stability & confidence

As Kenya’s new peace envoy, will Kenyatta maintain Nairobi’s reputation in putting out regional fires?

By Mwangi Maina

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Posted on October 25, 2022 09:58

© Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is greeted by Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the Adan Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is greeted by Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the Adan Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

For the better part of the 21st century, Eastern Africa has enjoyed relative calm and during this period, Kenya came to play a central role in mediation with South Sudan, bringing to the fore Nairobi’s diplomatic influence. To this day it has largely remained a mediator and propagator of regional stability. However, from a worsening drought, threats from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, the escalating conflict in Ethiopia, to the on-going tensions between DRC and Rwanda, will Kenya’s new special peace envoy, former president Uhuru Kenyatta, be able to put out the regional fires?

Before Kenyatta’s term came to an end, the East African Community (EAC) had appointed him as mediator in the DRC.

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