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Rice Going to Kenya To Support Mediation Initiative

Secretary will meet with Kofi Annan, Kenyan leaders February 18

(February 16, 2008)

Washington -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to Kenya to bolster former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's mediation initiative and to deliver President Bush's message directly to Kenyan leaders.  The United States is trying to help end civil strife in Kenya that followed the December 27, 2007, elections, says a senior U.S. diplomat.

"I think that both President [Mwai] Kibaki and [opposition leader] Raila Odinga appreciate the strong support that the United States has provided to Kenya, and they see the United States as key to helping them resolve this crisis," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said February 16.  "And so I think that both have heard our message that it will not be business as usual, and that any individuals who are seen as obstructing the effort toward a peace process, a power sharing agreement, as the president [Bush] stated, will be subject to possible further sanction by the U.S."

Bush and Rice have been engaged from the outset, Frazer said, but Rice is going to Nairobi to strengthen support for Annan's four-point plan to bring an end to violence in Kenya that has left approximately 1,000 dead and another 300,000 homeless in the post-election crisis.  Rice has been in regular contact with Annan since he arrived in Nairobi more than a month ago.

"Kenya's an issue … that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help with the Kofi Annan initiative," Bush said after arriving in Benin.  Bush is currently on a five-nation state visit to Africa that also takes him to Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia.  Bush has emphasized that there should be a power-sharing agreement and an end to violence.

Annan has proposed a four-point plan to stop the violence, respond to the humanitarian crisis, develop a power-sharing national unity plan and deal with longer-term issues of constitutional, electoral and land reforms.

Frazer said there has been a breakthrough in Kenya because of the negotiations.  "We can't rule out that there wouldn't be some type of violence in the future.  But I think that clearly there's an evident commitment through the negotiations," she said.

The commitment by Kenyan leaders to negotiate is evident, she said.

"President Bush does not need to go to Kenya at this point" to remain engaged, Frazer said.  "At the right moment in time, the president will engage, but right now it's occurring in a very systematic way to back Annan's mediation, not to try to supplant Annan's mediation."

A transcript of Frazer's remarks is available on America.gov.