Iran’s charm offensive in high gear

More than anything else, the ideological conflict involving Arab nationalism, Islamism and liberal democracy shapes Iran’s foreign policy.

And in view of escalating political confrontation with the West, particularly the United States of America, that policy is largely skewed in favour of pan-Islamic solidarity.

The rocky relations between Tehran on the one hand and the US and Israel on the other have pushed the Islamic regime in Iran to seek to solidify its prominent position in the Middle East and create spheres of influence beyond the region through trade.

It is in this context that Kenya has caught the eye of Iran’s policy makers. Within the international community of states, the US wields more than a passing influence on Kenya’s relations with other countries.

And with Iran’s growing interest in Kenya, the question on the lips of many international relations observers is whether the new phase of the ideological battle between Washington and Tehran will be fought in Kenya.

Emerging ideological war

Political scientist Frank Matanga told the Sunday Nation that, “with the dwindling of communism that was the opponent of capitalism, focus has shifted to a politico-religious cold war between the fundamentalist Islamic world mainly fronted by Iran against the largely western world led by the US. It is possible that Kenya, which has a somehow radical Muslim population may just serve as one of the many centres in the world that may be used as proxy to fight the new emerging ideological war”.

But Egara Kabaji, a lecturer at Masinde Muliro University and former senior official in the ministry of Foreign Affairs, argues that Iran is an inconsequential ally of Kenya.

According to him, the Persian state’s interests compare well with those of embattled Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi whose singular desire is to control Africa for personal gains.

“At the moment we shall continue to listen to Washington more than any capital in the world. We are talking about a rogue government in Tehran and a democracy in Washington. So there is nothing like a battle of ideologies between the two because Iran lacks an ideology to talk about,” said Prof Kabaji.

Iran, which established diplomatic ties with Kenya in 1972, is one of the leading consumers of Kenyan tea. According to data from the Tea Board of Kenya, Iran imported 3,200 tonnes of tea valued at Sh785 million in 2010.

According to embassy sources 20 per cent of Iran’s domestic consumption of tea is from Kenya.

Kenya imports petrochemicals, industrial lubricants, power generators, bitumen and tar from Iran.

The trade ties between the two countries received a major boost in February 2009 following a two-day visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

During the visit, the two countries concluded and signed protocol agreements largely in the agriculture sector.

In his visit, President Ahmadinejad was accompanied by a delegation of more than 100 business people.

But it is Tehran’s new proactive approach to changing its international image that should get Kenya’s traditional allies thinking.

When Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ramin Mehmanparast visited Kenya last week, he brought along senior editors from leading media houses in Iran.

At a joint media meeting with Kenyan journalists, the delegation sought direct links with Kenyan media houses and criticised what they termed, “overreliance on western news agencies” in the coverage of Iran.

The delegation emphasised the need for a new approach in the consumption of news from Iran, pointing out that time was ripe for structured exchange programmes between media houses in the two countries.

It would be too early to speculate on whether this initiative will succeed. But there is a language barrier outright. The main language spoken by about 60 per cent of Iranians is Persian. Others are Turkic, Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and Armenian.

None of these languages is spoken in Kenyan newsrooms while English is not a language of choice among journalists in Iranian media houses.

Earlier attempts at cooperation have not moved beyond the signing of documents. In January 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta led a delegation to Tehran to discuss avenues of cooperation between the two countries especially in the energy and infrastructure sectors.

There have been plans to establish a shipping line between Bandar Abbas port in Iran and Mombasa, a Kenya Airways direct flight from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Tehran and an Iranian business centre in Nairobi.

A plan to set up an Iranian tractor assembly plant in Nairobi has also been in the works. But analysts point to external influence from the West as the reason such initiatives have not taken off.

In the Middle East, Iran has been pursuing a policy of stabilisation and cooperation with its neighbours especially Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, the Ahmadinejad administration wants the Interim Governing Council to expedite the transfer of political power to the people.

The Iranian authorities are investing in the stability and quick reconstruction of Afghanistan so that the more than two million Afghan refugees in Iran could go back home. The administration is also concerned over the drugs flow from the conflict-torn neighbour.

Beyond the regional stature, Iran is interested in nuclear power and global influence. And these two rank highly on the list of conflict areas with the West.

The writer is the chief sub-editor, the Sunday Nation