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Kenya in diplomatic tiff with five countries

An expert says the country is becoming isolated in the region because of ‘bad’ policies by Kenya Kwanza regime.

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by JULIUS OTIENO

News16 January 2024 - 18:00

In Summary


  • The wrangles spring from business interests, politics, policies and public gaffe by top government officials that have triggered massive diplomatic fury.
  • In December last year, Preside Ruto declared as perfect Kenya’s diplomatic relations with her neighbour and other countries in the continent and beyond.
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo with President William Ruto at Statehouse, Nairobi, on January 3, 2024.

Kenya is involved in a diplomatic tiff with at least five countries in what threatens to damage its foreign relations with neighbours in the region.

The wrangles spring from business interests, politics, policies and public gaffe by top government officials that have triggered a massive diplomatic fury.

Out of the five countries Kenya has locked horns with, four are from the East Africa Community bloc, and are her biggest trading partners.

They are Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Kenya has also clashed with Sudan.

International Relations expert Prof Macharia Munene says that Kenya is increasingly becoming isolated in the region because of the ‘bad’ policies by the Kenya Kwanza regime.

“Kenya is not at war with her neighbours but it is confused and looks isolated in the region. Policymakers are confused and they don’t seem to know what they are doing,” he said.

On Monday, Tanzanian authorities banned Kenya Airways flights to Dar es Salaam with effect from January 22.

The ban was, however, lifted on Tuesday evening. 

The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority director general Hamza Johari said the decision to ban Kenyan flights was reached after Kenya refused its request for all-cargo flight operations by Air Tanzania. 

“Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, on behalf of the aeronautical authorities of the United Republic of Tanzania, has decided to rescind the approvals for KQ to operate passenger flights between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam under Third and Fourth Freedom Traffic Rights with effect from 22 January 2024,” the statement reads.

Kenya Diaspora Alliance chairman Shem Ochuodho emphasised the need for Kenya to maintain good relations with her neighbours.

“It is good that we have good neighbourliness that is mutually beneficial to all the parties,” he said.

The tiff  has hit Kenya hard, triggering a flurry of activities. 

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen said they had initiated talks with their counterparts in Tanzania to lift the ban.

Apart from its row with Tanzania, Kenya has also been dragged to court by Uganda – her biggest trade partner and long-term friend– over oil importation deal.

In the case filed at the East African Court of Justice, Uganda said the Kenyan government denied it the licence to operate locally and handle oil imports headed to territory. 

Through its Attorney General, Uganda said that Kenya restrained the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority from issuing them with a licence for the importation of oil from Mombasa to Uganda.

Consequently, the President Yoweri Museveni-led country claimed that Kenya reneged on its earlier committed to support its quest to import its fuel directly.

Uganda claims they import approximately 90 per cent of its refined petroleum products through the Port of Mombasa and the products are transported to the country using the pipeline owned and operated by the Kenyan Pipeline Company Limited.

In December last year, President William Ruto declared as perfect Kenya’s diplomatic relations with her neighbour and other countries in the continent and beyond.

This was after regional leaders failed to grace the Jamhuri Day celebrations on December 12.

“The relations between me and Museveni are perfect; the relationship between Kenya and Tanzania is perfect," the President said.

The assurance also came at the time government of the DRC had protested after Kenya reportedly hosted Congolese politicians and groups, including the M23 rebels who have seized eastern Congo.

Corneille Nangaa, a former Congo election commission chief, launched the Congo River Alliance, a political outfit, at the event in Nairobi.

At the launch, Nangaa, sanctioned by the US for corruption and obstructing the 2018 election, said the alliance would bring together various Congolese armed groups, militias and social and political organisations.

This happened just days to the December 20 election in DRC.

The new alliance is an additional concern in a region where insecurity has persisted for decades, fuelled by ethnic rivalries and a tussle over land and resources with regional implications.

In retaliation, President Félix Tshisekedi recalled the country's ambassador to Kenya “for consultations.”

Around the same time, Murkomen has triggered what threatens to erode Kenya’s diplomatic ties with Rwanda. 

“Rwanda is not like Kenya. Rwanda is an autocracy and there whatever the President says is the law,” he said during an interview with Citizen TV. 

The utterances sparked an uproar, with social media users accusing Kenya for its unprovoked attack on President Paul Kagame and his administration.

In yet another diplomatic dispute two weeks ago, Sudan recalled its ambassador to Kenya after President William Ruto hosted talks with paramilitary commander Mohamed Daglo.

Daglo leads the Rapid Support Forces which has been at war with the regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Ali al-Sadiq, Sudan’s acting foreign minister, said the ambassador had been recalled “for consultations in protest of the official reception organised by the Kenyan government for the leader of the rebel militia.”

He said those consultations would “cover all possibilities for the outcome of Sudan’s relations with Kenya.”


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