenya’s political leaders are now realising that their country’s economic power cannot always translate into a foreign policy clout.

Kenya and Somalia are at loggerheads over how to govern southern Somalia, currently controlled by Kenyan troops belatedly brought under the aegis of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

The Kenyan government has supported an initiative to set up an interim Jubbaland administration whose links with Mogadishu will be tenuous at best.

Diplomatic sources said that Kenya is planning to open consular offices in Jubbaland and Hargeisa in the self-declared independent Somaliland, but Mogadishu is concerned that Nairobi is planting a seed of self-determination for other regions that could cut links with Mogadishu.

The EastAfrican has learnt that the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has been particularly upset by the “Usalama Watch” operation in Kenya aimed at kicking out illegal aliens in the country, which has been seen as targeting Somali nationals.

There are also elements within President Mohamud’s government that have never been comfortable with the Kenya Defence Forces’ entry into Somalia in October 2011 and are wary of Kenya’s increased influence in the affairs of Somalia.

However, former Somalia minister Abdirahman Omar Osman, who has just left his job as the spokesperson of the presidency, argued that the Federal Government of Somalia fully supports the KDF military operations in Somalia.

Two weeks ago, a political consul at the Somali embassy in Kenya, Siyad Mohamud Shire, was arrested in a Nairobi suburb during a police swoops under “Usalama Watch,” forcing Mogadishu to recall its ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur, for consultation.

READ: Somalia wants Kenyan apology over arrest of its diplomat

But despite his “personal challenges” as a leader who faces charges at the International Criminal Court, President Kenyatta seems determined to nudge his country towards a more robust role in regional and African affairs, his engagement with the East (read China) rather than the country’s traditional Western allies being his boldest move so far.

READ: Kenya steps up bid to host yuan clearing house

President Kenyatta didn’t also shy away from kicking up his own diplomatic dust when he spearheaded what is popularly known as the Coalition of the Willing, with Uganda and Rwanda, leaving out Tanzania, which is a member of the East African Community (EAC).

Under President Kenyatta’s watch, the country has not only become more vulnerable to terrorist attacks from Somalia, but the breakdown of law and order in neighbouring South Sudan is also posing serious threats to the country’s interests.

READ: Uhuru’s first year in office no walk in the park