Sudan, Somalia Peace a Blessing for Kenya Too

[Xudeedi]

Sudan, Somalia Peace a Blessing for Kenya Too

 

The East African (Nairobi)

 

ANALYSIS

January 10, 2005

Posted to the web January 11, 2005

 

L. Muthoni Wanyeki

Nairobi

 

Kenyans may have ushered in the New Year on a sombre note, thinking of all the things economic and political that have yet to happen to their liking.

 

But if we looked a little above and beyond ourselves, we would have noticed two developments in 2004 that bode well not just for ourselves, but for our sub-region. Somalia has a new government and Sudan has finally signed a comprehensive peace deal.

 

This is good news because, more often than not, we can be heartless, parochial and selfish and want nothing short of having all of Somalis and south Sudanese exiles and refugees resident in Kenya sent home. The Somalis particularly, with whom we have what can only be described as a near pathological relationship.

 

Regardless of the fact that good neighbourliness requires us to harbour them, just as we have been harboured by Tanzania and Uganda in our own times of need. The international law required us to do so, too.

 

But those Kenyans who share that sort of undertone to last week's escalating demands that the Somali government relocate as soon as possible should now rest easy.

 

For the African Union has just committed to providing troops to back the entry of the Somali government into its territory, which should be on the ground by the end of the month.

 

Somalia's new government and Sudan's new peace deal are also good news because the latter's increasingly speedy evolution has opened the eyes of our business community and some members of our government to the potential to capitalise on the development process that will soon be underway in southern Sudan.

 

Of course, in most of southern Sudan, we are not talking about reconstruction but construction. Roads, railways, financial services and other basic infrastructure.

 

So, only a sleepy or very slow businessman in the vicinity will not be thinking hard about how to get a piece of the action. Hence, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers' decision to investigate what options are available for its members.

 

Somalia, however, has not provoked the same sort of avaricious response, mainly because Somalia had more to start with. And because the Somalis still in Somalia, with funds from Somalis in the diaspora, have somehow been not only maintaining the existing infrastructure to the degree necessary to function but also creating new infrastructure.

 

The boost given by the anarchical lack of government regulation for the Somali telecommunications sector, for example, is a case study waiting to be written.

 

But Somalia's new government and Sudan's peace deals are good news because they should be good news for the Somali and the Sudanese.

 

It is simply outrageous how long these two conflicts have gone on. It is therefore heartening that the political moves towards their conclusions were shepherded along by African intergovernmental institutions - the Intergovernmental Agency for Development and the African Union -with massive financial support from the West and equally massive humanitarian support from the UN.

 

That Kenya lived up to its responsibilities should make us all proud of the mediators involved.

 

But we have every right to be sceptical in the case of southern Sudan, not least because the Darfur crisis remains unresolved.

 

Arguably, the presence of the southern Sudanese in the yet-to-be-formed transitional government of national unity will help in that respect.

 

However, because the concerns of the two rebel movements in Darfur are similar to those of the southern Sudan - having to do with government resistance to claims for greater autonomy, power and resource sharing - the Sudanese peace deal may provide a model for a resolution in Darfur. And so, we have every right to be optimistic as well.

 

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the African Women's Development and Communication Network (Femnet)

[Xudeedi]

But those Kenyans who share that sort of undertone to last week's escalating demands that the Somali government relocate as soon as possible should now rest easy.

 

For the African Union has just committed to providing troops to back the entry of the Somali government into its territory, which should be on the ground by the end of the month. L. Muthoni Wanyeki

 

 

Excellent point and i thank for what kenyans have done for Somalia for the last 14 years and i hope it keeps extending its support and assisstance.