The Monday meeting in New York between Presidents George Bush (US) and Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania) was only good to a point. The suspect nature of the meeting came to the fore when Kenya's "political instability" was brought into the picture. (Political instability indeed!)
What was George Bush doing discussing Kenya's political situation with Kikwete while Kenya's Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju (leading the Kenyan delegation to the UN General Assembly) could have been called upon to comment?
To further mar the already stained picture, no explanation was forthcoming as to why Bush spoke about Kenya's domestic issues with Kikwete.
Methinks, Mr. Bush ought to have been wise enough not to hold such discussions with the president of a neighbouring country while our own delegates were within 'calling' range.
What does this portend? Does this go to emphasize (drive a point home!) how our own administration is lowly esteemed by the president of the world (Bush!)? What is the meaning of this goings-on?
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by Matthew Lee
NAIROBI (AFP) - The United States moved to quell a diplomatic spat with Kenya sparked by an off-hand remark from a top US official that threatened to sour ties with one of Washington's closest African allies
With Nairobi still smarting from blunt criticism from a visiting US senator of Kenyan descent last month, the US embassy said the offending comment, which appeared to question Kenya's political stability, was "taken out of context."
"We view Kenya as a stable democracy and an important partner in bringing stability to the Horn of Africa region," the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, told reporters at a hastily called news conference.
He noted, in particular, US concerns about current unrest in Somalia and Sudan.
Ranneberger would not discuss specifics of the comment that has raised Kenya's ire and it was not immediately clear if his attempt to soothe Nairobi's ruffled feathers had worked.
The controversy erupted on Monday when a senior aide to US President George W. Bush briefed reporters about a meeting Bush had on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
Tanzania is now a member of the UN Security Council and the two leaders discussed several African issues, including the situation in the strife-torn nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, the aide said.
"Also, they spoke about Kenya and the dynamics of democracy there, and expressed concerns to make sure that democracy is moving forward and discussed some of the issues of political instability that were taking place," she said, according to a White House transcript of the briefing.
The one-sentence line went largely unnoticed by many but became front-page news in Kenya, which has long been regarded as an island of relative stability in volatile east Africa and is preparing for presidential elections next year.
Kenya's foreign ministry said the remark by Cindy Courville, the top Africa expert in the US National Security Council, was "unwarranted and unjustified" and sought formal explanations from the United States and Tanzania.
"It's a painful slap in the face," Nairobi's leading Nation newspaper said Thursday, noting that any concerns about Kenyan stability should not be raised with the president of a neighboring country.
"It does not convey much respect for this country," it said in an editorial.
The impact of Courville's comment was magnified by a running feud between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's government and US Senator Barack Obama over his criticism of graft and tribalism during an August visit here.
Greeted with a rock star welcome by thousands of Kenyans, the son of a Kenyan goat herder-turned-economist and only African-American in the US Senate riled the administration with a speech about the country's woes.
In a nationally televised August 28 address at the University of Nairobi, Obama said Kenya's democratic achievements were being jeopardized and the country was "in crisis."
Kibaki's administration hit back, first in Nairobi and then in a letter from its new ambassador to the United States, accusing the rising US political star of betraying his roots with an ill-informed diatribe.
Kenya- 1 Obama Democratic Movement -0
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