By gathering African leaders to his country, Obama has pulled off a coup
US President Barack Obama, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (left) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (right), meets with members of Congress on foreign policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2014. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN
What you need to know:
- Gone is the imperialistic finger-wagging and moralistic lecturing, to be replaced by more pragmatic relationships built on the need to secure US commercial and political influence before China runs away with the continent.
- Like most Western countries, the US has concluded that the ICC cases against President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are doomed, and without evidence that could stand up in a court of law should never have been prosecuted in the first place.
Outside the annual gabfest called the African Union Summit, the present gathering in Washington, DC, must be the biggest ever convergence of African leaders.
I don’t know what carrots President Barack Obama dangled, but he has pulled off an impressive coup given his administration’s frosty relationships across the continent.
African leaders have been pretty busy over the past couple of years asserting their sovereignty and the right to kill, rob, loot, plunder, rape and generally brutalise their own people and destroy their own countries without meddling from the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Security Council or other instruments of international justice.
The campaigns against the ICC driven by the Africa Union at the behest of Kenya, which happens to have its two top leaders facing trial for crimes against humanity, has by extension been a campaign against the United States and other Western nations.
COSY CLUB OF DICTATORS
The cosy club of dictators and tyrants has not only threatened to pull out of the ICC, but is also working on an alternative African court from which the "owners" will be immune from prosecution just as they are in their own countries, where executive fiat cannot be questioned.
It must have taken a lot of persuasion from President Obama for leaders from across the continent to take that long and tiring transatlantic flight. He would probably have had to convince them there was something in it for them.
The African leaders would no doubt have sought assurances that the forum would not be used to lecture them on such "alien" impositions as human rights, freedom of speech, good governance, democracy, and why it’s not very nice to kill their own people or rob their national coffers dry.
KLEPTOCRATIC TENDENCIES
With the notable exception of Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, virtually all African countries are represented at the very highest levels without regard to dictatorial credentials or kleptocratic tendencies.
In that regard, the engagement marks new beginnings and new directions in US-Africa relations.
Gone is the imperialistic finger-wagging and moralistic lecturing, to be replaced by more pragmatic relationships built on the need to secure US commercial and political influence before China runs away with the continent.
That’s the only reason I can think of the massive wooing of Africa in a style that says the US will put its commercial and strategic interests above all the self-righteous hypocrisy that has informed relationships over the past two decades.
NORMALISING RELATIONS
The fact is that the US no longer has the leverage to bully and blackmail African leaders into toeing its line, and must now join China and other emerging economies that are ruthlessly moving to exploit the continent’s vast markets and natural resources without being hamstrung by pretended morality.
Kenya, of course, has a special interest in President Kenyatta’s sojourn in the DC. The mere fact that he was invited while still under trial at the ICC speaks volumes about the softening of the infamous pre-election ‘choices have consequences’ doctrine that so poisoned relations with the US.
President Kenyatta is no longer on the pariah list like Presidents Mugabe and Bashir. President Obama must have turned on all the charm at his disposal to woo his Kenyan counterpart into taking the flight, and that likely included the promise that there would be no lecturing on the ICC issue and that Washington was looking towards normalising relations.
REPAIRING RELATIONS
Like most Western countries, the US has concluded that the ICC cases against President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are doomed, and, without evidence that could stand up in a court of law, should never have been prosecuted in the first place.
Therefore, it makes sense to concede the mistake and move to repair relations. In that regard I would not be surprised if President Kenyatta got more attention from his host than the other African leaders present, despite the White House already having said President Obama would not have private one-on-one engagements with any of the visitors.
If I were the President of Kenya, I would have insisted on granting personal audience to one of my subjects who also happens to be my counterpart in the United States.
Beyond securing the obeisance of President Obama, his most prominent diaspora subject, President Kenyatta should also take advantage of the US-Africa Leaders Summit to secure and solidify Kenya’s presence and interests in Washington.
BEYOND PETTY POLITICS
Gaining acceptance is one thing, but even more important is leveraging on that to push diplomatic and commercial ties that benefit Kenya. The Summit presents a rare opportunity to meet key American corporate titans under one roof to market Kenya’s pivotal role as a trade, transport, communications and human capital hub that makes it the natural Africa headquarters for any transnational corporation doing business on the continent.
This is the time go beyond the petty and childish politics that have dominated Kenyan policy towards the US. We need to shift to more mature engagement based on what is of benefit to the country rather than the churlish and intemperate rhetoric dictated by anger over the ‘personal challenges’ — the ICC cases — facing President Kenyatta and Deputy President Ruto.
We have seen in a recent statement from Foreign Secretary Amina Mohamed and in an op-ed piece by presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu that professionals and thinking people around President Kenyatta are keen to positively exploit the opening windows with reasoned approaches.
REACHING OUT TO AMERICANS
This is a turnaround from the embarrassing tantrums about imagined US plots to overthrow the government we have often been subjected to from cantankerous politicians on the public platform and ossified bureaucrats on the National Security Advisory Committee.
Apart from direct meetings with corporate chiefs, the Washington summit also provides an opportunity for President Kenyatta to reach out directly to the American people. He needs to convince them that Kenya is a safe destination for trade, travel, tourism, and investment; that it is a secure, stable, prosperous, modern and democratic country that is not be confused with Somalia, Libya or other trouble spots.
Neither is to be mistaken for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and other countries in West Africa currently making headlines for all the wrong reasons, the Ebola outbreak.
PR pitches and personal charm offensives, however, are limited in their effect. As Americans understand, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Therefore undoing all the damage wrought by US government travel advisories will not be achieved by mere words or by pointing the finger of blame every which way, but by concrete steps that eliminate the terrorist menace and restore security.
UNITED AGAINST TERROR
When it comes to confronting the threat posed by the Al-Shabaab terror group, Kenya and the US are tied at the hip and must work together with common objectives.
Kenya and the US need each other to combat the forces of Islamic extremism across the region, and no rhetoric or threats about the ‘Look East’ policy will change that for the foreseeable future.
This is the time to remind the US administration that terrorism is a global threat that afflicts Kenya and other African countries just as much as it does the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and many other countries around the Horn of Africa are already frontline states in the war against terrorism coming out of Somalia, but ultimately emanating from faraway conflicts rooted in the Middle East.
Remaining united against the terrorist threat is key to the survival of civilisation in Kenya and the wider East Africa, the rest of the continent, and across the globe. Surrendering to Al-Shabaab and allied terrorists is not an option.
INFORMAL MEETINGS
Security will be one of the key agenda items at the US-Africa summit, and a key take-home for us would be that resolution that retreat of Kenyan military forces from the Somalia theatre, as advocated by the opposition, is not in the interests of regional peace and stability.
Any premature withdrawal on terms other than those determined by Kenya would amount to a major victory for Al-Shabaab.
Apart from the official meetings with government and business representatives, President Kenyatta will take time out for informal meetings with the Kenyan community in the US.
Those will also be forums for some serious discussion on issues dear to the diaspora, and we can only hope that the backward political and ethnic schisms that still afflict Kenyans in the US will not mar what should be fruitful discussions.
MIX AND MINGLE
Away from stuffy official business, I would suggest that President Kenyatta take time to mix and mingle with Kenyans at the social places they frequent in and around Washington, DC. I hear Safari DC has reopened under new management after a period under shutters.
If it still serves the same succulent goat ribs, ugali, nyama choma, chapati, fried tilapia, samosa and other Kenyan dishes and snacks, not to mention the Tusker Lager, I would highly recommend it. Another place that is a certified magnet for Kenyans and friends of Kenya pining for familiar food, drinks, music and ambience is Swahili Village, not too far away.
Those two places will have much more enjoyable discussion than dull, formal gatherings at the Kenya embassy or five-star hotel ballrooms.
