The Republic of the Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan are moving inexorably towards war, seven years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was executed between the Republic of the Sudan and the rebel forces led by John Garang of the Sudan Peoples' Revolution Movement. The conflict revolves around many critical questions that are yet to be settled between the two governments but it is the oil question and control of the oil-producing regions that are exacerbating a very tense situation.
Since the CPA was signed between the two, it was understood that once a plebiscite was held to determine whether or not the south would secede, among the key questions to be settled would be the common border and the administration of the oil-producing region, especially the Abyei. One year after the birth of the Republic of South Sudan these two thorny issues are yet to be determined. The South has moved to occupy Heglig in South Kordofan State of the Republic of the Sudan, accusing the northerners of using the town as a base for attacking the South and for launching missile attacks. In response, the north has called the Republic of Sudan an 'enemy of the people' and has withdrawn its negotiators from talks being conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Kenya has responded to the unfolding situation by despatching the Foreign Minister to Addis Ababa to bring about a resolution to the unfolding situation. He has made contact with his counterparts from the Sudan, Rwanda and Ethiopia, but not from the players who truly matter, South Sudan and Uganda. And it is this that makes it plain that in this time of electioneering, where everyone and his uncle seems to be seeking to be Mwai Kibaki's successor, our focus on foreign matters, especially in our near-abroad seems a bit wanting. Prof Ongeri is no doubt an intelligent, cosmopolitan, well-travelled and experienced politician but he is a poor chief of our diplomatic corps.
Moses Wetangula had the opportunity to learn, first as Raphael Tuju's Assistant and later as the Minister over the past four years, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that he, like his predecessors before him going back to Kalonzo Musyoka, saw themselves as the managers of Kenya's political image internationally ad not as the vanguards of Kenya's interests, especially its commercial interests. Prof Ongeri does not have the time to learn on the job nor will be effective in managing relations during the Sudan conflict. It would have been to leave the Ministry in the hands of Moses Wetangula, inept as he had proven, rather than in the untested, ill-experienced hands of Prof Sam Ongeri.
The scuttle-butt is that Uhuru Kenyatta and his phalanx of advisors have pre-positioned allies in key departments to ensure that when the day comes that the ICC demands his delivery to The Hague, they will be able to forestall such an eventuality an that they will ensure that in his defiance of the international tribunal he escapes sanction. Wiser voices have been stifled and Uhuru is being led by the nose by the likes of Kiraitu Murungi, Robinson Njeru Githae and Ephraim Maina. Keen observers of the ICC, especially those with an eye to its political utility, predict that it is only a matter of time before the Attorney-General informs Uhuru Kenyatta's cohort that there is no stopping the ICC process short of dissolving the court before it hears any more cases.
It is this overwhelming obsession with domestic issues that has hamstrung the diplomatic efforts of our country, explaining why incompetent men have been placed in charge of the Foreign Ministry since the assassination of the charismatic Robert Ouko. Even Kenya's 'pivot' towards China and away from the West led by the UK, the EU and the USA could have been skillfully managed; it was unseemly the public spat between the government and the French Ambassador over access to State House. Now that Kenya's near-abroad is erupting once more, it is time for a sensible pair of hands to take over the foreign policy of Kenya, ensuring that Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya work together to ensure that the blood that is about to be spilled is averted, that Uganda and Ethiopia enjoy a bigger share of the spoils from the oil discoveries in the region, and that South Sudan and the Sudan settle their disputes quickly and for mutual benefit. sadly, Sam, Ongeri and Francis Thuita are not those hands.
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