UN report questions Kenya’s commitment to South Sudan

Kenya's contribution to the South Sudan peace process as well as independence is well documented. Through both the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) and the African Union, Nairobi played a key role in the negotiations that led to the signing of the agreement that ended 18 years of civil war in the Sudan.

Some two million people died in the conflict while four million were forced into exile, most of them becoming refugees in Kenya.

After attaining freedom from Khartoum following the signing of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the administration in Juba appeared to cultivate close ties with Nairobi.

Kenya has made South Sudan a priority for its foreign policy and retains a standing liaison committee that coordinates relations between the two countries, which is based at Harambee House, the President's office in Nairobi. Recently, President Uhuru Kenyatta tapped former vice-president Kalonzo Musyoka to oversee the peace building process in South Sudan as a regional envoy.

An agreement between President Salva Kiir and the first vice-president, Riek Machar, is yet to materialise because the process has been clouded by regional interests especially from influential figures in Nairobi and Kampala.

However, in recent years Nairobi has come under scrutiny from both independent journalists and United Nations experts, with both the political and military elite as well as its financial institutions being accused of fomenting the conflict in Africa's youngest nation for selfish gain.

According to a recent UN panel report, both Kenya and Uganda have contributed to “a dangerous stalemate” in South Sudan. Uganda, for instance, deployed troops in Yei River State last month, a move the UN report describes as violation of the international arms embargo on South Sudan and which it argues emboldens hard line positions" of the South Sudan government.

For its part, Kenya, the UN report says, despite being the regional powerhouse and previously a key investor in the South Sudan peace process, “has failed to demonstrate sufficient political and diplomatic will to consistently support the process by Igad to exert regional leverage on South Sudan's antagonists.”

"The regional backing in support of the peace process has not been institutionalised, resulting in policies that leave room for the signatories to the Agreement, in particular the government, to take advantage of the inconsistent mediation,” the report says.

“The inability of Igad to convene a long-overdue ordinary summit, at which the handover of the chairpersonship and the status of Mr Machar’s limitation of movement in Khartoum should be determined, is indicative of the competing priorities of the neighbouring States."

Ethiopia, the current chair of Igad, and Kenya, the top candidate to succeed it, according to the report, have not demonstrated sufficient political and diplomatic will to consistently support the peace process.

"The limited engagement, such as the visits of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, on 4 March and 14 October 2019, and the bilateral meetings between the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Mr Kiir in Nairobi on 1 and 2 July 2019 have not led to the sustained presence and pressure necessary to fully implement the pre-transitional provisions of the Agreement," says the UN report.

The report also says the Kenyan government has not responded to the panel's inquiries regarding apparent violations of the UN asset freeze and travel ban on South Sudanese included on a UN Security Council sanctions list.

The panel says it has identified accounts in an unnamed Kenyan bank related to Malek Reuben Riak Rengu, a former South Sudan senior security official accused of overseeing the killing of civilians.

Officials in Nairobi did not respond to queries by the Business Daily on these grave claims by the UN panel.

But the fact that it is in Kenya’s interest to address the concerns raised in the UN report cannot be gainsaid. Renewed conflict would not only be devastating for South Sudan but also for Kenya.

Unlike some of her neighbours, Kenya hosts a huge population of refugees and has economic interests in South Sudan.

Kenyan firms are among businesses that have over the years counted heavy losses due to outbreaks of political violence in South Sudan.

The list of Kenyan businesses with operations in South Sudan includes UAP Holdings, East African Breweries (EABL), KCB, Stanbic Bank, Equity Bank and Co-operative Bank.

Kenya also has tens of thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers in key sectors of the South Sudanese economy such as telecoms, banking, oil and hospitality.