US embassy cable - 05NAIROBI3300

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 003300 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2025 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, ECIN, PINS, KUNR, SO, SU, ET, DJ, SP, CH, KE, Travel Warning 
SUBJECT: REGIONAL ISSUES AND KENYA TRAVEL WARNING: 
CONGRESSMAN PAYNE MEETS PRESIDENT KIBAKI 
 
Classified By: POL/C MICHAEL J. FITZPATRICK, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: Congressman Donald Payne expressed 
appreciation to Kenya for its leadership role in the Sudan 
peace accord and the Somalia reconciliation process in a 
meeting with President Kibaki August 10.  The Congressman 
said he was trying to encourage the State Department to take 
a more active role in Somalia, but the Department "has not 
listened."  Kibaki characterized the Somalis as "difficult" 
to work with, spent a considerable portion of the meeting 
complaining about the travel advisory, and pleaded for 
greater representation of poor countries in the Security 
Council.  President Kibaki was affable, alert and engaged 
during the entirety of the one-hour meeting. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), the ranking Democrat 
on the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and 
International Operations, met with President Kibaki at State 
house August 10.  The Congressman was accompanied by two of 
his staff members Ted Dagne and Noelle Lusane, and the 
Embassy was represented by the Political Counselor and poloff 
(notetaker). On the Kenyan side were President Kibaki's 
Advisor for Strategic Policy, Stanley Murage, and two 
officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Assistant 
Minister Moses Wetangula and Permanent Secretary Boaz Mbaya. 
 
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REGIONAL AFFAIRS 
---------------- 
 
3. (C) A principal topic in the meeting was regional affairs. 
 The Congressman, who was on the last leg of a trip to 
Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan (the latter as a 
member of the official U.S. delegation to the funeral of John 
Garang), expressed his appreciation to President Kibaki for 
Kenya's leadership role in bringing peace to Sudan and in 
facilitating the Somali reconciliation process.  He said he 
had been encouraging the State Department to take a more 
active role in Somalia, but the Department "has not 
listened." He hoped that Secretary Rice would get the U.S. 
government more involved in the Horn of Africa and said that 
his subcommittee might summon the Secretary to explain U.S. 
Government Somalia policy. 
 
4. (C) Kibaki offered that the Somalis were "difficult," even 
more so now that the transitional federal institutions had 
moved from Kenya to Somalia.  Despite one ethnicity, one 
language and one religion, the clans just liked to fight, 
with the warlords having a vested interest in protecting 
their fiefdoms. 
 
5. (C) On the East Africa Community, Kibaki said relations 
with Uganda and Tanzania were good.  He looked forward to the 
three countries becoming one state sometime next year (sic). 
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TRAVEL ADVISORY 
--------------- 
 
6. (C) The Congressman also expressed his appreciation for 
the many years of good relations between Kenya and the U.S., 
despite problems like the travel advisory.  This prompted 
Kibaki to wonder why the U.S. persists with the travel 
warning.  The advisory, he said, affects not only American 
tourism, but also the willingness of tourists from other 
countries to come to Kenya.  It affects foreign investment as 
well.  Why is Kenya more dangerous than the U.K. or Spain, 
which do not have travel advisories?  Only the Somalis cause 
us problems.  Americans who live in Kenya know it is safe. 
He said he did not want to protest officially or make the 
issue any bigger than it is, but wondered aloud if there was 
some hidden agenda, something the U.S. Government was not 
telling Kenya? 
 
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UN REFORM 
--------- 
 
7. (C) President Kibaki confirmed that he would be leading 
the Kenyan delegation to New York for the opening of UNGA in 
September.  He said Kenya wants a permanent seat on the 
Security Council. The world had changed since 1945 with many 
more countries now in the UN.  These countries need to have a 
voice, but the U.S. just wants to keep Security Council 
permanent membership at five. 
 
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OTHER TOPICS 
------------ 
 
8.  (C) The Congressman touched on several other issues to 
which the President responded.  Kibaki explained that, as a 
result of his policy of providing free elementary education, 
primary school attendance had increased from 4.5 million in 
early 2003 to 7.25 million at present.  The biggest problem 
was building more schools to accommodate this increase.  On 
the economy, the flower industry was booming and AGOA had 
helped Kenya compete with countries like China in textile 
exports. 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
 
9.  (C) The travel advisory continues to be a sore point in 
bilateral relations.  Kibaki and his advisors spent nearly 
half the meeting complaining about it and it is almost always 
raised in Emboff meetings with other Government officials. 
The fact that the travel advisory no longer affects tourism 
-- it is virtually impossible now to find a hotel room in the 
most popular Kenyan tourist sites -- is almost beside the 
point.  The Government believes that the U.S. is singling out 
Kenya unfairly, thus injuring Kenyan pride. 
 
10. (C) President Kibaki was affable, alert and engaged 
during the meeting. This and other recent meetings Post has 
had with the President have convinced us that Kibaki has 
fully recovered from the health issues that impaired his 
performance in the first year or so of his term in office. 
END COMMENT. 
 
11.  Khartoum minimize considered. 
BELLAMY