Kenya embraces new leadership in Libya

The Libyan mission in Nairobi has been granted approval to fly the country’s new flag as Kenya moves to recognise the Maghreb state’s new interim leadership.

After initial reluctance to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula has announced Nairobi’s changing stance in a statement from New York.

Mr Wetang’ula also told the new Libyan authorities that their investments in Kenya, including their diplomatic property, would be secured.

On Tuesday, AU chairperson and Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, following a briefing from the Ad Hoc Committee of the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), announced that the continental body recognised the NTC as the representative of the Libyan people.

“As a member of the AU Peace and Security Council, Kenya aligns itself with the decision to recognise the National Transitional Council as elaborated in the Communiqué of the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting of 23 September, 2011 and the statement made by the chair of the AU Assembly Teodore Nguema to the High Level Meeting on Libya of September 22,” the statement said.

Mr Wetang’ula communicated the recognition of Libya to the interim NTC Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 66th United Nations General Assembly.

The red, black and green colours of NTC will replace the solid green flag that defined Gaddafi’s Green Revolution – an intention to turn Libya into a wealthy agricultural nation – at the country’s embassy in Nairobi.