Kenyan Leaders and the International Community Must Do More
The future of Kenya depends on its leaders’ commitment to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, Freedom House said today, also urging international leaders to become more engaged in solving the conflict. “Currently, Kenyans are killing one another at an alarming rate and are putting the country in grave danger of civil war. It is absolutely imperative that both sides demonstrate political responsibility by working together and demanding that their supporters desist from violence, rather than blaming each other,” said Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House’s executive director. “Freedom House calls on President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga to cooperate in designing an agreement that all sides can agree to, and to put an end to the violence. There is no other way forward.”
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan resumed mediation efforts between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga yesterday, and an African Union summit taking place in Ethiopia later this week is expected to address the conflict. Earlier mediation efforts by Secretary Annan bore little fruit, and violence in western Kenya has increased over the past few days. A number of human rights leaders have been targeted with death threats, and others have fled the country.
“We strongly encourage all influential parties to work towards peace in the country. The international community, including the United States, must use all possible leverage and pressure at its disposal to end the crisis,” said Ozong Agborsangaya-Fiteu, senior program manager for Africa at Freedom House. “While the U.S. government has pressured both sides to negotiate a peaceful agreement, we encourage it to go further by employing all possible diplomatic and economic tools in its arsenal.”
Ms. Agborsangaya-Fiteu suggested that the U.S. suspend all military assistance to Kenya, as well as enact travel bans and asset freezes for leading members of the Kenyan government and the opposition. In addition, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. assistance agency, should issue a strong message that funding awarded to Kenya is in serious jeopardy.
In March 2007, the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a threshold program agreement with Kenya, providing it with $12.7 million based on its ability to meet indicators such as rule of law, accountability and political rights.
As a result of developments since the December 27 election, Freedom House has removed Kenya from its list of the world’s electoral democracies. It also lowered the country’s score for political rights in the global survey, Freedom in the World 2008. The country’s rating for political rights dropped from a 3 in 2006 to a 4 (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the lowest score).
Freedom House
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