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Abstract
Kenya's political meltdown in the aftermath of the contentious 2007 elections tested the solidity and sturdiness of regional mechanisms tasked with conflict resolution in East Africa. Despite years of elaborate attempts to build diverse institutions for early warning, conflict prevention and management within the rubric of the East African Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Eastern Africa was unprepared for the civil conflict that engulfed its leading member state. Instead, the more distant African Union (AU) launched a mediation initiative under the leadership of former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, which largely marginalised regional actors. Despite Kenya's gradual recovery, the absence of regional institutions for conflict resolution presents a worrying trend in a region that is still characterised by profound intra- and interstate conflicts.
Notes
1. Ugandan authorities rejected these claims, as Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa remarked: ‘There is absolutely no truth in those allegations. I can assure you, there are no troops and will be no troops that will go to Kenya. This is purely a Kenya situation which Kenyans will have to resolve on their own’. Cited in ‘Uganda maintains it has not deployed troops in Kenya’, Daily Nation, 20 January 2008.
2. . Narrating the sequence of events, Chief Secretary and Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, later contended that after the failure of the Kiplagat and Sumbeiywo internal mediation, ‘Soon, we hit another brick wall because the ODM leadership made it clear that they couldn't trust President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. It was at this point that then African Union Chairman and President of Ghana John Kufuor were invited’. Cited in ‘Muthaura reveals how peace was achieved’, Daily Nation, 28 February 2009.
3. . Soon after the signing of the agreement, Annan is quoted as stating that ‘he never doubted that Kibaki and Odinga would eventually agree to a compromise. He had been briefing the two leaders throughout the talks, and despite the obstinacy of their mediation teams, he felt they were both ready to abandon their maximum positions for the common good’. Cited ‘After two months of discord, finally a handshake’, Baldauf 2008.