No longer at ease: Kenya’s trouble with its neighbours

Kenya’s relations with its neighbours have come under sharp scrutiny, following successive diplomatic rows that have put at stake delicate business and political ties.

The Monday ban on Kenya Airways’ passenger flights to Tanzania, which was reversed yesterday, became the latest addition to a growing list of standoffs that have exposed simmering diplomatic tensions with the country’s Eastern Africa neighbours.

The tiff with Tanzania came just days after Uganda sued Nairobi at the East African Court of Justice for the right to import petroleum through Kenya.

Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have recalled their ambassadors to Nairobi.

Even though the row over Kenya Airways (KQ) flights to Tanzania was resolved within days, the ban painted Kenya in a poor diplomatic light and appeared to have given Dodoma a higher moral ground.

In a coordinated move, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and his Tanzanian Counterpart January Makamba on Monday expressed commitment to quickly end the standoff that had occasioned suspension of Kenya Airways flights to Dar es Salaam.

Read: Kinshasa recalls ambassador to Nairobi over row with Kenya

“I have this evening spoken to January Makamba (MP). We have jointly agreed that our respective civil aviation authorities will work together to have the matter resolved amicably within the next three days. There should therefore be no cause for alarm,” said Mr Mudavadi.

The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, which had suspended the operation of flights between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, in a notice yesterday (see separate story), indicated that the matter had been resolved after Kenya allowed Tanzania Airways to operate cargo flights from Nairobi.

Despite the swift resolution, Kenya’s handling of business disputes with her neighbours has come under scrutiny.

Shinyalu MP Fred Ikana, who is a member of the Defence committee elected on the ruling UDA party ticket, called for a balance between trade interests and the need to maintain relations with foreign countries.

 “All these issues are borne out of competing interests for business and trade which is normal. I am confident the issues pitting Kenya against Tanzania and Uganda shall be amicably resolved having seen the commitments demonstrated by Mudavadi and the President himself,” said Mr Ikana.

“I appreciate the need and desire for us as a nation to cement our position as the regional supremo, but a balance ought to be found so that we don’t upset our friendship and neighbourliness with our EAC sister countries, ” he added.

But Saboti MP Caleb Amisi argues that the Ruto administration’s diplomatic goofs are in breach of both regional and international treaties, hurting Kenya’s position as Eastern Africa’s economic giant.

“Foreign relations and the international system since the peace of Westphalia signed in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years war exist in accordance with international law, the Vienna Convention and bilateral and multilateral treaties,” said Mr Amisi.

“History will judge the Ruto administration harshly. Whatever cordial relationship that has existed has been attacked viciously,” said the MP, who is also a member of the National Assembly Committee of Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations.

“We continue to see relentless diplomatic rows from DRC and Rwanda to Uganda. We cannot sit and watch as relationships we have taken years to build are destroyed,” said Wiper secretary-general Shakilla Abdalla.

But even as Tanzania got her way in the flights row, the long-standing dispute over Uganda’s exports to Kenya including milk, poultry products, sugar and other manufactured goods remains unresolved.

Only last week, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda took Kenya to the East African Court of Justice after Nairobi denied Kampala’s government-owned oil marketer a license to operate locally and handle fuel imports through the port of Mombasa.

President Museveni has accused Kenyan middlemen of being behind high fuel pump prices in Kampala even as prices fall globally.

Over the weekend, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Community and Regional Development, Ms Peninah Malonza, hinted that President Ruto is planning to hold talks with his Ugandan counterpart over the matter.

Read: Ruto calls on Museveni over fuel importation dispute

While downplaying the dispute, Ms Malonza said each member state of the EAC was founded on its democratic principles and is therefore entitled to pursue its best trade interests.

“There is a scheduled meeting between the two presidents to discuss the impasse and Kenya will also seek to explain her position during the next East Africa Community Heads of States Summit,” She told journalists in Kitui on Friday.

The CS did not, however, disclose the date and venue of the high-level meeting.

Since President Ruto assumed office in August 2022, he has made trips to all members of the EAC including the DRC, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Ethiopia, in an apparent effort to cement friendship.

But the trips seem to have failed to bear much fruit given the current tiffs with neighbours.

Instead, his government’s decisions on trade and politics seem to have rubbed its neighbours the wrong way.

Dr Ruto’s leadership of an IGAD sub-committee, called the Quartet Group, tasked with mediating an end to Sudan’s three-and-a-half-month-old war, seemed to have brewed tension between Kenya and Sudan.

Sudan’s government has repeatedly accused President Ruto of having business ties with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces during his tenure as the Deputy President under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee government. Dr Ruto denies the allegations.

Read: President Ruto’s rejection in Sudan: Is Kenya losing its diplomatic power?

On January 4, Sudan recalled its ambassador to Kenya in protest against the official reception for Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF.

“Sudan has recalled its ambassador to Nairobi for consultations, in protest against the official reception organised by the Kenyan government for the commander of the rebel militia when he visited Kenya,” Sudan’s acting Foreign Minister, Ali Al-Sadiq, was quoted as saying in a statement.

But over the past few days, Mr Dagalo has also met with the leaders of Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Africa.

He got official receptions with a guard of honour at the Addis Ababa airport, while he was welcomed by traditional dancers in Nairobi before meeting President William Ruto at State House.

Interestingly, even though he was given a state reception by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, Sudan did not cut diplomatic relations with South Africa or the other African countries.

Read: Is this the end of Kenya’s regional influence?

On December 16 last year, the DRC recalled its ambassador to Kenya over the M23 rebels' activity on Kenyan soil, which it deemed contrary to the spirit of the East African Community.

President Felix Tshisekedi protested the decision by Kenya to allow the M23 rebels to launch a movement in Nairobi.

At a press conference, the Congolese Communication Minister Patrick Muyaya told reporters that “there will obviously be diplomatic consequences”, describing the announcement in Nairobi as “unpatriotic behaviour”.

“Kenya owes us an explanation,” Mr Muyaya added.

Western governments and the United Nations have said neighbouring Rwanda has supported the M23, allegations Kigali denies.