On May 30 last year, South Sudan President Salva Kiir visited Kenya's second head of state Daniel Moi at his Kabarak home.
A statement released by the former President’s press team said Kiir appreciated Moi for his efforts to bring sustainable peace and stability in South Sudan and the greater horn of Africa.
The visit, years after Moi retired from office, is indicative of the appreciation the youngest African state has of Mzee Moi. Moi was instrumental in the birth of South Sudan through the Second Sudanese Civil War and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was finally signed in 2005.
This was after a 50-year-old conflict between the North and the South, which started just one year before Sudan gained its Independence in 1955. This was the first Sudanese civil war that ended in 1972.
The war Sudan fought against Sudan's People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLAM/A) started in 1983 after the collapse of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement. It was propelled by disputes over resources, power, the role of religion in the state and self-determination, among other issues.
In September 1993, then President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir invited the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (then the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development) to intervene and assist in resolving the North-South conflict.
The IGAD Standing Committee on Peace in Sudan was duly formed and chaired by Moi. It included Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. The bulk of the committee's work was done by a ministerial committee from the four countries with President Moi presiding.
Moi was also instrumental in the Somalia peace process.
"It is time for Somalis to wake up to the reality of what is happening on the continent and reconcile with each other. You must put down the weapons of war and embrace the promise of peace," he said when he opened the Somali peace talks in Eldoret in October 2002.
Moi noted that several meetings had been held to end the anarchy in Somalia without success and that the situation had led to huge losses of human lives and property.
T was also involved in mediation between various conflicting sides in Uganda, Congo, Somalia, Chad, Sudan, Mozambique, Eritrea-Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Moi was invited as President to provide peacekeeping forces in troubled parts of the world such as Chad, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Iran-Iraq, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Liberia, Morocco, Angola, Serbia-Croatia, D.R. Congo, Sierra Leone and East Timor.
At different fora, he stressed that unless Africans cemented their unity and solidarity, solutions to the many internal and external problems afflicting the continent would remain elusive.
He also argued that the hard-won independence stood in jeopardy unless Africans embraced cooperation as a means of faster and more diversified economic development. Moi supported the formation of regional economic bodies to increase trade.
In his proclamation, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Moi advocated "peace, love and unity throughout Africa and the world".
In retirement, Moi was appointed as Kenya’s peace envoy to Sudan by President Mwai Kibaki in August 2007 to boost the implementation of the CPA.
Journalist Waithaka Waihenya in his book, The Mediator, notes that Moi and Gen Lazaro Sumbeiywo, Moi's negotiator, "shared the vision of a peaceful, united Sudan and they had single-mindedly committed themselves to that cause".
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Sumbeiywo said Moi was "in many ways a mediator and a negotiator".
"He carried out mediation in Mozambique, Somalia, where he sent Bethuel Kiplagat, and picked me for Sudan. He knew the job would be done," he said.
Igad executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu eulogised Moi as one of Igad founders, noting that the organisation is indebted to his valuable contribution to the region.
“The late Mzee Moi will greatly be remembered for environmental peace, and security efforts in many parts of Africa, for the return of Somalia to the community of nations and independence of South Sudan” Gebeyehu said.
Former Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete said Moi will always be remembered for his peace efforts in the Igad region.
