EAST AFRICA: Kenya Appoints Special Envoy To Great Lakes Region

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Jan 24 1997 (IPS) - The appointment by Kenya of a special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa brings to six the number of international emissaries assigned to tackle the spreading conflict in the troubled area.

Ali Makwere, who was Kenya’s ambassador to Zimbabwe before his appointment Wednesday, will join colleagues from the United States, Belgium, South Africa, European Union (EU) and the United Nations/Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in trying to bring peace to the region.

The Great Lakes Region, made up of Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Uganda and Tanzania, has been in turmoil since ethnic violence erupted in Rwanda in 1990, leading to the slaughter of up to one million Rwandans in 1994.

Burundi, where an estimated 150,000 people have been killed in ethnic violence since 1993, could explode at anytime.

And the war between government soldiers and rebels in the east of Zaire threatens to further destablise neighbouring Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

For Kenya, home to over 130,000 refugees from its turbulent neighbours, the prospect of conflict engulfing the entire area is worrying. Two summits on the the Great Lakes region, hosted by Nairobi in November and December last, proved inconclusive.

Now Makwere, who will be based in Nairobi, is expected to pick up the pieces. He will be travelling around the region and will advise the government of President Daniel Arap Moi on what course of action to take on the problems affecting the Great Lakes.

“Mr Makwere’s appointment is expected to herald Kenya’s commitment to the creation of stability and peace in the troubled Great Lakes Region,” said the state-owned ‘Kenya Times’ on Thursday.

The move to appoint Makwere has also been welcomed by some exiled opposition groups from the strife-torn region.

“It is a good thing that Kenya is taking greater interest in the problems of the Great Lakes Region,” said Seth Sendashonga of the Resistance Forces for Democracy (FRD) — a Rwandan opposition group.

“Mr Makwere’s appointment is the first step to get informed about the region,” he told IPS here on Friday. “Then the government of Kenya will take appropriate action based on the thorough analysis of the situation on the ground by the envoy.”

“In fact, the appointment of the six emissaries indicates that the world is taking greater interest in the Great Lakes Region,” said Sendashonga. “I hope that they will coordinate their activities for the betterment of the region.”

He also said the emissaries needed to be receptive to different views and not rely only on established ones.

The other envoys include Aldo Ayelo of the EU, W.A.W Nhlabo of South Africa, Yves Haesendonck of Belgium and Richard Bogosian of the United States.

Ben Parker of the Nairobi-based Intergrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs said he expected a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region in the next few weeks. “The envoys can play different games in different capitals. They can exert pressure on the players in the region,” he told IPS on Friday.

IRIN monitors political and military activities in the Great Lakes Region.

Makwere’s appointment concided with that of Algerian diplomat Mohamed Sahnoun, who was named in New York on Wednesday as the joint envoy of the UN and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

Spelling out his mandate, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Sahnoun, a former UN envoy to Somalia, would promote peace in eastern Zaire and Burundi and prepare an international conference on the Great Lakes Region.

Sahnoun, whose independent-minded approach to the Somali crisis earned him friends among journalists and Somalis, will set up an office in the Kenyan capital and appoint deputies in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire.

“He is a very nice person to talk to and work with,” said a Somali academic. “We met with him many times and our impression was that he is a man you can do business with.”

The academic, who refused to be named, told IPS on Friday that he hoped the six envoys would work independently and not let their views be influenced by “sectarian” politics in the region.